Match Best Careers & Best Jobs to Your Personality

In choosing a career, what's the smartest way to use popular lists of “Best Careers” or “Best Jobs”?
Match jobs and careers that interest you to your Holland personality types as part of your action plan to make an informed career choice.

Following the three steps of good decision-making will help you make the best career choice: Know Yourself, Know Your Options, and Make a Good Decision. When getting to the second step, “Know Your Options" and learning about the jobs that interest you, lists of “best careers” and “best jobs” can be valuable tools.

Each year CNN's Money Magazine publishes a Best Jobs List and U.S. News and World Report publishes a Best Careers list. These lists rank careers and jobs based on criteria such as the career/job seeker's status (young, parent returning to work, military to civilian transition, etc.) and/or the career's characteristics (future demand and outlook, salary, type of required training, and overall satisfaction).

On our website, you can find almost all the careers on these lists, organized by Holland personality type, some with slightly different job titles. So once you take the Career Key test and have your Holland scores, you can match yourself with careers that interest you from the “Best” lists and know which ones are most likely to result in job satisfaction.

Several caveats to keep in mind:

• don't rely solely on the personality type/environment match – remember it is one piece of the puzzle we show you how to put together,
• Most people, in reality, are a combination of types -- like Realistic-Investigative, or Artistic-Social. Therefore, you will probably want to consider occupations in more than one category.
• the work environment for a particular job may vary from one work setting to the next.

Here's a step by step way to match your personality with a career from these “Best Career” or “Best Job” lists:

1. Read the descriptions of the Holland personality types you are most like,
2. Select jobs or careers that interest you from a “Best” list,
3. Assign each job or career to a Holland type you think matches,
4. Look at our online list of jobs, organized by Holland type, to find that job, and
   
5. If you don't find the exact same job title, look for similar ones (see my method below)

So for the top five of Money Magazine's best jobs for parents returning to work, I show the top corresponding Holland personality type letter (RIASEC). Remember that you are very likely compatible with more than one type of working environment. As you can see, although there are some differences in job title, you can still find what you're looking for. To find alternative job titles, search the Occupational Outlook Handbook, whose terminology we use.

Executive Recruiter (E), shown as “Human Resources, Training, and Labor Specialists”
Non-Profit Manager (E), shown as “Administrative Services Manager”
Sales Representative (E)
Marketing Analyst (E), shown as “Market Research Analyst”
Accountant (E)

And for the U.S. News and World Report's best careers list, you can use the same method above. Here are a few examples from their “Best” list I've picked out, and linked to our website's list of jobs grouped by personality type:

Realistic Careers:
Landscape Architect, Locksmith/Security system technician (see similar jobs in our Crafts-Electrical-Electronic group)
Investigative Careers:
Audiologist, Biomedical equipment technician, Dentist, Optometrist, Pharmacist, Systems Analyst (or Computer Scientist)
Artistic Careers:
Editor, Ghostwriter (see Writer on our list)
Social Careers:
Genetic Counselor, Librarian, Occupational therapist, Physician Assistant, Registered Nurse, School Psychologist
Enterprising Careers:
Cosmetologist, Management consultant

If you have trouble matching an occupation on a “Best” list to its Holland type and our matching job lists, email me or leave a comment. Also, I'd like to know how useful this post has been to you.