... find career options that fit your personality

Identifying your interests

Think about what you do in your spare time. What do people seek your advice about? What do your friends and family say about your hobbies and interests. Picture yourself waking up on a Saturday morning with no plans and no commitments. Before reading further, decide what you would do and write that into the space below.

I would:

Then decide which category that activity belongs in and pick that category (or those categories) below:

Realistic - You are a 'doer.' You probably have athletic or mechanical ability and prefer to work with objects, machines, tools, plants, animals, or be outdoors. Celebrities with Realistic Interests: Thomas Edison, Marion Jones, Jacque Cousteau, Amelia Earhardt, Mark McGwire, Steve and Terry Irwin (the Crocodile Hunters).
Investigative - You are a 'thinker.' You like to observe, learn, investigate, analyze, evaluate, solve problems and find creative solutions. You prefer to work on your own and usually don't like having to persuade other people to accept your ideas. Celebrities with Investigative Interests: Madame Curie, Albert Einstein, George Washington Carver, Jane Goodall, Sigmund Freud, and Condaleezza Rice.
Artistic - You are a 'creator.' You have artistic, innovating, or intuitive abilities and like to work in unstructured situations using imagination and creativity. Celebrities with Artistic Interests: Mark Twain, Pablo Picasso, Ansel Adams, Halle Berry, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Social - You are a 'helper.' You like to work with other people to enlighten, inform, help, train, or care for them, and you are skilled with words. Celebrities with Social Interests: Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Madeline Albright, and Abraham Lincoln.
Enterprising - You are a 'persuader.' You like to work with people by influencing and persuading, or by leading or managing for organizational goals or economic gain. Celebrities with Enterprising Interests: Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Harry Truman, and Mary Kate and Ashley Olson.
Conventional - You are an 'organizer.' You feel comfortable working with details in structured situations and like to keep things neat and organized. You like working with forms, charts, and reports. You are self-controlled and identify strongly with status, authority, and power. Celebrities with Conventional Interests: Sandra Day O'Connor, J.C. Penney, Erin Brockavich, John D. Rockefeller, Judge Judy, and Elaine Chao (D.O.L.).

Decide how confident you are with your choices. That is, how clearly do those 1 or 2 categories define what you would do as compared to the other categories. Specify whether your category choice (or choices):"

Perfectly describes what you would like to do.
Describes what you would like to do pretty well.
Describe what you would like to do, but some of the other categories sound good too.


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