John Holland’s Theory of Career Choice



John Holland’s Theory of Career Choice

Holland's theory can be summarized in six statements:

1. In our culture, most person are one of six personality types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

2. People of the same personality tend to "flock together." For example, Artistic people are attracted to making friends and working with Artistic people.

3. People of the same personality type working together in a job create a work environment that fits their type. For example, when Artistic persons are together on a job, they create a work environment that rewards creative thinking and behavior -- an Artistic environment.

4. There are six basic types of work environments: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

5. People who choose to work in an environment similar to their personality type are more likely to be successful and satisfied:

For example, Artistic persons are more likely to be successful and satisfied if they choose a job that has an Artistic environment, like choosing to be a dance teacher in a dancing school -- an environment "dominated" by Artistic type people where creative abilities and expression are highly valued.

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6. How you act and feel at work depends to a large extent on your workplace environment. If you are working with people who have a personality type like yours, you will be able to do many of the things they can do, and you will feel most comfortable with them. How is this related to the scores you receive on the Career Key?

7. It means that you probably should choose an occupation whose type is the same as, or similar to, your personality type. For example, imagine that your highest score on the Career Key is for the Realistic type. Looking at the table below, you can see that the most compatible job environment is Realistic. This would suggest that you choose from the jobs that are in the Realistic group. Or, you might choose from the jobs that fall in the Investigative or Conventional category.

|Compatible Work Environments |

|Your Personality Type |Most Compatible |Compatible |

|Realistic |Realistic |Investigative & Conventional |

|Investigative |Investigative |Realistic & Artistic |

|Artistic |Artistic |Investigative & Social |

|Social |Social |Artistic & Enterprising |

|Enterprising |Enterprising |Social & Conventional |

|Conventional |Conventional |Enterprising & Realistic |

Most people, in reality, are a combination of types -- like Realistic-Investigative, or Artistic-Social.  Therefore, you will probably want to consider occupations in more than one category.

In summary, you are most likely to choose a satisfying job if you choose one that fits your personality type.

NOTE--If your two strongest personality types are Realistic and Social, Investigative and Enterprising, or Artistic and Conventional consider the following advice from Dr. Lawrence Jones:

Sometimes personality types combine in unusual ways in people.  For example, if you read the descriptions of the Investigative (I) and Enterprising (E) types, you would not expect a person to have them both as his or her two strongest personality types.  Investigative persons generally avoid leading, selling, or persuading people.  Whereas, Enterprising people are just the opposite;  they like these activities.  But, there are people who have this unusual IE or EI combination.  The two other combinations like this are Realistic-Social (RS or SR) and Conventional-Artistic (CA or AC).

Does your personality fit together in this unusual way?  Then, you will be interested in a letter I wrote to a person who had a Investigative-Enterprising personality pattern.  He wrote, "Do you see something abnormal with these results?  And more importantly, how do I go about choosing a career with these 'conflicting' results?" 

This is how I replied,

"I can understand your confusion, but your interpretation is exactly right:  there are occupations where 'inconsistent personality patterns' work especially well.  The example you gave of a sales person (E) working in a technical field like science (I) or engineering (I) is a good one.

I happen to have an inconsistent personality pattern myself:  Realistic (very strong) and Social.  Patterns like these are not seen very often.  The theory (and common sense) would predict that people with patterns like these have more difficulty making career decisions and, possibly, "fitting in" to a particular work environment. 

For example, I worked as a counselor educator (primarily a Social occupation), and was aware that I was different from the other professors in my department who were strongly Social and Enterprising.  The same was true for the students who were preparing to be counselors.  They were mostly Social.  In other words, I was a Realistic person working in a Social work environment.

At times, I did not feel as if I fit very well in this job.  The students rated me as a good teacher, but not outstanding -- as they did for the other professors.  Fortunately, there is an Investigative side to my personality.  This, together with my Realistic side, motivated me to do research directed to practical outcomes:  'How can I use counseling psychology to help people?'

My personality has led me in directions and given me opportunities in my work and life that my Social co-workers did not have, or were not interested in -- like creating practical career measures like the Career Key and career guidance self-help books;  enjoying books about nature and science; and camping, fishing, astronomy, etc.

So, our patterns are somewhat unusual, but that makes us a little more unique, gifted.  There's nothing wrong with us.  It makes life more challenging, and possibly rewarding.  But, being aware of our personality differences helps us understand ourselves and, then, valuing who we are as persons.

I hope this is helpful.  In writing it, I'm thinking I should probably add it to the website for the other "unusual" people like ourselves.

Wishing you well,

Larry"

There are numerous occupations that attract, or are compatible, with two of the three inconsistent personality patterns.  Here are some examples: 

Social-Realistic/Realistic-Social:   

Teachers of agriculture, forestry, vocational education, and technology

Recreational Therapy

Bus Drivers

Physical Therapy

Athletic training and sports medicine

Occupational Therapy

Enterprising-Investigative/Investigative-Enterprising:

Sales Engineers

Urban and Regional Planners

Managers in engineering, mathematics, and natural sciences

Sociologists

Scientific reporters

Editor of technical or scientific publications

1. If your personality combines in an unusual way, keep in mind: You are not abnormal; we all have differing gifts;  value your uniqueness.

2. Choosing a career is likely to be more challenging, but there are many jobs for which  you are uniquely qualified. And, once you are in a career, you will likely find opportunities to do tasks, or related jobs, that better fit you.

3. You may need to look for ways outside of work to satisfy the other side of your personality.

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