PSYC 3377 Chapter 18: Career Choices

Chapter 18: Career Choices: So You Want To Be A What?

• All lectures are being audio recorded.
• All content sourced from Salkind, Tests and Measurement 3e, SAGE Publishing (2018), unless otherwise noted.

What Do You Want to Be?

• Reference: Salkind, Tests and Measurement 3e, SAGE Publishing, 2018.

Career Development Evaluation

• Also known as:
    - Vocational testing or assessment
    - Employment evaluation
• Goal:
    - Help individuals understand how their interests and personal attributes align with career or employment opportunities.
  

Examination of Interests and Satisfaction

• Purpose:
    - Examine individuals’ interests and identify factors that provide high levels of job and life satisfaction.
• Factors combined with test results include:
    - Personality
    - Values
    - Desires

Quotation on Career Counseling

• “The last thing about career counseling is the career—it’s all about the person.” - Tom Kreishok

Strong Interest Inventory (SII)

• Historical Context:
    - Developed by Strong in 1928 as the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) for military personnel job placement.
    - Current name: Strong Interest Inventory (SII).
• Methodology:
    - Asked individuals about their likes and dislikes in:
      - Various occupations
      - Areas of study
      - Personality types
      - Leisure activities
    - Compared test takers’ responses with those of individuals in specific vocational roles.

SII - Six General Occupational Themes

1. Realistic:
      - Preference for practical, hands-on activities (e.g., Carpenter, roofer, builder).
2. Investigative:
      - Interest in problem-solving (e.g., Biologist, engineer, forensic scientist).
3. Artistic:
      - Enjoyment of self-expression (e.g., Musician, filmmaker).
4. Social:
      - Desire to help others (e.g., Teachers, social workers, psychologists).
5. Enterprising:
      - Preference for self-management activities (e.g., Sales, management, advertising).
6. Conventional:
      - Preference for structure and order (e.g., Data analysts, secretaries, accountants).

John Holland's Six Themes

• Vocational Themes:
    - Social
    - Enterprising
    - Artistic
    - Conventional
    - Investigative
    - Realistic
• Reference Figure:
    - Figure 18.1 illustrates Holland's Six Vocational Themes and their interrelationships.

Holland Self-Directed Search (SDS)

• Arrangement of Themes:
    - Themes organized in a hexagonal shape.
    - Adjacent themes are similar; opposite themes are dissimilar.
• Characteristics of SDS:
    - Self-administered
    - Self-scored
    - Self-interpreted

Holland Code

• Results from SDS:
    - Test takers receive a three-character code (e.g., RES).
    - Each letter represents the most to least resembling types:
      - R: Realistic
      - E: Enterprising
      - S: Social
    - Types excluded indicate the lowest resemblance to the test taker.

Holland Code Career Model

• Reference Figure:
    - Figure 18.2 depicts the Holland Code Career Model which correlates aspects of business and social service with interests in arts, ideas, data, things, and technical or scientific fields.

Career Counseling Fundamentals

• Insights from Richard Nelson Boles:
    - Five rules for taking vocational tests:
      1. Not all tests are suitable for all individuals.
      2. No test is universally applicable.
      3. Trust your intuition.
      4. Individual uniqueness matters.
      5. Remember, the outcome represents only a score.

Types of Career/Vocational Tests

• Table 18.1: Five Widely Used Career Development Tests

1. Strong Interest Inventory (SII)

• Purpose: Identifies areas of interest and specific occupations.
• Age range: Ages 16 through adult.
• Conceptual Framework: Based on Holland's occupational themes.
• Interesting Notes:
    1. Men’s form since 1927; women’s form followed in 1933.
    2. Personal Style Scale indicates leadership style and interpersonal abilities.
  

2. Self-Directed Search (SDS)

• Purpose: Identifies vocational preferences and competencies.
• Age range: Ages 12 through adult.
• Conceptual Framework: Based on Holland's personality typology.
• Interesting Notes:
    1. Includes translations in multiple languages (e.g., Chinese, Finnish).
    2. Braille editions available.

3. Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS)

• Purpose: Ranks promising occupations and college majors based on interest patterns.
• Age range: Grade 10 through adult.
• Interesting Notes:
    1. Collects data on dependability, vocational interest estimates, and college majors.
    2. Predictions of future job satisfaction based on interest validity are emphasized.

4. Armed Services-Civilian Vocational Interest Survey (ASVIS)

• Purpose: Helps in organizing interests related to military and civilian careers.
• Age range: High school through adult.
• Interesting Notes:
    1. Test takers choose preferences from triads of activities.
    2. An audiotape guide is available for interpreting results.

5. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS)

• Purpose: Measures interests and skills yielding comprehensive profiles.
• Age range: Ages 15 years through adult.
• Interesting Notes:
    1. Comprises 200 interest items and 120 skill items.
    2. Results generate a comprehensive report.
    3. Emphasizes self-reported data to aid career planning.