Running head: WHO AM I? 1
Who am I
Marguerite Mesure
Liberty University
WHO AM I? 2
Who am I
Career Instrument Results
According to Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey (2017), the process of career development is
comprised of seven continuous decision-making cycles or steps. The second step entails learning
about and evaluating interests, abilities, values, skills, personality traits, and any other factor that
can influence a person’s vocational self-concept (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). Formal and
informal assessments can be useful in identifying these traits. For my personal career assessment,
I completed the O*NET interest profiler (National Center for O*Net Development, n.d.) as my
formal assessment and the Value Sort (Liberty University, n.d.) as my informal assessment to
explore my values, interests, and vocational traits.
O*NET Interest Profiler
The O*NET interest profiler provided me with my Holland vocational personality type
profile. I found it interesting that my scores were not as diverse as I thought they would be.
Holland states that each of the six personality types is a model based on coping mechanisms,
psychological needs, and motives, self-concepts, life history, vocational and educational goals,
preferred occupational roles, aptitudes, and intelligence (Gothard, B., Mignot, P., Offer, M., &
Ruff, M., 2001). I was not surprised that My highest score was 35 in the social type, as I have
always enjoyed activities that involved teaching, problem-solving, and helping others. Holland
describes the social personality as someone who is humanistic, idealistic, responsible and
concerned with the welfare of others and who prefers activities that inform, train, develop, cure
or enlighten others (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). Social types are generally focused on
human relationships and enjoy social activities and solving interpersonal problems seeking
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opportunities to work as part of a team, solve problems through discussions and utilize
interpersonal skills (National Center for O*Net Development, n.d.). Social personality types
view themselves as good communicators, understanding, helpful, cheerful, and skilled in
teaching (National Center for O*Net Development, n.d.). The preferred work environment of the
social type encourages teamwork and allows for significant interaction with others (National
Center for O*Net Development, n.d.). Holland felt that these tendencies correlated with the
development of interpersonal and educational skills often found in careers like social workers,
counselors, and teachers (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017).
I was surprised that my second highest score was 25 for the Artistic personality type.
Although I enjoy a variety of crafts, drawing, painting, and writing, I never envisioned these
interests as vocational. Holland describes artistic individuals as preferring the more unorganized
original, natural and imaginative activities, such as composting or playing music, writing,
drawing, painting, and acting in or directing stage productions (National Center for O*Net
Development, n.d.). Artistic types are generally impulsive and emotional and tend to
communicate in a very expressive and open manner seeking opportunities for self-expression
through artistic creation (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). I find this to very true of myself in
that much of my art and writing are expressions of emotions I may have difficulty verbally
communicating.
My third highest score was 22 in the Investigative personality type. This seemed
congruent to my affinity for solving puzzles, researching new information, and my love of the
earth and human sciences (not chemistry). Holland describes investigative people as those who
prefer logic, value science and learning, solving highly complex, abstract problems, and working
autonomously (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). I can see these traits have impacted my past and
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current career choices, just like the social type traits have. I can also see how I have incorporated
my artistic characteristics into my work without even realizing I was.
Value Sort
The most important value I identified from the Value Sort list was helping other people. I
am not entirely altruistic about helping others. Helping people gives me a sense of self-worth; it
makes me feel important to another person. Feeling valued or appreciated is crucial to me
because it is something I did not have growing up, and I lack currently in my family situation. I
have also been in situations where I was not able to help myself (as a child from my abuser, and
as an adult after my spinal cord injury) and I know what it is like to be denied help and also to
receive support. When I am able to help someone with even the smallest task, it brings me such
joy. I have not experienced any other type of activity that gives me the same kind of satisfaction.
My second most important value was that my work is meaningful. It is important to me
that I can improve somebody's quality of life. I can do this directly by helping an individual
person or collectively through prayer, advocacy, and promoting social programs. I believe that
doing work that is meaningful gives my life meaning. Growing up in an abusive home often
made me feel as if I had no purpose and that my life had no meaning to the people around me. I
often think that even as a middle-aged adult, I am still trying to prove to myself that I have a
purpose and that what I do can have meaning to someone else. If I can improve someone's life in
any way, then I feel like I have a purpose.
Personal Reactions
I was conflicted that the social personality type was my highest score. According to the
National Center for O*Net Development, people with social interests enjoy working with people
more than with objects, and like helping people learn and grow (National Center for O*Net
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Development, n.d.). Holland’s description of the social personality type is that they tend to be
sociable, responsible, religious, have good verbal and interpersonal skills, and prefer to solve
problems through feelings (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). I do not consider myself as a social
person, but in light of these descriptions, I can say I do have many of the characteristics of the
social personality. I am most comfortable with interpersonal relationships when I am in the
position of teacher, therapist, or helper but much less comfortable in a group of peers.
I agree that I fit the investigative personality type because I have always enjoyed solving
problems and puzzles. I am not sure that I have unconventional values and attitudes as described
by Hollander, but I do look outside-the-box when trying to solve problems (Niles & Harris-
Bowlsbey, 2017). O*NET describes people with investigative interests as liking to work with
ideas and thinking rather than physical activity or leading people (National Center for O*Net
Development, n.d.). I feel that my interests in problem-solving often revolves around helping
people solve their problems; my work as an Occupational Therapist required a lot of problem-
solving skills as well as the ability to teach people how to do activities and problem-solving tasks
differently than they had in the past.
Hollander describes the artistic personality as being more introverted, having less
conventional values, and has a need for individualistic expression. I do consider myself
introverted. I am uncomfortable in social situations, and much prefer interacting with people
one-to-one. I also find myself to be very conventional and prefer to blend into a crowd than to
stand out in one. Although I enjoy artistic pursuits as a hobby, I have never considered myself
artistic, and my art and writings are more for my personal use rather than something I want to
share with others.
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The three Hollander codes that I scored lowest on were realistic, enterprising, and
conventional. O*NET describes the realistic type as someone who likes work that is practical,
hands-on, but does not like working closely with others. I was conflicted about this description,
but I felt Hollander's description of being physically strong, unsociable, aggressive, lacking
verbal skills, and having good motor coordination to make more sense as to why I scored very
low in this personality type (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). Hollander describes enterprising
personality to be leading, likes ambiguous social tasks, and has great concern for power and
status (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). I do not feel that these qualities describe me, so I agree
with the O*NET score being very low in this category. Hollander describes the conventional type
to be very conforming, likes well-structured tasks, values material possessions, and status prefers
structured verbal and numerical activities (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017). I do feel that I am
rather conforming, but I do not think that I match any of the other descriptions used by Hollander
for this type.
External Influences
I noticed, while I was taking both tests, that I don't think my interests, values, or attitude
have changed much since I was in college back in the 1980s. I feel like my childhood
experiences strongly influenced my responses to both assessments. My desire to help others
because no one helped me has been instrumental in every important decision I have made in my
life. I feel that gender roles and socio-cultural expectations influenced me; as a woman, I grew
up to value being able to care for others. My elementary school did not offer sports for girls, and
in high school, there were limited sports available; girls were encouraged to volunteer in
hospitals and nursing homes as "candy strippers." I do not feel that external factors influenced
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my responses to either test; however, they are subjective, and I could see that they may be
affected by factors like illness or distractions.
Conclusion
I feel as though the O*NET assessment was very accurate in assessing my interests,
personality traits, and skills, and I agree with the results. I did feel better about the results after
reading Hollander's descriptions of the different personality traits vs. the O*NET descriptions. I
felt as though there was a good correlation between the Value Sort results and the O*NET
results. I think that my top values of helping other people and doing meaningful work fit the
social and investigative personality types from the O*NET assessment. The values of inner
harmony and personal development (which were in my top five) may match with the artistic
traits as described by O*NET.
The occupations of interest associated with my Hollander scores include both my former
career as an Occupational Therapist and my current ambition of being a Licensed Professional
Counselor. This congruency reinforces my belief that my values and interests have not changed
significantly over my lifetime. The Artistic personality type is congruent to my hobbies and
leisure interests. I had great job satisfaction in my 25 years as an Occupational Therapist. I found
my career to be fulfilling, fun, and rewarding. I have every expectation that a career as a
Licensed Professional Counselor will be equally rewarding.
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References
Gothard, B., Mignot, P., Offer, M., & Ruff, M. (2001). Careers guidance in context. Thousand
Oaks, California, SAGE Publications Inc. ISBN: 0761969055
Liberty University. (n. d.). Career inventory instructions. Liberty University. Retrieved from
https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/launchLink.jsp?
course_id=_430393_1&content_id=_23888665_1&mode=view
National Center for O*Net Development. O*Net Interest Profiler. My Next Move. Retrieved
from http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
Niles, S. G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2017). Career development interventions (5th ed). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. ISBN: 9780134055824
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