Matching Your Interests and Career Choice # 9002
Matching Your Interests and Career Choice Part 1
In her book, Finding a Career that Works for You, Wilma Fellman helps readers identify their interests before choosing a career. Fellman states that, in general, jobs fall into one of six interest clusters (or may be a blend of more than one). This tool, in addition to a few others from her book, will help you think about your interests as you plan your career.
Six Interest Clusters for Careers
  1. Realistic (practical) jobs are “hands on.” They usually result in some tangible product at the end of the task. Typical fields that fall into this category might be carpentry, prosthetics, repairing, outdoor work, or technology.

  2. Investigative (probing) activities, such as analysis, inquiry, or research, require in-depth focus on one thing for a long period of time. Typical investigative fields are research, mathematics, and natural or medical science.

  3. Artistic (creative) fields, such as drama, music, writing, art, commercial art, or graphic arts, involve self-expression.

  4. Social (assisting) fields involve helping others, and require you to be interested in working in a service, teaching, or care-giving capacity. Examples might include social work, teaching, nursing, or physical therapy.

  5. Enterprising (business) jobs are typically those that require some competitive edge to sell, manage, or persuade others. Some enterprising fields are corporate management, inside/outside sales, business start-up, product or service marketing or promotion.

  6. Conventional (organizing) jobs work best for those who are detail oriented and capable of sticking with those details day to day. Some conventional jobs might involve accounting, organizing, data processing, office work, or record keeping.
Exercise 1
List the six interest clusters in order of "most like you" to "least like you."

1. ___________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________
6. ___________________________________________________
From: Finding a Career That Works for You by Fellman. Specialty Press, Inc. All rights reserved. This form may be copied for personal use by active members of myADHD.com. For further information refer to:www.myADHD.com.

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