Ever wondered which jobs are a good fit for someone with your interests? There are several good career tests & assessments, which can provide the answer.
But before we get to that, I want to give you some background on research in the area of career interests.
One of the more elaborate theories was developed by Dr. John Holland, who proposed that people should seek occupations that are congruent with their interests (defined as preferences for particular work activities). The theory states that:
- People can be classified into six career interest types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional
- Similarly occupational environments can also be classified into the same six types
- During occupational choice the attempt should be to achieve a match between career interests and environments
- Achieving such a match results in job satisfaction, stability and correspondingly success
Each of the six types and their accompanying definitions are presented below.
Realistic (R)
People with Realistic interests like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They enjoy dealing with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. They enjoy outside work. Often people with Realistic interests do not like occupations that mainly involve doing paperwork or working closely with others.
Investigative (I)
People with Investigative interests like work activities that have to do with ideas and thinking more than with physical activity. They like to search for facts and figure out problems mentally more than to persuade or lead people.
Artistic (A)
People with Artistic interests like work activities that deal with the artistic side of things, such as forms, designs, and patterns. They like self-expression in their work and prefer settings where work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
Social (S)
People with Social interests like work activities that assist others and promote learning and personal development. They prefer to communicate more than to think of solutions or work with objects, machines, or data. They like to teach, give advice, help, or otherwise be of service to people.
Enterprising (E)
People with Enterprising interests like work activities that have to do with starting up and carrying out projects, especially business ventures. They like persuading and leading people, making decisions, and taking risks for profit. These people prefer action more than thought.
Conventional (C)
People with Conventional interests like work activities that follow set procedures and routines. They prefer working with data and detail more than with ideas. They prefer work in which there are precise standards more than work in which you have to judge things by yourself. These people like working where the lines of authority are clear.
The order of the types, as you might have noticed is RIASEC. They are placed in this order because, the two types most consistent with a particular type, are the ones before and after it. For example, the types most consistent with the artistic type, are the type before it (I - investigative) and the type after it (S - social). At an intermediate degree of consistency are the realistic and enterprising types.
Consistent types share many common characteristics. For example, both the R and I types are viewed as being asocial and interested in things rather than people. Thus an individual who resembles these two traits (RI or IR) can search for an occupation that suits these compatible traits. It is harder to find occupations that will reward individuals who resemble inconsistent types because their characteristics are more incompatible.
The most congruent fit between a person and an environment is an exact match of individual pattern to occupational pattern. For example, the most congruent fit for an ISA individual would be an ISA environment. The most incongruent fit would have an ISA individual working in an ERC occupation. There are of course, varying degrees of congruence between these two scenarios.
Now that we have the background out of the way, it’s time to find out what your interests are and which occupations are most suitable for you, based on that. A good and free Interest Assessment that you can take is provided by the The Occupational Information Network (developed under sponsorship of the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration). You can download the software here -> Interest Career Test. Once you know your strongest interests, you can explore matching careers here -> Occupational Database.