Achieving Personality-Job- Fit - Personality

According to Holland (1997), workers are not passive victims of their environments, but actively seek potentially compatible work environments. If an individual‘s personality and the work environment ―fit—that is, if the personality is congruent with the work environment—the individual will most likely enjoy the work and develop and grow in the career. Matching people to the organizational culture at the time of hiring should result in higher employee satisfaction and reduced turnover.

Holland has proposed Six themes of people and work environments, within which all jobs can be classified:

1. Realistic

2. Investigative

3. Artistic

4. Social

5. Enterprising

6. Conventional

The above-mentioned classification is shown in more details in the following chart:

Personality Job Fit

Type	Personality Characteristics	Congruent Occupation
Realistic: Prefers physical activities that require skill, strength, and coordination	Shy, genuine, persistent, stable, conforming, practical	Mechanic, drill press operator, assembly-line worker, farmer
Investigative: Prefers activities that involve thinking, organizing, and understanding	Analytical, original, curious, independent	Biologist, economist, mathematician, news reporter
Social: Prefers activities that involve helping and developing others	Sociable, friendly, cooperative, understanding	Social workers, teacher, counselor, clinical psychologist
Conventional: Prefers rule- regulated, orderly, and unambiguous activities	Conforming, efficient, practical, unimaginative, inflexible	Accountant, corporate manager, bank teller, file clerk
Enterprising: Prefers verbal activities in which there are opportunities to influence others and attain power	Self-confident, ambitious, energetic, domineering	Lawyer, real estate agent, public relations specialist, small business manager
Artistic: Prefers ambiguous and unsystematic activities that allow creative expression	Imaginative, disorderly, idealistic, emotional, impractical	Painter, musician, writer, interior decorator