X
+ View Page Navigation

We're building on a legacy of innovation.

Our History

From our humble beginnings in publishing hand-scored, pin-punched interests assessments to powering today’s cutting-edge online career planning systems, Kuder continues to provide the best resources and tools to support effective career and education planning for students and adults.

Why We're Called Kuder.

We’re often asked about the origins of our company name.

Kuder is the surname of Dr. Frederic Kuder (1904-2000), a pioneer in vocational guidance. His Kuder Preference Record, which dates back to 1938, was completed by more than one million people worldwide, and was one of the most-used career guidance instruments in schools and colleges from the 1950s to the millennium.

In 1999, at the age of 95, Dr. Kuder approved the transfer of his interest inventories from McGraw-Hill to National Career Assessment Services, Inc. Our clients soon began referring to us as “The Kuder People," and we officially changed our name to Kuder, Inc. in 2007. 

  • 1930—1939

    PIONEERING NEW METHODOLOGIES

    Shortly after developing the Kuder-Richardson Formula to estimate the internal consistency and reliability of test scales, Dr. Frederic Kuder debuts the first in his line of formal inventories evaluating occupational interests.

    Kuder – Kuder-Richardson Formula

  • 1938

    FIRST KUDER PREFERENCE RECORD PUBLISHED

    Within a year of completing his doctorate at Ohio State University, Frederic Kuder's first Preference Record is published by the University of Chicago Bookstore.

  • 1940

    KUDER IS A CONSULTANT TO THE U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY BOARD

    Dr. Kuder serves for two years as a personnel methods consultant for the U.S. Social Security Board.

  • 1940—1949

    LEADING THE WAY

    With several high-profile appointments and an impressive number of published works to his name, Dr. Kuder becomes a leading voice and authority in the field of vocational psychology.

  • 1941

    DR. KUDER LAUNCHES EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT

    Dr. Kuder launches the journal Educational and Psychological Measurement and serves as its editor for several years.

  • 1942

    DR. KUDER LEADS CIVIL SERVICE TEST CONSTRUCTION AND REVIEW

    The U.S. Civil Service Commission calls on Dr. Kuder to serve as Test Construction and Review Unit Chief.

  • 1943

    DR. KUDER SERVES AS CONSULTANT TO U.S. WAR DEPARTMENT

    While serving as chief of civilian studies for the U.S. War Department, Dr. Kuder develops several special editions of his Preference Record.

  • 1943

    KUDER AND THE GI BILL

    The Kuder Preference Record-Vocational, Form C is widely used in advising World War II veterans seeking GI Bill assistance. Form CH (hand scored) has the pin-punch scoring for which Dr. Kuder becomes well known.

  • 1946

    DR. KUDER CO-FOUNDS NEW DIVISION OF THE APA

    Dr. Kuder, along with Dr. Donald Super and others, is a founding member of Division 17, Counseling Psychology, of the American Psychological Association (APA). He serves as its second president.

  • 1947

    DR. KUDER CO-FOUNDS REFEREED JOURNAL

    Dr. Kuder, Erwin Taylor and Charles Mosier co-found the journal Personnel Psychology.

  • 1948

    DR. KUDER JOINS DUKE UNIVERSITY

    Dr. Kuder joins the psychology department at Duke University; he retires in 1964. (Dr. Kuder, top row, third from left, with Duke University Department of Psychology faculty, circa 1954.)

    Reprinted with permission from the Duke University Archives.

  • 1950—1959

    A BROADER REACH

    By the 1950s, the Kuder Preference Record is widely used in high schools and colleges throughout the United States. It gives rise to a healthy competition with the popular Strong Vocational Interest Blank.

    Kuder - Dr. Kuder interprets student's assessment

  • 1956

    FORM D IS PUBLISHED

    Kuder Preference Record Occupational, Form D is published. Like the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, it’s scored for occupational groups rather than vocational scale interests.

  • 1959

    KUDER MEETS POP FICTION

    Writer Philip Roth alludes to the Kuder Preference Record in the short story “You Can’t Tell a Man by the Song He Sings" from the book Goodbye, Columbus. The story's narrator, a student in a class called "Occupations," becomes the target of a classmate who believes he can cheat on a "preference test," for which, ironically, there are no right or wrong answers.

  • 1960—1969

    ADVANCEMENTS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

    Dr. Kuder develops an interest inventory suitable for students as early as the sixth grade, paving the way to a new era of career planning at the junior high school level. Meanwhile, the desktop computer revolutionizes Dr. Kuder’s scoring administration.

  • 1963

    KUDER GENERAL INTEREST SURVEY PUBLISHED

    Kuder General Interest Survey, Form E features simple vocabulary and provides reliability for grades 6-8.

  • 1966

    KUDER OCCUPATIONAL INTEREST SURVEY PUBLISHED

    Form DD is a revision of Form D, with a smoother scoring method. This is the first of Dr. Kuder’s assessments that does not require hand scoring.

  • 1968

    DR. KUDER RECEIVES E.K. STRONG GOLD MEDAL

    Dr. Kuder receives the E.K. Strong Gold Medal for his contributions to interest measurement.

  • 1970—1979

    RESEARCH MILESTONES

    A long-range research study confirms the validity of the Kuder assessments, while Dr. Kuder publishes data from over 40 years of proprietary research .

  • December 1970

    DR. KUDER RECEIVES OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY CENTENNIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

    Dr. Kuder, who had received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1937, is honored with his alma mater’s Centennial Achievement Award for his “distinguished career in business, government, education, and publishing” at the 1970 autumn commencement ceremony.

  • 1971

    DR. ZYTOWSKI COMMISSIONED FOR PREDICTIVE VALIDITY STUDY

    Dr. Kuder asks Dr. Donald Zytowski, professor emeritus of psychology at Iowa State University, to undertake a predictive validity study of the Kuder Survey. Dr. Zytowski travels to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Dr. Kuder has stored data from his early development research. Dr. Zytowski spends the next year gathering occupational information for the study.

  • July 1974

    25-YEAR KUDER VALIDITY STUDY PUBLISHED

    After completing his research, Dr. Zytowski completes The Predictive Validity of the Kuder Preference Record over a 25-year span in Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance in 1974. It details his research into the predictive validity of the Kuder Occupational Survey. A study of 1,800 people who had taken the inventory up to 25 years prior revealed careers of 60 percent had been correctly forecasted.

  • 1977

    DR. KUDER'S FIRST BOOK IS PUBLISHED

    Science Research Associates, a subsidiary of IBM, publishes Dr. Kuder’s book Activity Interests and Occupational Choice. The book summarizes his methods of ascertaining the homogeneity of occupations.

  • 1980—1989

    RISING ACCLAIM

    The Kuder assessments are celebrated in American pop culture, and the man behind them receives the highest form of recognition from his peers.

  • July 1980

    KUDER IN HOLLYWOOD

    For decades, the Kuder Preference Record is so widely used in schools across the United States that it is featured in a famous scene in the 1980 film Caddyshack.

  • 1983

    KUDER AND THE COMPUTER

    Vocational scales scores are added to the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey, Form DD. CTB/McGraw-Hill develops Form DD/PC, which runs on a desktop computer.

  • 1985

    DR. KUDER RECEIVES TOP APA AWARD

    Dr. Kuder receives the Leona E. Tyler Award from the American Psychological Association for his sustained contributions to the field of counseling.

  • 1987

    DR. KUDER RECEIVES EDUCATIONAL TESTING AWARD

    The Educational Testing Service presents Dr. Kuder with the Distinguished Service to Measurement Award.

  • 1990—1999

    PASSING THE TORCH

    In 1999, Dr. Kuder determines that his assessments should have a permanent home with an organization whose mission aligns with his own. He participates in the transfer of ownership to Phil Harrington, who grows the Kuder line into a leading brand of career guidance solutions worldwide.   

  • 1995

    THE KUDER BOOK OF PEOPLE WHO LIKE THEIR WORK

    The Kuder Book of People Who Like Their Work is published by Motivation Press. Authors Dr. John Hornaday and Lucinda Gibson share the career stories of nearly 1,500 people.

  • 1997

    CAREER ASSESSMENT CENTERS FOUNDED

    Phil Harrington founds Career Assessment Centers, which publishes Profiles, an assessment product that assists companies in identifying best-fit prospective employees.

    Harrington assembles a faculty of leading experts in career development theory and directs extensive research among 100,000 key stakeholders throughout the United States to evaluate career education programs. This serves as the foundation of what will become the first research-based career development system of its kind, the Kuder Career Planning System® (KCPS).

  • 1998

    NATIONAL CAREER ASSESSMENT SERVICES, INC.

    Career Assessment Centers becomes National Career Assessment Services, Inc. (NCASI). Harrington collaborates with Dr. Zytowski to devise a formal evaluation of statewide career education programs. NCASI develops the Iowa Career Learning Assessment® (ICLA), which is used by 15 states to evaluate career education programs. Results have a major impact on educational funding for career and technical programs across the United States.

  • 1999

    THE DEBUT OF PERSON MATCH

    The Kuder® Career Search with Person Match makes its debut, first in a paper version, then PC. The PC version is used in lab settings, and assessment-takers can now receive results immediately.

    NCASI launches the first Internet-based Kuder assessment: the Kuder® Career Search with Person Match (KCS). Results are linked to a database of career stories from 2,000 individuals representing occupations in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook.

  • 1999

    A NEW HOME FOR THE KUDER ASSESSMENTS

    NCASI acquires the rights to the full line of Kuder assessments from CTB/McGraw-Hill.

  • 2000—2009

    INNOVATION AND EXPANSION

    The beginnings of a highly interactive online career and education planning system, coupled with integrated curricula and professional development, make for an exciting time in which Kuder’s line is expanded to serve the changing needs of students and career development practitioners.

  • 2000

    THE BRIEFCASE BECOMES DIGITIZED

    NCASI introduces the first-of-its-kind online Kuder Electronic Career Portfolio.

  • 2001

    KUDER ACQUIRES SUPER'S WORK VALUES INVENTORY

    NCASI acquires Dr. Super’s Work Values Inventory (SWVI-r) as an instrument to measure the importance of work values thought to be most significant in career choice and development.

  • 2001

    THE KUDER SUITE GROWS

    The Kuder suite expands with the addition of the Kuder® Skills Assessment (KSA) and Super’s Work Values Inventory-revised (SWV-r). The assessments are integrated into the Kuder Career Portfolio.

  • 2002

    SECONDARY CAREER PLANNING CURRICULUM PUBLISHED

    Develop Your Future I® and Develop Your Future II® are authored by JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, Ed.D. and Nancy S. Perry and published by NCASI. They’re combined and renamed Direct Your Future in 2010, when the fourth edition is published.

  • 2003

    KUDER REBRANDS

    Kuder rebrands the Kuder Career Portfolio as the Kuder Career Planning System®.

  • 2004

    POSTSECONDARY AND ADULT CAREER PLANNING CURRICULUM PUBLISHED

    The fifth edition of Take Hold of Your Future (THOYF) by JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, Ed.D. is published by NCASI.

  • 2006

    KUDER LAUNCHES PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

    Online Career Development Facilitator Training for career guidance practitioners is offered through the Kuder subsidiary ETA, Inc.

  • 2007

    KUDER, INC. IS FORMED

    NCASI merges with subsidiaries ETA, Inc. and Visions Unlimited, Inc. to form Kuder, Inc. Phil Harrington serves as its president. The change reflects the organizations’ shared core missions and main focus of career assessment for all ages.

  • 2008

    KUDER IMPROVES ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, TRANSITIONS

    A study of students from technical colleges in South Carolina, approximately half of whom were users of the Kuder® Career Planning System™ (KCPS), provides evidence that it equips students to perform better in school, transition to postsecondary education at a higher rate, use assessment scores to select postsecondary majors, and graduate from college faster.

    Click here to download

  • 2008

    KUDER RECEIVES ACTE AWARD

    Kuder president Phil Harrington receives the Friend of Guidance Award from the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), Guidance and Career Development Division.

  • May 2008

    A FRESH TAKE ON EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIPS

    Kuder, Inc. launches a new solution for education and business partnerships, Kuder Connect 2 Business®.

  • 2009

    KCPS RELAUNCH

    The Kuder Career Planning System® (KCPS) is significantly enhanced and relaunched to provide the most comprehensive solution for reliable career guidance for all ages. It includes three age-appropriate solutions:

    Kuder Galaxy® for elementary students.

    Kuder Navigator® for secondary students.

    Kuder Journey® for postsecondary students and adults.

  • 2010—TODAY

    CELEBRATING THE PAST, LOOKING AHEAD

    By the second decade of the 21st century, Kuder is a company with a team around the world serving more than 165 million individuals in states and nations spanning from the Midwest to the Middle East.

  • May 2010

    KUDER CURRICULA DEBUT ONLINE

    The career planning curricula Direct Your Future (DYF) – formerly Develop Your Future – and Take Hold of Your Future (THOYF) by JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, Ed.D., are now completely online, replacing the former print editions.

  • August 2010

    KUDER LAUNCHES NEEDS ASSESSMENT SERVICE

    The Kuder® Career Needs Assessment™ offers a set of customized online surveys providing a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative measure of career development programs.

  • December 2011

    KUDER LAUNCHES CAREER ADVISOR TRAINING

    Kuder launches Kuder Career Advisor Training®, a flexible professional development course for individuals and organizations serving a supportive role in the career development process.

  • August 2012

    THE KUDER ASSESSMENTS ARE SHORTER, MORE RELIABLE

    The Kuder assessments are enhanced. Now even more reliable and bias-free, they’re renamed the Kuder® Career Interests Assessment™, the Kuder® Skills Confidence Assessment™, and the Kuder® Work Values Assessment™. All three can be completed in 20 minutes or less.

  • November 2012

    KUDER RECEIVES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AWARD

    The Greater Des Moines Partnership grants Kuder the Best Kept Secret Award for building a reputation for excellence and achieving measurable results while maintaining a level of anonymity.

  • January 2013

    ICCDPP COLLABORATION

    Kuder announces an ongoing collaboration with the International Centre for Career Development & Public Policy (ICCDPP) to improve, advance, and advocate career development on a global platform.

  • January 2013

    KUDER CELEBRATES 75 YEARS

    The yearlong celebration of Kuder’s 75th anniversary begins with the relaunch of kuder.com and continues in a series of special events and activities throughout the year.

  • May 2014

    KUDER RECEIVES PRESIDENT'S "E" AWARD

    Kuder receives  the President’s “E” Award for Exports for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

  • March 2015

    NEW VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS

    Kuder announces new vision and mission statements.


    Vision: To help people discover and achieve what they want to be.


    Mission: To be the global authority in career guidance and education by providing evidence-based and proven tools to navigate life’s journey. Our resources help to raise aspirations to last a lifetime.

  • 2016

    KUDER RECEIVES TOP WORKPLACES AWARD

    Kuder receives a Top Workplaces honor by The Des Moines Register based on the results of employee feedback surveys in which several aspects of workplace culture are measured, including Alignment, Execution, and Connection.

  • 2016

    KUDER IS A FINALIST FOR TWO 2016 ED TECH DIGEST AWARDS

    Kuder is named a finalist for two 2016 EdTech Digest Awards in the categories of Cool Tool: New Product or Service and Leadership: Founder/CEO. 

  • 2017

    KUDER RECEIVES 2017 TOP WORKPLACES AWARD

    Kuder receives a Top Workplaces honor by The Des Moines Register based on the results of employee feedback surveys in which several aspects of workplace culture are measured, including Alignment, Execution, and Connection.

  • 2018

    KUDER WINS COOL TOOL AWARD

    The Kuder Career Planning System® (KCPS), which includes Kuder Navigator® Kuder Journey®, receives the EdTech Digest Cool Tool Award in the Career Planning Solution category.

  • 2018

    INTRODUCING THE NEW KUDER NAVIGATOR® and KUDER JOURNEY®

    With fresh, responsive design and added features, the next generation of Navigator and Journey makes career planning intuitive — even for the most ambitious dreamers.

  • 2018

    KUDER RECEIVES PRESIDENT'S "E STAR" AWARD

    Kuder receives the President’s “E Star” Award for Exports, the highest recognition any U.S. entity may receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

  • 2018

    KUDER RECEIVES 2018 TOP WORKPLACES AWARD

    Kuder receives a Top Workplaces honor by The Des Moines Register based on the results of employee feedback surveys in which several aspects of workplace culture are measured, including Alignment, Execution, and Connection.

  • 2018

    KUDER LAUNCHES YOUNG LEARNERS INTO NEW GALAXY

    The new Kuder Galaxy® enables educators to capitalize on children's curiosity with early career awareness that's makes learning about the world of work fun.

  • 2019

    KUDER NAMED CAREER READINESS SOLUTION OF THE YEAR

    EdTech Breakthrough selects the Kuder Career Planning System® (KCPS)  as the winner of its “Career Readiness Solution of the Year” award.

  • 2020

    KUDER RECOGNIZED FOR PUBLICATION EXCELLENCE

    And the 2020 APEX Award for Publication Excellence goes to: the Kuder Blog in the category of Social Media-Blog Content.

  • 2020

    INTRODUCING OUR NEW PRESIDENT

    Erin Milroy is appointed president of Kuder, Inc., succeeding her father Phil Harrington, who remains chairman and CEO. 

  • 2020

    KUDER LAUNCHES HOPE CENTRAL

    Hope Central™ is a robust online resource and career recovery system designed to help companies, communities, and workforce development organizations support furloughed and unemployed individuals.

We use cookies to improve your online experience. Learn more by reviewing our privacy policy. I agree