Relating Your Inventory results to the Holland Career Model & Job Codes

Dr. John Holland is the most famous developer of career inventories. His Holland Job Codes and Career Models have influenced many later inventories. The following summary information will help you to see the relationships between your Career Guide results and the classifications developed by Dr. Holland.

You will remember that the introduction to your Career Guide Results referred to people being grouped loosely into four categories according to whether they would enjoy working with People, Data, Ideas or Things (objects especially equipment and machinery). In addition to these four very broad areas, Holland’s work led him to divide careers into six categories based on the types of work they required and the types of people they attracted. Below we will provide you with a brief description of each of the Holland categories and help you to make the connection between each type and the Career Guide Clusters. You must remember that although there are six types, some persons may be attracted to jobs in more than one category. Also some of the jobs included in a particular Holland group may be found in more than one Career Guide cluster. Some jobs found in one Career Guide Cluster may also be spread over different Holland Career Types. In some cases, the sections of a cluster that are more relevant than others to the Holland Type, will be underlined

Career Guide Clusters Holland’s Six Career Types
The Career Guide clusters in which you will find most jobs from this Holland group are:

Cluster 1 – The Engineering, Construction & Design

Cluster 2 – Transport & Travel

Cluster 3 – Animals, Plants & Agriculture

Cluster 15 – Information, Communication & Computer Services

Cluster 16 –Mining & Manufacturing

 Realistic – Persons attracted to these careers tend to

  • Understand and prefer things they can see, touch, and use like plants and animals, tools, equipment, or machines
  • Be skilled in handling tools, equipment, machines, diagrams, numbers etc.
  • Prefer working with animals, tools, or machines rather than social activities like teaching, healing, and informing others;
  • See themselves as logical, practical, mechanical and realistic rather than imaginative, creative or comfortable being in close contact with others
The Career Guide clusters in which you will find most jobs from this Holland group are:

Cluster 3 – Animals, Plants, & agriculture

Cluster 4 – Science, Technology & the Environment

Cluster 11 – Health & Medicine

Cluster 12 – Legal, National & Security Services

Cluster 15 – Information, Communication & Computer Services

 Investigative – Persons attracted to these careers tend to

  • Understand and prefer logical processes and calculations such as those encountered in math & science problems;
  • Be good at applying analytical tools used in investigation and scientific processes
  • Prefer working with scientific principles,concepts and chemical / physical substances, rather than leading selling or persuading people
  • See themselves as precise, scientific, and logical
The Career Guide clusters in which you will find most jobs from this Holland group are:

Cluster 8 – Media, Journalism & Entertainment

Cluster 13 – Visual & Applied Arts & Crafts

Cluster 1 – Engineering, Construction & Design

Cluster 6 – Business Management Services

 Artistic – Persons attracted to these careers tend to

  • Understand and prefer creative activities like art, drama, crafts, dance, music, or creative writing
  • Be talented in specific artistic areas such as creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art;
  • Prefer work which involves creative processes using imagination, innovation and design rather than working with tangible, logical processes or with calculations and scientific problems
  • See themselves as expressive, original, and independent
The Career Guide clusters in which you will find most jobs from this Holland group are:

Cluster 7 – Social Work & Human Services

Cluster 9 – Education

Cluster 12 – Legal, National & Security Services

Cluster 11 – Health & Medicine

Cluster 5 – Food, Hospitality & Tourism

 Social – Persons attracted to these careers tend to

  • Understand people’s needs and actions and prefer careers which permit them to use this to help people in various ways
  • Be good at dealing with people and responding to their needs
  • Prefer work which involves interacting with people and helping them in roles like, teaching, nursing, or giving first aid, providing information, rather than working with machines, tools, or animals
  • See themselves as helpful, friendly, and trustworthy.
The Career Guide clusters in which you will find most jobs from this Holland group are:

Cluster 6 – Business Management Services

Cluster 2 – Transportation & Travel

Cluster 12 – Legal, National & Security Services

Cluster 9 – Education

 Enterprising – Persons attracted to these careers tend to

  • Understand how to lead and persuade people, selling things and ideas
  • Prefer work which involves influencing people rather than carrying out activities that require careful observation and scientific, analytical thinking;
  • Be good at leading people and selling things or ideas;
  • See themselves in politics, leadership, or business and as energetic, ambitious & sociable
The Career Guide clusters in which you will find most jobs from this Holland group are:

Cluster 1 – Engineering, Construction & Design

Cluster 2 – Transport & Travel

Cluster 4 – Science, Technology & Environment

Cluster 6 – Business Management Services

Cluster 16 -Mining & Manufacturing

Cluster 3 – Animals, Plants & Agriculture

 Conventional – Persons attracted to these careers tend to

  • Like working with numbers, records, or machines in a set, orderly way rather than dealing with imaginative or unstructured activities
  • Be good at working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way
  • See themselves as orderly and good at following a set plan
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