Holland’s Typological Model and Its Role in Career Guidance

Personality is the general pattern of behavior, perception and thought that each of us has, our individual configuration being unique and distinctive compared to that of others. However, the traits themselves that form this personality are more or less the same, although we possess them to different degrees within a continuum.

The great differences between them mean that attempts have been made to integrate knowledge regarding personality in different currents of thought, generating different personality models and some of which have a specific objective. An example of this is Holland’s typological model which proposes a series of basic personality patterns which are used mainly in the field of vocational guidance.

Holland’s typological model

Holland’s typological model is a proposed personality model that arises from the author’s intention to generate an explanatory theory regarding the choice of a professional occupation, linking different characteristics and traits to correct performance and taste for certain tasks and areas. labor. For the author, we tend to want to find a high level of congruence between our personality and the type of task we perform

For Holland, the choice of a specific career or profession will depend on the development of the set of elements and traits that make up the personality, with the person being more competent and feeling greater satisfaction in their work depending on the harmony between their personality and the type of work. task you perform.

With the aim of contributing to vocational guidance, the author generated a hexagonal model with six main personality types, which he links to certain types of environments and interests. This does not mean that we cannot perform a task that does not correspond to our personality type, simply that based on the fact that we are looking for a job where we can develop our main skills, we will tend to look for and feel greater comfort in certain areas. would try to find jobs for which we could feel a vocation even though we may end up performing tasks that do not correspond to it.

The relationship between profession and personality is bidirectional: it is not only that certain professions require certain skills and ways of doing things, but this also derives from the fact that the type of task attracts people with a specific personality. This has the result that a large number of professionals in a given sector tend to have, if they are carrying out said employment out of vocation and not mere necessity, relatively similar personality characteristics.

The assignment to a certain type of personality or the choice of one career or another are neither better nor worse, and are all equally positive and necessary. Likewise, it must be taken into account that It is difficult for a person to be completely reflected with a single personality type: We all have different traits that make us complex beings and that can make us fit into different profiles. In these cases, the professional choice may seem more complicated, although some characteristics or interests generally prevail over others.

The different personality types

As we have said, Holland’s model establishes, depending on the predominant characteristics in each individual, the belonging or possession of one of the six personality types which facilitate orientation towards certain types of professions The six types are as follows.

1. Realistic

The realistic personality refers to that pattern of behavior and thought that tends to see the world as an objective and concrete whole. They take the world as it comes to them. They tend to be realistic, dynamic, material and although they are not asocial, contact with others is not the highest priority for them. They also tend to be patient and constant.

These types of personalities tend to feel more comfortable performing direct jobs, with strong practical components and that require certain motor skills and systematized use of elements They tend to excel in the use of mechanical instruments and the need for manual precision. Fields such as agriculture and livestock, architecture or engineering would be conducive to this type of personality.

2. Intellectual

This type of personality tends more to observe and analyze the world, often in an abstract way and trying to make associations and find relationships between the phenomena that occur in it. These are curious, analytical personalities, with a tendency toward introspection and the use of reason over emotion. They are not particularly sociable and tend to have a rather theoretical approach to the world not being so interested in practice.

This personality corresponds to tasks primarily based on research. Physics, chemistry, economics or biology are some of the areas in which this type of personality is most commonly observed.

3.Social

The most notable aspect of people with this type of personality is the need or desire to help others through dealing with them, and their high need for human interaction They are usually very empathetic and idealistic people, highly communicative and have a certain ease or taste for relationships and cooperation.

The type of tasks in which this type of personality is usually found are all those that involve direct dealings with other people and in which said interaction has as its objective the idea of ​​providing support to the other. Psychologists, doctors, nurses, teachers or social workers usually have characteristics of this personality type. More mechanical tasks are usually not to their liking.

4. Artistic

Creativity and the use of materials in search of expression are some of the main elements that characterize the artistic personality. It is not unusual for these to be people impulsive, idealistic and highly emotional and intuitive Aesthetics and being able to project their sensations into the world is important to them, and they tend to be independent people. Although they also try to see the world from abstraction, they tend to focus more on emotion and tend to dislike what is merely intellectual, possessing the need to elaborate and create.

Painters, sculptors or musicians are some of the professionals who tend to this type of personality. Also dancers and actors, writers and journalists.

5. Entrepreneur

The capacity for persuasion and communication skills are typical aspects of the entrepreneurial personality. A certain level of dominance and search for achievement and power are common in this type of people, as well as courage and risk capacity. They are generally people with social skills and highly extraverted with leadership skills and a high level of energy.

Professions in which this type of people prevail are the world of banking and business. Salespeople and entrepreneurs also usually have traits of this type of personality.

6. Conventional

We are faced with a type of personality that is characterized by a taste for order without the need to introduce major changes in it. They also do not require a lot of social contact at the work level. They tend to be highly organized, orderly, disciplined and formal people. A certain tendency towards conformism is not uncommon, given that They identify with the already established organization They tend to be agile and logical.

Within this type of personalities we find people with a vocation for aspects such as accounting, office work, secretarial work, librarians… in general with a tendency to seek order.

Conclusion

Holland’s typological model, despite having limitations and having been criticized for numerous reasons (for example, it does not allow predicting whether within the same type of occupational environment one position or another may be more recommendable and it is also worth considering that there will be people whose characteristics overlap with more than one of the types), it remains to this day one of the most relevant in professional guidance

The test that Holland created based on this model, the Vocational Preferences Inventory, is widely known, which has also served as a basis for the creation of other questionnaires and models that allow us to offer a better approach to the relationship between personality characteristics and suitability for certain professional fields.