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Explore Your Interests

One of the best ways to explore careers is to identify your interests and then investigate occupations that would satisfy a number of them. This can be done informally by writing down a list of work activities and hobbies that you enjoy. This can be done formally through assessments such as the Strong Interest Inventory (SII), available through the Career Center. The SII is based on the work of John Holland, who identified six areas that capture most people's interests. The areas are Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Typically, a student would read about these categories or take the SII and identify his or her "top 3" interest areas. These letters would then form the student's Holland code.

Career specialists have been able to designate Holland codes for occupations as well. By matching a personal Holland code with the Holland code of an occupation, a student is likely to be more satisfied in that career than by choosing an occupation outside his or her interests.

For example, if Nadja, a student with high Artistic, Enterprising and Social (A-E-S) interests were to research occupations by Holland code, she would discover Book Editor listed as A-E-S. This means that Nadja, who is creative, likes to interact with and lead people, and work in the public interest, might connect with this career field. A related occupation, such as Dean of Students, has the Holland code S-E-A. Here, the emphasis on working on the public's behalf outweighs the creative element; hence the highest and lowest letters are switched. However, there is some element of creativity in this occupation, reflected in the presence of the letter A.

To explore your interests, identify your top 3 areas:

Realistic
Investigative
Artistic
Social
Enterprising
Conventional

or use the information above that you already compiled!! 1: ________ 2: ________ 3: _________

To connect your interests to occupations, try CareerZone, produced by the New York State Department of Labor.

To explore occupations that interest you, consider conducting information interviews with professionals in the field and gaining experience through part-time, volunteer or internship opportunities.

For assistance with the career exploration process, contact Stacy H. Brown (shbrown@ds9.umd.edu), Career Center Program Director for Arts and Humanities.