Vocational Personality
Do you want to contribute more to your organization? Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses in a working environment are? It is important for each of us to know what our vocational personality is to succeed at work. All of us can be divided into six types of vocational personality.
What is a vocational personality?
Vocational personality is the individual person’s abilities related to work through upbringing and cultural background.
How to know your vocational personality
John Holland proposed a theory of six personality types: Realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. Each type has a choice of industries that it fits best. The realistic personality type is a robust type who are more inclined towards mechanical or physical industries. The investigative personality is analytical and intellectual, preferring to work in sciences and research. The artistic personality is imaginative and intuitive and can be found in writing or arts and languages. The social personality is friendly and warm, and they will gravitate towards teaching, counselling and social services. The enterprising personality is of course ambitious and assertive, and they can be found in entrepreneurial pursuits. The final type, conventional personality is methodical and careful, and they will prefer to be in accounting or clerical work. (Source: Career Research)
Elements of a vocational personality
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses. What do you do well that you know will benefit the organisation? What do you need to focus on to be better at contributing to it? Take a test and see what it tells you if you cannot identify it on your own.
- Choose an industry that fits your personality. Try to balance your personal preferences with economic considerations because your ultimate happiness in the industry will determine how long you stay in it.
- Learn the basics and requirements of the industry so that you can perform well in it.
We should know where our strengths lie when choosing our employment and Holland’s theory of the 6 vocational personalities will help you decide where you should work.
