Career Appraisal

Abstract

<p>The increasing specialization of today's more diverse and technologically advanced labor market challenges employees and job seekers alike to continually evaluate their career choices and engage in career appraisal. The development of a comprehensive career plan is essential in understanding one's interests, attributes, abilities, and values necessary to fit into this everchanging vocational environment. Moreover, adults find themselves reconsidering previous career choices as they develop new interests or as the job market shifts. Of all these domains, vocational interests serve as the cornerstone of any career plan. John Holland's theory provides an avenue for classifying vocational interests into six categories (RIASEC): Realistic (working outdoors, building, repairing); Investigative (researching, analyzing, inquiring); Artistic (creating or enjoying art, drama, music, writing); Social (helping, instructing), Enterprising (persuading, selling, managing); and Conventional (accounting, organizing, processing data). Interest inventories such as the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) and the Campbell Interests and Skills Survey (CISS) can help users learn which combination of the RIASEC categories describes their vocational interests. Choosing work environments that align with areas of interest is more likely to increase job satisfaction.</p>