Holland Codes

In addition, the US Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration has been using an updated and expanded version of the RIASEC model in the "Interests" section of its free online database O*NET (Occupational Information Network)[5] since its inception during the late 1990s.

[18] Based on the empirical data, they argue that occupational interests can be placed circularly in a two-dimensional plane consisting of People/Things and Data/ldeas axes, and the number of regions can be arbitrarily determined.

Though this model is excellent in the point of more accurately describing the relation between various occupations, it makes the occupation interest structure more complicated, and there is a weak point that it is difficult to be adapted to the data except for the U.S.[1] Holland made a career out of studying the world of work, pioneering the theory that if people were aware of their personality type or combination of types—realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising or conventional—then they would be happier workers.

Holland defines the "Realistic Type" as a person who has “a preference for activities that entail the explicit, ordered, or systematic manipulation of objects, tools, machines, and animals…these behavioral tendencies lead in turn to the acquisition of manual, mechanical, agricultural, electrical, and technical competencies.”[20] Sample majors and careers include: Holland defines the "Investigative Type" as a person who has "a preference for activities that entail the observational, symbolic, systematic and creative investigation of physical, biological, and cultural phenomena (in order to understand and control such phenomena)... these behavioral tendencies lead in turn to an acquisition of scientific and mathematical competencies.

"[36] Sample majors and careers include: Holland defines the "Social Type" as a person who has "a preference for activities that entail the manipulation of others to inform, train, develop, cure, or enlighten...these behavioral tendencies lead in turn to an acquisition of human relations competencies.

"[37] Sample majors and careers include: Holland defines the "Enterprising Type" as a person who has "a preference for actives that entail the manipulation of others to attain organization goals or economic gain...these behavioral tendencies lead in turn to an acquisition of leadership, interpersonal, and persuasive competences.

"[43] Sample majors and careers include: Holland defines the "Conventional Type" as a person who has "a preference for actives that entail the explicit, ordered, systematic manipulation of data (keeping records, filing materials, reproducing materials, organizing business machines and data processing equipment to attain organizational or economic goals)...these behavioral tendencies lead in turn to an acquisition of clerical, computational, and business system competencies.