How to use O*Net Interest Profiler, a FREE career test & career research tips. Results are “Holland Codes” used in career counseling to better understand your interests.
Why take this FREE career test?
- Identify strengths and weaknesses
- Gain new perspective
- Get focused—eliminate bad options
- This can save TIME and MONEY, especially for students!
The O*Net Interest Profiler is FREE and you don’t have to login or give your email address, and it takes less than 5 minutes.
What is O*Net?
It’s like Wikipedia—for careers! O*Net is the Occupational Information Network, a free online database of occupation definitions by the United States Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) and other federal agencies including the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Occupation descriptions for hundreds of (as of this time, 974) different positions include: salary range, education level & common requirements, skills, duties, career outlook (forecasted growth rate) of position.
What are Holland Codes?
You can search for positions by the results from the assessment. Results are given in “Holland Codes”, named for their creator, American psychologist John L. Holland. Holland Codes have continued to grow in popularity since their introduction in the late 1950s and are commonly used by career counselors/career advisors. Many career tests, including the Strong Interest Inventory, give results using Holland Codes.
Holland Codes have been around for so long that different names are used for them, which are often used interchangeably by different resources. Holland codes classify careers according to interests/preferences. In O*Net, they are called Interest Codes and groups of jobs that are sorted by similar interest codes are called Interest Clusters. Other sources refer to Holland Codes as Job Categories and/or Work Personality Environments.
Holland codes are most useful for: career transition and career planning, which is especially useful for students. When a student is focused on a career path, an education plan can be made to increase motivation and save time and money. (More information for students can be found here: careerprepacademy.com)
What Holland Codes mean:
- R=Realistic (Doers) Hands-on; practical rather than theoretical. Prefers to work with THINGS rather than ideas or people.
- I=Investigative (Thinkers) Intellectual, analytical, logical. Prefers working with Solves problems, performs experiments, and conducts research.
- A=Artistic (Creators) Creative, intuitive, non-conforming, innovative. Prefers unstructured environment/lack of rules and CREATIVITY/IDEAS.
- S=Social (Helpers) Service-oriented, teaching, helping, coordination, and cooperation. Prefers working with PEOPLE.
- E=Enterprising (Persuaders) Dominant, persuasive, and motivational. Prefers public speaking/leadership and ADVENTURE/RISK/STATUS.
- C=Conventional (Organizers) Efficient, organized, and detail-oriented. Prefers precision and accuracy in a work environment with STRUCTURE/RULES.
Although you will most likely have one dominant interest, the combination of your top 3 highest interests/scores will be even more useful.
This is a brief summary; additional detail of each code is available on Wikipedia. Your personalized results from the assessment will have the best information that pertains specifically to you.
How to take the FREE Career Test:
Go to: http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
Or, by going to the main page at mynextmove.org, on the right side of the page, click “Start” under the section marked “I’m not really sure.”
For best results, DON’T think about the level of education or training required, or how much money you could earn doing the job duties described in each question. Just respond according to how much you would you like or dislike doing the work.
DO NOT FORGET TO SAVE YOUR RESULTS!
Printing your results is recommended. Printed results include your chart and a description of each Interest Code. If you are in a group setting, you can type your name into the results page so that your results page printout will already have your name included.
How to return with your results:
You can return to the O*Net Interest Profiler http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip, and click the button marked “Enter scores”.
Your top 3 dominant scores (also referred to as interest codes) can be used to find careers on My Next Move and O*Net.
In the results of your assessment, careers are sorted in descending order by best fit according to your interests. Results are further refined by “Job zones”. A description of O*Net’s Job zones can be found after the results page.
Descriptions of Job zones:
More detail on each Job zone is available on the O*Net Interest Profiler. For most career planning purposes (including choice of a college major), we recommend using Job zones 3-5.
- Job zone 1: Little or no preparation needed. High school education is not always required (Most “first jobs” are this level). Average positions include: retail/Food service, manual labor, some construction positions.
- Job zone 2: Some preparation needed. High School/GED usually required (Previous work experience). Example: Entry-level office work.
- Job zone 3: Medium preparation needed. Education/experience usually required: Vocational on-the-job training, Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree. Examples of positions: insurance sales, legal secretaries, supervisory positions.
- Job zone 4: High preparation needed. Education/experience usually required: Bachelor’s degree (may require additional specialized training). Examples of positions: accountants, sales managers, database administrators, teachers, chemists, environmental engineers, criminal investigators.
- Job zone 5: Extensive preparation needed. Most positions require Graduate degree (Master’s degree, Ph.D., M.D., or J.D.). Examples include Doctors and Lawyers.
My Next Move vs. O*Net:
Job summaries on My Next Move are much shorter than descriptions on O*Net. An average posting on My Next Move would print on one page, compared to O*Net’s average of 7 pages. You might find the additional detail overwhelming at first. But the additional detail is worth the longer report—as seen in a comparison of the education detail on My Next Move vs. O*Net.
O*Net is a great starting point, but the best results come from contacting an expert at CrossRoads. Call 317-842-8881 for help with your career search.