The Strong Interest Inventory

Reviewing Your Interests As A Guide To Career Choice

The Strong Interest Inventory^® is a very widely used interests assessment tool designed to help you explore your interests and analyse your responses to provide you with an overview of the broad pattern of your vocational interests as well as suggestions of careers to explore that fit in with the broad themes.

The Strong is based on the work of John Holland. Holland defined six broad occupational themes (called Holland Codes) that can be used to categorise occupations as well as individuals. These are:

• Realistic
• Investigative
• Artistic
• Social
• Enterprising
• Conventional

Holland argued that individuals with similar interests are likely to be attracted to the same kind of work, they will feel comfortable with others who share their interests and they are likely to be successful in a work environment that reflects those interests.

The questionnaire you complete measures your interests using 291 different questions which you respond to on a 5 point rating scale.

These help you to identify your likes and dislikes in relation to particular careers, to leisure and other activities, to areas of study areas and other categories.

Your responses are compared to a representative sample of occupations followed by:

• People who enjoy their work
• Have worked in that area for at least three years
• Who do typical work for the field

This is because people tend to search out those environments that match their interests, and an environment attracts people who share similar interests.

The Strong Interest Inventory^® is a straightforward way of getting started with identifying possible career options.

But remember that your interests are just one piece of the overall picture of what makes you the person you are. The results need to be reviewed alongside other aspects such as skills & strengths, values, personality and your overall circumstances.

You will receive an 18 page Profile and Interpretive Report summarising and explaining what your responses mean.

This includes an in depth analysis of how your interests relate to the 6 Holland categories of Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional. It also shows at a glance the jobs that closely match your interests with the top 5 highlighted for easy identification.

The data is then broken down further as your responses are compared to 122 different occupations so you can spot the occupations that are undertaken by people of similar interests to you so you can see what matches well and what doesn't.

Your top Strong interest areas are then broken down to show the typical interests and activities that an area of work would include. These occupations are expanded to show you some typical work tasks and the sort of knowledge skills and abilities needed to perform well in this occupation.

The report also considers your preferred personal style in the following areas, indicating what these preferences mean in terms of the kind of work that will be right for you:

• Work Style
• Learning Environment
• Leadership Style
• Risk Taking
• Team Orientation

The report identifies and provides insights into overall patterns of interests that can be explored for immediate and long-range career, educational and leisure planning.

The report is designed to expand, rather than limit, your thinking about the future. It helps you to move forwards by suggesting action steps for you to take in the light of the various sections of the report.

Click here to see a Sample Strong Interest Inventory Interpretive Report

You can also take the MBTI^® & the Strong Interest Inventory^® at the same time and receive a combined report.

Click here to see a Sample Combined Strong & MBTI Career Report.

I will contact you to arrange a feedback session to discuss your Strong Interpretive Report^®. This is an opportunity to review what the results mean for you personally what the implications are for your current work and for your current career plans.

1. Review the prices on my Coaching Services page and contact me if you wish to discuss your needs.


2. Once you have paid, you will then be taken to a page where you supply me with your name and contact details so I can arrange for the assessment to be set up for you.


3. As soon as I receive your details and the notification of your payment, you will be sent an e-mail with a link to the assessment and full instructions, including your unique user name and password.


4. You complete the assessment on line in the comfort of your own home at a time that is convenient to you. It takes about 20-40 minutes to answer the questions.


5. Once you submit your completed questionnaire, I am automatically notified and I will then contact you to arrange a time to discuss the results. This can be by phone, Skype or face-to-face.

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