Understanding Your Results: the Strong Interest Inventory
The Strong Interest Inventory is a career interests assessment based on a simple concept: if people are employed in jobs which are a good match for their interests and inclinations, they'll enjoy their jobs and be more motivated to succeed.
To this end, the creators of the Strong categorized job interests into six categories, or Occupational Themes:
- Realistic: People with an interest in this area are doers who enjoy building, manufacturing, industry, and physical movement
- Investigative: People with an interest in this area are thinkers who enjoy research, performing scientific experiments, and academic settings
- Artistic: People with an interest in this area are creators who enjoy art, design, writing, and advertising in unstructured, expressive environments
- Social: People with an interest in this area are helpers who enjoy assisting others, caring for people, communicating, and collaborating on people-centered problems
- Enterprising: People with an interest in this area are persuaders who enjoy starting and managing projects, selling, taking risks, and motivating others
- Conventional: People with an interest in this area are organizers who enjoy managing data and processes, organizing information, and following procedures
Your Strong Interest Inventory results will present your top three theme codes, which are the interest areas that are the best match for your general career interests. In the sample result below, the participant's top theme codes are Artistic, Investigative, and Social (abbreviated AIS).
Your Strong report will also show you your interest level in 25 Basic Interest Scales. Each Basic Interest Scale is organized within one of the 6 Occupational Themes, but is a bit more specific than the general Theme. For instance, under the Artistic theme, you can see below that the Basic Interest Scales are Writing and Mass Communication, Performing Arts, Visual Arts & Design, and Culinary Arts.
Your rankings on the Basic Interest Scales can help you to zero in on the fields and industries which may suit your interests. Note that you may have some Basic Interest Scales that are ranked highly for you, even if the overall Theme Code is not one of your top areas. For instance, in the sample below, the participant has a strong interest in the field of Law, even though Enterprising is not one of her top themes overall. You can also see that although Investigative is one of her top themes, she has very little interest in the Mathematics field.
The Strong assessment results also present your rankings for individual careers in the section marked Occupational Scales. You will see that each career is ranked on a scale from Dissimilar to Similar. You may be wondering, Similar to what? The report is referring here to the similarity of your interests to the interests of people in that particular occupation.
To create these individual career rankings, the assessment takes your interest measures and compares them with the interests of people already employed in a variety of jobs. The higher a career is ranked for you, the more similar your interests are to people already employed in that occupation. In the sample below, the participant's interests are very similar to the interests of people employed as college instructors; however they are quite different from the interests of people employed as physical therapists.
As you look over your results, keep in mind that your occupational interests are just one facet of your career choice. Choosing the best career for you involves many factors, including lifestyle, personality, your salary expectations, and the education you have or plan to receive. Your interests are an important factor, but not the only one. You may see some jobs ranked highly for you on the Strong which are not appropriate for you in a practical sense. However, you should be able to get some good information about the job areas, fields, and occupations that are most suitable for you.
The report images in this document were excerpted from the Strong Interest Inventory® Profile Report, published by CPP, Inc.
