Holland Codes

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The Holland hexagon created by John L. Holland

The Holland Codes or the Holland Occupational Themes (RIASEC) represents a set of personality types described in a theory of careers and vocational choice formulated by the late psychologist John L. Holland.[1] Each of the six types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional)[2] reflect Holland's theory that "the choice of a vocation is an expression of personality." [3] According to the Committee on Scientific Awards, "his research shows that personalities seek out and flourish in career environments they fit and that jobs and career environments are classifiable by the personalities that flourish in them."[1]

In addition to high school and college career centers, Holland's model has been adopted by the United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration as the free O*NET occupation online catalog.

Contents

[edit] Overview

John L. Holland's typology provides an interpretative structure for a number of different vocational interest surveys, including the two measures he developed: The Vocational Preference Inventory in 1953[1] and the Self Directed Search (SDS) in 1970 (revised in 1977, 1985, and 1994).[1] Holland continued to work on his theory after his retirement from Johns Hopkins in 1980, finally revising it once again in 1997.[1] He also worked with Gary Gottfredson on a a few new inventories. In 1991, they developed the Position Classification Inventory (PCI) which was an outgrowth of their attempt to extend the system to all occupations in 1982, 1989, and 1996.[1] Later in 1994, they developed the The Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory.[1]

Holland's theory does not assume that a person is just one type or that there are "only six types of people in the world." [3] Instead, he suggests that any person could be described as having interests associated with each of the six types in a descending order of preference. This assumption allows the Holland Codes to be used to describe 64 (26) different personality patterns. As the theory is applied in interest inventories and job classifications, it is usually only the top two or three most dominant codes that are used for vocational guidance. In presenting his theory, Holland graphically represented the six types as arrayed on a hexagon. This graphic representation serves to describe the empirically determined correlations between the types. The shorter the distance between their corners on the hexagon, the more closely they are related.[3]

[edit] Sample professions

The following professions are listed by a dominant category.

[edit] Doer (Realistic)

Working with one's hands/body, with tools, machines, and things; practical, mechanically inclined, and physical:

[edit] Thinker (Investigative)

Working with theory and information, analytical, intellectual, scientific:

[edit] Creator (Artistic)

Non-conforming, original, independent, chaotic, creative:

[edit] Helper (Social)

Cooperative/non-competitive environments, supporting, helping, healing/nurturing:

[edit] Persuader (Enterprising)

Competitive environments, status, hierarchy, leading, persuading, selling, dominating:

[edit] Organizer (Conventional)

Precise, perfect attention to detail, orderly, organizing, likes to work with data, status:

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g John L. Holland: Award for Distinguished Applications of Psychology
  2. ^ Johns Hopkins University (Self-Assessment)
  3. ^ a b c Holland, Choices: a theory of careers. Prentice-Hall, 1973.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

General Overview:

Careers

College Majors

Free Tests:

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