Career Preference Sample Report

The basic purpose of this survey is to help you find a career in which you will be happy and well-suited.  What you like to do plays an important in your future career satisfaction and success.  The careerPREFERENCE profiler analyses your self-reported interests and provides career suggestions for you to explore further. You can access your results anytime in the future by logging into your account on our site.

We have analysed your responses to six primary career areas and 30 specific occupational areas. In order to get a clearer picture, we created your own personal code of career preferences from your responses. We ranked your career interests from your most to your least favourite areas. From your pattern of responses to our test, we are able to help you define where your true interests lie.

In our comprehensive assessment we have provided you with some primary and secondary analyses which help you clarify your preferred career direction.

1. Your Area of Interest

Our first step is to identify your preferred area of working.  This provides you with an overview of what occupational area you are most attracted to working in.  Most people have more than one interest area and it is how these interest areas overlap that can provide you with ideas and feedback as to how you can target your career from here.  This analysis is based on the work of John Holland who is an influential thinker and researcher in the field of career choice.  You will be given information on which are your preferred areas from six possibilities.  There are no right or wrong answers and it is your pattern of preferences that is important not the score. 

2. Your Preference Profile
Secondly, we undertake further analyses for 30 different possible career areas which can further narrow your choices and give you additional "food for thought" as to how you may want to use your career interests in your preferred area.  This examines not only what area of work interests you but also how  you may prefer to work.  For example,  supporting and advising in a practical area or using your administrative and entrepreneurial interests with an Adventure based industry. In your list, we give you a brief description of the area, your interest score and a list of example occupations.

3. Your Career Code
Finally, we present your Career Code which is based on Holland's occupational interest areas, a highly respected, world leading approach to understanding careers.  From your unique code preferences we generate a number of occupations for you to explore further. In this section we also provide a table allowing you to examine a wide variety of occupations that could result from your unique combination of preferences.

1. Your Main Area of Interest

The primary purpose of career assessment is to provide an organized way of thinking about your personal career interests.  We each have things we enjoy doing and things we don't.  This profile is determined by obtaining your level of interest in a number of specific activities that are known from prior research to represent broader classes of career interest.

These classes of career interest are based on a model developed by Dr John Holland, a pioneering researcher in career assessment.  His model groups career interests into six areas - realistic, investigative, social, conventional, enterprising and artistic. In this report these are referred to as:

• Practical          R ( Holland's Realistic)
• Investigative   I
• Organising      C (Holland's Conventional )
• Enterprising     E
• Service           S (Holland's Social)
• Artistic           A

Understanding your results

Stand back from your interest results a moment and look at the overall pattern. The relativity of the pattern is more helpful than the actual score. As we had a sliding scale of options you could express interest in everything, however there should be some preferences apparent in your profile. As long as  you have a pattern of positive and less positive interests, the questionnaire should help you to identify areas that are more attractive than others.

The interests with scores furthest to the right are likely to be worth exploring as options. Those furthest to the left are probably best disregarded and the ones in the middle may be worth examining tentatively, particularly to explore how that interest may be utilised within your primary preference area.

Although you can read about suitable work areas in each block, it requires some creative reasoning to draw your results together. You don't have to choose between different high areas so much as to learn how to combine interests. For example, someone who is attracted to both social and creative areas might be best satisfied by work that combines the two - it could be as diverse as art therapy on the one hand or design consultancy on the other.

We also have career suggestions for you to explore within these narrow bands, where we suggest you look carefully for information on how you can apply your interest in your preferred field or industry. Click on the links to find out more about these occupations and tick the box if you would like to record this career suggestion as an option you would like to explore further.

Again, we encourage you to look creatively at your profile to assess how you may like to uniquely apply your career interest. For example, all doctors do not enjoy the same thing, for example some may like to work practically with their hands (e.g. surgeon), whereas others are more inclined to research (e.g. a pathologist) while others want to support and advise people (a GP). Thus our secondary analysis can provide clues as to your future direction.

Another example could be someone with a strong Practical interest , say mechanical, who also has some Sales interest and under the Social category there were trends towards Advising.  This person may like to first gain a trade in their area of interest then progress to technical sales within their industry where they can provide technical advice and guidance to others.

Your Preference Profile

We now look at your responses and analyse not only interest areas but, within these broad areas, which aspects are most appealing. Often you will find appealing aspects across a range of Holland's categories. So, for example, while your primary interest area may be Service, you may also be interested in research and small business creation. This analysis may provide further clues as to where you need to target your future career.

Look carefully at your subcategories, which have been ranked in order of preference below to investigate further career options that could combine uniquely for you. 

Occupations for further exploration

We have career suggestions for you to explore within each of these preference areas, where we suggest you look carefully for information on how you can apply your interest in your preferred field or industry. Click on the links to find out more about these occupations and tick the box if you would like to record this career suggestion as an option you would like to explore further.

For each job we provide an indication of the level of education and training required.  While the actual qualifications and training required for a given job will vary, the levels shown give an indication of typical entry requirements.

1 No formal education required

2 Two to three years secondary education required

3 High school graduation / Technical training required

4 University degree / tertiary study

5 Post-graduate degree / Advanced Training

Some of the jobs displayed may have a lower education and training level than you've already achieved. Conversely, you may find that your profile shows occupations with a high level of study required, when you may be less inclined to commit to this amount of training.  We encourage you to explore the occupations anyway as you may find related occupations that do not require the same level of training such as a Radiographer rather than a doctor for example.

These lists of occupations serve as good examples of occupations from your top career areas. Although the occupations incorporate your personal preferences, it's helpful to think of this list of occupations as a starting point to help you brainstorm about different occupations within your career interest areas. It is by no means an exhaustive list and the number of possibilities is of course, very large. Your own priorities will be unique to you and each job area needs to be investigated properly for you to appreciate its real fit with your several different interests.

As the purpose of these tools is to encourage you to explore broadly within your interest area we also present the alternative combinations of your Holland code which is strongly recommended by Holland.  Your Holland career code is:

We have also presented a sample of occupational choices in a table format for you to explore further.  Look across the table to your highest preference area then follow the chart down to explore occupations that match with your second and third preferences.  We suggest printing this off and highlighting all occupations that appeal to you.

Identifying your preferred career options requires understanding not just your interests but how you would like to work.  So we do not encourage you to focus narrowly on the occupations presented but to use them as a start to your career exploration so that you are able to find the uniquely right opportunity for you.

If you are attracted to areas where you feel you have only limited talent, you need to do two things. First, think about why that area attracts you, and whether or not you could get what you are looking for from something more realistic. For example, many people are attracted to creative activities but are not practically creative. It may be that a role that allows them to be creative without being creative per se, would be appropriate – developing a new product or market for example.

Interest plays a large part in job satisfaction. If a job meets your interests then you are likely to enjoy it; so, not surprisingly, interests can account for a large part of the finding the right occupation for you. Many people, faced with career decisions, find it difficult to focus on particular areas. It’s also impossible to learn about every type of work that exists, but at the same time, it is important to know you are not shutting out areas that you might find rewarding and enjoyable. The careerPREFERENCE profiler is designed to help target your thinking but should also be a beginning of a journey of exploration not an end point.  It is also important to explore other things to identify what you are suited to, how career options fit with your personality and what occupations would fit with your personal values and career path. (menu here i.e. link to motivators, talents, values) Our on-line assessment questionnaires provide you with an opportunity to match occupations at all these levels.

Finally, where to from here …

For some people, the hard part is figuring out what they want. For others, they know exactly what they want, but how do you get from point A to Point B? Breaking into a new career path can seem like a mystery. Fortunately, CareerPreference profiler provides advice that has actually worked for real people.

Issue 1: I have some ideas, but I am unclear what the job entails
You've fantasized about being a lawyer but you're not sure what your daily life will be like. Find someone in your desired profession and ask if you can be their "shadow" for a day, which would allow you to follow them around at their workplace and observe what they do. You have a better chance of having them agree to do this if you promise that you won't ask them questions throughout the day. Rather, sit quietly and be as unobtrusive as possible and observe what a day in their job is really like. Save your questions for when you take them out to lunch or dinner as a thank you. You may discover that the real courtroom is nothing like Law and Order, or you may leave re-affirmed that you truly do want to be a lawyer. In this case, there is no such thing as too much information.

Issue 2: I don't think I have the exact skills or work experience necessary
It's true that most of us don't fit job descriptions exactly, especially when we're trying to break into a new field. When job descriptions are created, they're an ideal description. Unless there's a specific degree or certification required that you don't have, then apply. Chances are that no one fits this description perfectly, so let the company reject you instead of rejecting yourself first. Be honest but be creative when thinking about your skills. Most of us have what is referred to as "transferable" skills. In other words, we have basic skills valued by most employers. For example, you may want to become a daycare worker but lack professional work experience with small children. This may put you at a disadvantage in comparison with someone else with this type of experience, but think about other skills that you have that would make you a good fit for the job. Previous experience in healthcare, entertainment, or education can be highlighted to your advantage. Emphasize your knowledge of First Aid or your teaching abilities. Employers may see your resume and decide that they don't want complete overlap with their current employees and instead are interested in what your unique contribution would be adding to their workplace.

Issue 3: How do I know this is the career I want?
This problem is more common than you think. There are a few ways to address this question. Taking this test is the first step — so congratulations! Second, think about whether it's the job or if it's the potential perks that make this career appealing. For example, your desire may be to become a musician in a band. Now picture yourself making enough money to earn a decent living but always playing in small venues without fame or riches. Do you still want to become a musician? If so, then this is the right career for you. If getting on MTV is driving your ambition, then you may need to think again about this career choice. Most musicians don't make it to the big time. It's the actual job itself that needs to propel you. This goes for any job you may desire. Just as in relationships, when times are good, it's easy to get along with your partner. It's during the tough times when you need the motivation to keep persevering. If you still want to pursue your career even when the going gets tough, then this is what you want. Adversity reveals what you truly desire.

Issue 4: I know what I want to do, but I have no idea how to get there
Whether it's through your business or social networks, locate someone who is at least in the ballpark in terms of your career interests. Ask them to give you their career history. How did they move up? The key here is to talk to as many people as possible and ask them how they made it and what they'd look for when they're hiring someone. In terms of finding people to talk to, you never know who has the right contact for you. Your next-door neighbour's nephew could end up being your career resource. A network of people is available for you online as well. Even go so far as to "cold" email people and introduce yourself and ask questions. You can also try requesting an information interview with people who have the job you want or are in the field you're targeting. In these meetings, you won't interview for a specific position, but you'll have a chance to ask questions and find out what the job or field really requires. When asking people how they got their dream job, you may be surprised by their answers. Bottom line: Everyone's story is different and there is no magic formula for getting the job you really want. But what you will find is that most stories involve hard work and good luck. But luck isn't completely random. People make their luck by actively networking and seeking opportunities. It's as Thomas Jefferson said: "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."

Issue 5: How do I get the job I want?
Apply for jobs that don't exist. Although this may sound crazy it does work. The trick is to gain the attention of the right person. Here are two examples of how this strategy works. David completed school and was on the job market. His interest was in computers and web design but he needed to stay in his small town for family reasons. Frustrated by the lack of jobs, he decided to take matters into his own hands. David looked up websites of local companies and discovered a new company that had a poorly designed website. David sent an email to the head of the company with advice on how to improve the company's site. Not only did the CEO appreciate the advice, but he was also impressed by David's go-getter attitude. The CEO invited him to visit the company and subsequently offered him a job that previously did not exist. Using a slightly different tactic, Sara succeeded in landing a job as well. Sara found a job posting for a position that did not quite fit with her qualifications, but she knew that she wanted to work for this company. Using the contact information provided, she sent off her resume and job application acknowledging that she did not quite fit the position but that she had a different skill set to offer. The company thought she was at least worth interviewing, and once she was there, she impressed them into creating a job for her.