Last summer, I was on a backpacking trip having an amazing conversation with the trip chaperone. He said, “I love what I do. I remember being 12 and telling my dad that when I grew up I would do exactly what I wanted to do, I wouldn’t sacrifice what I loved to do for a status quo. I get to lead college kids around on backpacking and cycling trips like these and get paid for it, I can’t of anything better!”

“And what do you plan to do after this job?” I asked. He replied, “Oh I plan to stay with this job for as long as I can.” This conversation is a true demonstration of someone who has found the career of their dreams!

You can too! You simply need to access your current situation. To do this, let’s examine The Career Key, which is Holland’s Theory of Career. This consists of six work and personality types. These are: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional.

Let’s first focus on the Realistic personality type. This type demonstrates a need for keeping up with tradition and having good common sense. Potential skills for a realistic personality are that requiring mechanical labor work and engineering. These types usually have no problem maintaining good physical condition and thrive in a setting where their hand-eye coordination comes into play.

Possible work activities could include operating heavy machinery, building and repairing certain items and providing security. Realistic types tend to have interests toward machines and computer work, the athletics and working outdoors. The chaperone in the example above would tend toward a realistic personality type.

Let’s focus on another Holland personality type: Artistic. Artistic personalities tend to hold beauty, independence and freedom close to their heart. It’s very important to them to be original in their line of work.

Possible potential skills for someone scoring highest on the artistic personality are creativity. Eg: the ability to make music and be artistic. They enjoy a work environment where self expression is encouraged.

This personality’s favorite activities might be music composing, performing or writing. This personality might also enjoy creating visual art, via charcoal, pencil, marker, paint, watercolor or mixed media.

Holland’s Theory of Career was proposed by John Holland who states “The theory explains work-related behavior – such as, which career choices are likely to lead to job success and satisfaction.”  To learn more, take The Career Key Test.