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Holland's Theory of Career Choice and You
The Career Key is based on John Holland's theory of vocational
choice. At its simplest, this theory proposes that "Birds
of the same feather flock together." In other words, people
like to be around others who have similar personalities.
In choosing a career, it means that people choose jobs
where they can be around other people who are like them.
It is the best known and most widely researched theory
on this topic. It is used by most career counselors. Understanding
it will help you make sense of your Career Key scores and
how they relate to job success and satisfaction.
Holland's
Six Personality Types
Holland's
Six Work Environments
Holland's theory can be summarized in six statements:
- In our culture, most person are one of six personality
types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising,
and Conventional.
- People
of the same personality tend to "flock together." For
example, Artistic people are attracted to making
friends and working with Artistic people.
- 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.
- There
are six basic types of work environments: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising,
and Conventional.
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.
If your two strongest personality types are Realistic
and Social, Investigative and Enterprising, or
Artistic and Conventional -- read
the following.
In summary, you are most likely to choose a satisfying
job if you choose one that fits your personality
type.
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