John L. Holland and the Self-Directed Search - Essay Example

John L. Holland and the Self-Directed Search John L. Holland developed a theory of personality that is still being used in career settings today. The instrument he developed is called the "Self Directed Search" and is one of several personality tests an individual can take to help understand themselves better. Holland saw this as a guide to a person's educational and career planning as they go throughout their lives. Holland worked as an interviewer for the military and observed that most people he interviewed had common personality types. He created six categories from this work that he felt all people fell into and extensive research has been done to show it's validity. Holland had several basic assumptions for this theory: People choose careers based on their personalities. An interest inventory can serve as a personality test because "perceived abilities, anticipated success and expected satisfaction defines success" (Ferguson). Vocational stereotypes have important psychological meaning. We all use six different personality types to evaluate ourselves and most people are a combination of these types. There are also six working environments that are dominated by one of these types. Career behavior like success, satisfaction and job stability can "reasonably" be predicted by looking at their P/E (personality/environment) (Ferguson). Holland believed that if a person could match their work environment with their personality they would have a better chance for success. The six Holland "codes" or "types" are as follows: Realistic --realistic people generally like occupations that work with tools, machines and other materials. Investigative-- investigative people generally like to use their mind to problem solve and tend to like analytical or intellectual activities. Artistic -- artistic people tend to do creative work and you'll mostly find them in the arts of some sort that are "unstructured and intellectual endeavors." Social -- social people tend to enjoy working with people in a helping or facilitative capacity. Enterprising -- enterprising people tend to work with people in a supervisory or persuasive way "to achieve some organizational goal." Conventional -- conventional people tend to work with things, numbers or machines to meet the predictable needs of an organization (Holland Dictionary 6) When a person takes the Self-Directed Search, they look at the three highest scores from the six. These three form the "code" for each individual. Once they have this code, they can then take the code to the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes and find thousands of careers that have that code. Significant to his theory is the Occupational Congruency Model: This is Holland's Occupational Congruency Model (Western Carolina University) Holland understood that each personality type had a relationship with the others and he built this information into a hexagon that shows their relationship. He says that the types that are adjacent to each other are the ones that have the most in common with each other. As an example, the Artistic type shares a connection wit the Social and the Investigative type. It also has some relationship with the Social and Enterprising types. The purpose of the hexagon was to make it easier to see these relationships (Western Carolina University). Holland also translated these same types into work environments. He said that those people who found work in the environment that was similar to their personality type were most successful. The six work environments are: Artistic -- the artistic work environment is full of mechanical or electrical drawings, work with tools and animals in their day to day work. Some of the c careers that match this are Police Officer, Carpenter, Electrician and Locksmith. Investigative-- this work environment is often scientific or research oriented. These individuals like labs and intellectual work. Some of the careers that apply here are Chemist, Biologist, Mathematician, Physician, and Forensic Scientist. Artistic -- the artistic environment will be where you find dancers, artists, writers and other creative types. It will be a space where people can express themselves. Careers in this field include Writer, Editor, Musician and Comedian. Social -- the social environment will be friendly and helpful. Most Counselors, Teachers, Dental Hygienists and Librarians are in social environments. Enterprising -- this environment will be for leaders and those who are energetic and ambitious. The careers in this category include Judges, Travel Agents, Lawyers and others. Conventional -- this environment will be detailed and orderly. Careers that work in this environment will include Bankers, Lawyers, Mail Carriers and Time keepers. (The Career Key) Holland felt that this information could apply to all people in some way and many people today have taken the Self-Directed search once they found a career and found it to be true for them. HOW THIS THEORY APPLIES TODAY Across the country many career centers, job centers and counseling offices have several career inventories that students take in order to help them find a career and/or job. The Self-Directed Search is one of those and it is one of the less expensive ones for students to use. It is a simple paper-pencil test or it can be taken online. The test generally takes only 30 minutes and many centers use it as one of the beginning tools for students to use. According to HollandCodes.com the test is "used by 22 million people worldwide." The test is also simple to take and simple to score. When a student comes to a career center and is having difficulty finding their way through careers, this test can give them a good start in starting to look at various careers. The way I relate to this test is that it is simple, easy to use and gives a lot of information in a short time. I don't like tests that take forever to score and are difficult to understand. The hexagon is easy to understand and the different types and work environments make sense. CASE STUDY Maggie is a 48 year old female who was looking for a new career. She spent most of her adult life working with people in education and she wants to look at something different. She thought about going to a Career Coach, but they seem to cost a lot of money, so she decided to explore the information on her own. Maggie likes to do research so she went to her public library to find out about career testing. A librarian told her to go to the local community college where she could get three career tests that would help her make a decision; one of them was the Self-Directed Search. Maggie took the SDS and found out she was an ASE. The counselor told her that the SDS described the things she liked, her interests and some of her activities. She agreed. Most of the careers under this code fit her. In fact, she had done some of these at other times. The counselor further explained that the first letter of the code showed the type that she most closely resembled. The others were the match for her. With this information in hand, Maggie looked at the Dictionary of Holland Codes and was overwhelmed by what she saw. Some of the careers that interested her were Composer, Story Editor and teacher. She also looked at the other ways the code could be used (at the recommendation of her counselor) and in the AES category, she liked Actor, Editor. There were so many things to research that she spent the next two weeks looking at various careers. The counselor also suggested that she go and talk to someone already in her field of interest. She had five career interviews. After she did the interviews and took a few more career tests, she identified that she really didn't want a job per se, but she really wanted to do something meaning full. She decided that she wanted to be a writer. Along the way, she found Barbara Sher, a Career Coach that had many classes she could in writing and a website for support. She enrolled. Now Maggie is happily pursuing her interest in writing. She found that that for her the SDS was a valuable career tool. Works Cited Ferguson, Isaac. "Holland's Theory Discussed" Suite 101. 18 Sept. 2000. 24 March 2008. Gottfredson, Gary D. and Holland, John L. Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes. 2nd ed. Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1889. Holland, John. "The Development of the Self-Directed Search." 24 March 2008. HollandCodes.com. "Price List". 24 March 2008. . Jones, Lawrence K. "Holland's Six Work Environments" The Career Key. 24 March 2008. Western Carolina University. "John Holland's Occupational Congruency Model." 24 March 2008. Read More