The world’s first empirically-based, fully-integrated, multidimensional career assessment.

Over 60 years of extensive research.

At WOWI, we’re proud to be the product of extensive research undertaken by experts for more than half of a century. Our comprehensive career assessment has been honed to perfection, designed to achieve accurate, actionable results for those who use it.

Watch our Youtube Video or keep reading to find out where our story began.

Where it all started.

WOWI, short for World of Work Inventory, was developed by Dr. Robert Ripley in 1970. From 1958 to 1963, he was hired by the U.S. Department of Labor as an expert consultant tasked with developing the Third Edition of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)*. During this time, he traveled all over the USA, surveying similarities and differences in the rapidly changing world of work.

Based on his observations, Dr. Ripley concluded that something was missing — there was a real need for a comprehensive career assessment that could change lives for the better. That’s where WOWI comes in. As the first and only career assessment developed directly from the Department of Labor database, it is fully-integrated AND multi-dimensional. It was originally named Career Choice Inventory by Ripley and in 1973 became WOWI: the World of Work Inventory.

*In 1998, O*Net replaced the DOT.