Career Compass Assessment Referral: An Appointment to Keep

The career compass assessment referral comes from the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA), the city agency that runs Cash Assistance. Anyone who applies for Cash Assistance, or already gets it, is checked against the work rules. According to Legal Services NYC, HRA screens everyone aged 18 through 59 for employability unless they are homebound or receive HASA benefits. If HRA decides you can work, it calls you to a center or to one of its vendors for an assessment. CareerCompass is one of those vendor programs, which is why the name is on your letter. (If you came here about a school's interest quiz instead, our guide to every Career Compass quiz covers those.)

Two things to hold onto. First, this is a meeting, and nobody passes or fails it. Staff ask about your past work, your schooling, and your goals, then point you toward a job, training, school, an internship, or community service. Second, it is tied to your benefits. Skipping it can lead to a sanction, which we cover further down.

The Cash Assistance Clients HRA Sends to CareerCompass

A 2023 audit by the NYC Comptroller describes CareerCompass as assessment and coordination for Cash Assistance clients aged 25 and older. Providers work with what the audit calls "job-ready adult clients" to assess their skills and experience and write a service plan. People aged 18 to 24 went to a sister program, YouthPathways. A third, CareerAdvance, offered training in specific industries or for groups such as survivors of domestic violence, people with limited English, and older adults. So if your letter names CareerCompass, the city has placed you in the adult track for people it considers ready to work.

How Do I Start My Work Activities?

You start them here. Cash Assistance comes with a rule: you have to show work activity. Legal Services NYC lists what counts. You can get a job, prove you tried to get one, go to school or training, or show that you are exempt. You cannot begin logging hours until you have a plan, and the plan comes out of this assessment. The referral is the first step in meeting the rule. Already have a job, a class, or a medical reason you cannot work? Say so at this meeting. This is where it gets written down.

Some people are exempt from the work rules altogether. HRA's October 2025 work requirements guide lists being 60 or older, being needed at home to care for an incapacitated household member, and having a physical or mental health condition that prevents work activities. The Legal Aid Society adds being pregnant and due within 30 days. If one of these fits you, bring proof, such as a doctor's letter, and ask the worker to record the exemption.

HRA and its vendors do not publish a script for the visit, and each office runs its own day. What they do publish gives a clear outline. Fedcap, which runs CareerCompass in the Bronx, says it assesses "skills and experience." It then helps people find "employment, training, or education programs, as well as internship and community service opportunities." Grant Associates, with offices in Brooklyn and the Bronx, describes a questionnaire about "your interests, your strengths, your goals and aspirations." Put together, a visit usually covers these steps:

1. Check in. Show the notice and a photo ID at the front desk, and arrive a little early. Neither HRA nor the vendors publish how long the visit takes, so plan for about half a day and keep several hours free.
2. Talk through your history. Past jobs and how long you held them, schooling, certificates, and the languages you speak.
3. Name anything that makes work hard. Childcare, health, housing, travel, a court date. These change what the plan can ask of you.
4. Answer the questionnaire. Your interests, strengths, and goals.
5. Get pointed somewhere. A job lead, a training program, classes, an internship, or community service.

Career Compass Assessment Questions Cover Four Areas

Expect the career compass assessment to ask about four things. Your work history: what you did, for how long, and why it ended. Your education and training: the last grade you finished, a GED, any certificate or license. Your barriers: anything that limits the hours or the kind of work you can do. And your interests and goals: the work you want and where you hope to be in a year or two.

In testimony to the City Council in September 2024, HRA said its career programs aim for "client-centered assessment," meaning assessments that "identify client needs and interests." In plain terms, staff are supposed to fit the plan to you, and your answers are the main thing they have to go on. Short answers tend to get short plans. If you answer "anything" when asked what work you want, the easiest thing for a busy worker to write down is a general job search.

What to Bring to Your Career Compass Appointment

Your notice may list documents. Bring those first. If it does not, this set covers most questions:

• The appointment notice itself
• A photo ID
• Proof of any current job, such as recent pay stubs or a letter from your employer
• School records, a GED, or any training certificate or license
• Papers about anything that limits your work, such as a doctor's note
• A short list of your past jobs with rough dates
• A few lines on what you do well, with one example each

If your work history has long breaks, it helps to know how you will talk about them; our piece on explaining a long employment gap works for a caseworker as well as an employer. And if you cannot make the date, call the number on the notice as soon as you know. Moving a visit ahead of time is far easier than fixing a missed one.

The assessment ends with a document. Legal Services NYC says HRA or its vendor "will create a written employability plan (EP) after an assessment process." That plan is what HRA will hold you to, so read it carefully before you leave.

What Is an Employability Plan (EP)?

The HRA employability plan is a written list of the work activities you are assigned and the hours you owe each week. It should match your life. Read it in the room. Check that it lists any job you already have, any class you attend, and any health or childcare limit you mentioned. If something is missing or wrong, ask the worker to fix it before you sign, and ask for a copy to keep. Ask for supports in the plan too. HRA says people on Cash Assistance can get money for carfare and child care so they can meet their work activities. Even people who already work need HRA to write the plan and approve their current job, according to Legal Services NYC.

What Are Acceptable Work Activities?

Legal Services NYC lists these as acceptable work activities:

• Working at a job
• Education or training
• Job search
• Work programs
• An assessment for a disability
• Treatment for a health issue

The last two matter more than people expect. If a health problem keeps you from working, say so at the assessment so it becomes part of the plan. Missing appointments and hoping someone notices is the path to a sanction.

How Many Hours of Work Activity Must I Have Each Week?

The default rule is 35 hours of work activities per week. Families with children under 18 can drop to 30 hours in some cases. Examples include living in shelter while looking for housing, attending required ACS parenting classes, or caring for a disabled child with no childcare. Hours can drop to 25 if your youngest child is under 4, or under 5 and not eligible for universal pre-K. If one of these fits you, tell the worker and ask for the lower number in writing.

A Stockroom You Ran Beats "I Like Helping People"

A worker who hears "I like helping people" could send you almost anywhere. A worker who hears "I kept a stockroom organized for three years and trained two new hires" has something to build around. The first is an interest. The second is a capability with proof behind it. It tells the worker what you can do well at the hours the plan asks for. Interest questionnaires, like the career interest assessments schools use, are good at the first kind of answer. A plan built on interest alone can land you in a training you drop, and a dropped activity can turn into a sanction. A plan built on your strengths, at hours you can keep up week after week, has a better chance of lasting. That is why the next section is about naming your strengths before you walk in. Unsure which skills count? Read up on hard and soft skills. Both belong on your list.

One optional step before the day itself. The assessment will ask about your strengths, and plenty of people go blank on that question. The free way works well: write down three strengths with an example each, and bring the list. If you want help finding the words, Pigment offers a paid career test you take online. Each question asks which of two ways of working sounds more like you. The part of the report you would bring in is the page that puts your strengths into plain words you can say out loud. It costs $79.99, which is real money on a Cash Assistance budget, so treat it as optional.

Walk Into Your Career Compass Assessment Knowing Your Strengths

Answer online, then read a report that puts your strengths into plain words you can use at the appointment. $79.99, optional, and never a substitute for attending. The free three-strengths list works too.

Name your strengths before the appointment

This part is for anyone holding a notice with one name while hearing another. Two names float around for this appointment, and both are correct.

CareerCompass Is Folding Into the HRA PACE Program

For years HRA ran three separate programs under the banner Career Pathways: CareerCompass for adults, YouthPathways for ages 18 to 24, and CareerAdvance for industry training and specific groups. In its September 2024 testimony, HRA said the next version would be the Pathways to Access Careers and Employment (PACE) Workforce Development Program, with contracts expected to start in July 2025. PACE uses what HRA calls a "One Door" model that joins CareerCompass, CareerAdvance, and YouthPathways into one program, so people are not bounced from one to the next.

That is why Grant Associates' CareerCompass web page now carries the title "HRA PACE Program Assessment." An older notice, a caseworker, or a neighbor may still say CareerCompass. Either way, the address and date on your notice are what count, so go where the letter sends you.

Name you may see

What it is

Who it serves

CareerCompass

HRA's adult assessment program; Fedcap runs it in the Bronx

Adults applying for or receiving Cash Assistance

HRA PACE Program Assessment

The newer name on Grant Associates' page, with offices in Brooklyn and the Bronx

People HRA refers for an assessment

YouthPathways

The younger adults' assessment and training program

Ages 18 to 24

CareerAdvance

Training and job placement in specific industries

Groups such as people with limited English or survivors of domestic violence

Education/Training Assessment Group (TAG)

Another assessment site Legal Services NYC names

People HRA refers for education or training review

Career Compass Vendor Offices and Phone Numbers

Use the address and phone number on your notice first. HRA may send you to a different site. If your notice is lost or unclear, these are the vendors' published contacts.

Vendor

Address

Phone

Fedcap CareerCompass

(Bronx)

369 E 148th St, Bronx, NY 10455

347-366-9160

Grant Associates

(Brooklyn)

25 Elm Place, 4th Floor, Suite 404, Brooklyn, NY 11201

929-258-0140

Grant Associates (Bronx)

2417 3rd Ave, 7th Floor, Bronx, NY 10451

646-789-5399

Do I Have to Attend If I'm Already Working?

"You can still be sanctioned even if you are working." That is Legal Services NYC's warning. HRA has to write your plan and approve your job as an allowable activity. Bring pay stubs so your job hours count toward your weekly total. If your job does not cover all the required hours, the plan may add other activities to make up the difference.

Why Might My Job Not Count?

Three common reasons. The hours fall short of what your plan requires, so HRA adds other activities to fill the gap. The work is off the books, so you have no pay stubs or employer letter to prove it. Or HRA never approved the job as an allowable activity in your plan. Bring proof, and ask the worker to write the job into the plan.

What Is a Sanction?

A sanction is HRA's penalty when it says you did not follow a work rule. It reduces or stops your Cash Assistance. In a one-person household, the case closes. In a larger household, the grant is reduced based on the number of people in it. You also lose FHEPS or CityFHEPS rent help while the sanction is in place. HRA restarted its sanction process on April 28, 2025, so it applies now.

How Long Does a Sanction Last, and How Do I End It?

A sanction lasts until you comply. According to the Legal Aid Society, you end it by showing HRA you are willing to comply and then taking part in your assigned work activity. Tell your worker in writing that you want to comply, and ask what you must do to cure the sanction. Once it is lifted, Legal Services NYC notes you may need to apply for FHEPS or CityFHEPS rent help again.

I Missed a Work Activity Appointment. What Should I Do?

If you miss a Career Compass date, call the number on your notice the same day and ask for a new one. HRA's process also includes a step called conciliation. It lets you explain what happened before a sanction starts. Answer any letter about it by its deadline, and keep proof of your reason, like a doctor's note. For free legal help, call Legal Services NYC at 917-661-4500, Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

How Do I Ask for a Fair Hearing?

A fair hearing is a review by a New York State judge, not by HRA. You ask for one if you think a sanction or a cut to your case is wrong. The state agency that runs hearings, the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), takes requests by phone at 800-342-3334 or online. For Cash Assistance, you have 60 days from the date on the notice to ask. Ask sooner if you can: request the hearing before the date the change takes effect, or within 10 days of the notice, and ask for "aid continuing." That keeps your benefits the same until the judge decides. If you lose, HRA may ask you to pay some of it back. Legal Services NYC can help you prepare at 917-661-4500.