Conventional Personality
Conventional Personality Type
Originally by Lawrence K. Jones, Ph.D., NCC — Professor Emeritus of Counselor Education, North Carolina State University. Updated by Juliet Jones-Vlasceanu, GCDF, J.D. — President & CEO, Career Key. Last reviewed August 2026.
Likes to work with numbers, records, or machines in a set, orderly way; generally avoids ambiguous, unstructured activities
Is good at working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way;
Values success in business; and
Sees self as orderly, and good at following a set plan.
Conventional Type: Work Environment
Persons having a Conventional personality type "dominate" this environment. There are more of them than there are people of other personality types. For example, in an office of a bank or real estate company there will be more persons having a "Conventional" personality than there will be people who have a Artistic type.
"Conventional" people create a "Conventional" environment. For example, they particularly value people who are orderly, and good at following a set plan -- good at working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way.
Examples of occupations that have a Conventional environment are:
Bank Teller
Bookkeeper
Court Clerk
Mail Carrier
Post Office Clerk
Secretary
Timekeeper
Title Examiner
Typist
The two work environments that are closest to the Conventional type are Realistic and Enterprising. The farthest away is the Artistic type.
References
1. Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Psychological Assessment Resources.
2. Nauta, M. M. (2010). The development, evolution, and status of Holland’s theory of vocational personalities: Reflections and future directions for counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(1), 11–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018213
3. Tracey, T. J., & Rounds, J. (1993). Evaluating Holland’s and Gati’s vocational-interest models: A structural meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 113(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.113.2.229