ACA 111 College Student Success

If you do not know yourself, how can you possibly know what you want to do for a career? The first phase of career and life planning involves answering the question, “Who Am I?” This phase entails taking time to study yourself in depth and understanding things such as: 

• What motivates you? 
• What do you like doing? 
• What do you not like doing? 
• What work environments energize you and what environments drain you? 
• What are your character strengths and what skills do you have or can you acquire that employers will pay you for? 

Holland Code Assessment

One way to get an idea of what type of work will suit you best, is to take an assessment. There are many different types of assessments to help you figure out your preferences, personality, and interests. The Holland Code of Occupational Interest (HCOI), or Holland Code, was developed by American psychologist, Dr. John L. Holland in the early 1950s. The Holland Code includes six major personality or interest types. The idea is for a person to use the codes to help them better understand which career fields or work environments most closely align with their interests. When you choose a career or work environment that aligns with your interests, you are more likely to thrive and succeed. ^[1][2]

The six Holland types are: 

1. Realistic 
2. Investigative 
3. Artistic 
4. Social 
5. Enterprising 
6. Conventional 

These six types are sometimes referred to by the acronym RIASEC. Read over the different RIASEC characteristics and work environments below and consider your first, second, and third choice interests. 

1. Realistic: These people describe themselves as honest, loyal, and practical. They are doers more than thinkers. They have strong mechanical, motor, and athletic abilities; like the outdoors; and prefer working with machines, tools, plants, and animals. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others. 


2. Investigative: These people love problem solving and analytical skills. They are intellectually stimulated and often mathematically or scientifically inclined; like to observe, learn, and evaluate; prefer working alone; and are reserved. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally. 


3. Artistic: These people are the “free spirits.” They are creative, emotional, intuitive, and idealistic; have a flair for communicating ideas; dislike structure and prefer working independently; and like to sing, write, act, paint, and think creatively. They are similar to the investigative type but are interested in the artistic and aesthetic aspects of things more than the scientific. Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules. 


4. Social: These are “people” people. They are friendly and outgoing; love to help others, make a difference, or both; have strong verbal and personal skills and teaching abilities; and are less likely to engage in intellectual or physical activity. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others. 


5. Enterprising: These people are confident, assertive risk takers. They are sociable; enjoy speaking and leadership; like to persuade rather than guide; like to use their influence; have strong interpersonal skills; and are status conscious. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business. 


6. Conventional: These people are dependable, detail oriented, disciplined, precise, persistent, and practical; value order; and are good at clerical and numerical tasks. They work well with people and data, so they are good organizers, schedulers, and project managers. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow. 

Exploring Careers and Your Occupational Type 

Now that you have an idea of the different code types, you can begin to explore the types of careers that may be best suited for you. Dr. Holland studied people who were successful and happy in many occupations and matched their occupations to their occupational type, creating a description of the types of occupations that are best suited to each personality type. Just as many individuals are more than one personality type, many jobs show a strong correlation to more than one occupational type.

You can use the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET Online website (https://www.onetonline.org) to see occupations categorized by RIASEC code. From the O*NET webpage, find the section that allows you to Browse by O*NET Data. One of the data points listed is Interests. The six RIASEC or Holland code types are listed on the page with brief descriptions. Choose a code type to see a list of occupations associated with that code.  

Additionally, O*NET provides free access to an Interest Profiler, which is an assessment tool built using the Holland codes.

Once you complete the Interest Profiler, you can use the Holland codes it provides to better understand what types of work environments might suit you best. You will typically record the three codes with the highest assigned value and use those as your Holland code. In addition to Holland codes, the profiler assigns careers to five Job Zones, which are groups of careers that need the same level of experience, education, and training. The profiler will inquire how much training and education you are comfortable with pursuing to better match job types with your interest profile.

For example, you may receive the following scores for each code:

• Realistic: 16
• Investigative: 3
• Artistic: 3
• Social: 9
• Enterprising: 1
• Conventional: 25

In this case, your Holland Code would be CRS (Conventional, Realistic, Social) with conventional (C) scoring highest with 25, followed by realistic (R) scoring 16, then social (S) with a score of 9.

Self-assessment is an important piece of the puzzle when trying to figure out your major and career interests. After having thought about your personality and interests in terms of the Holland Code (RAISEC), you are better equipped to answer the question, “Who Am I?” While self-discovery can take a lifetime as you go through different experiences and life circumstances, you now have some information that perhaps you did not have before. Though your “codes” may change slightly over time, understanding more about your preferences and interests right now, and how they relate to various careers and work environments, you will have a better understanding of where to start.

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