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Interests

Career Interests.

A 30-item interest profile assessment based on John Holland's RIASEC theory of career interests. Measures your interest in six work-activity types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

Time
About 6 min
Questions
30
Measures 6 interest themes

Instructions

For each task, rate how much you would like or dislike doing it. There are no right or wrong answers - answer based on your genuine preferences, not on whether you know how to do the activity or how much money you would make.

What to expect

Scientifically validated
Based on established psychological research
Private results
Your data is secure and private
Detailed results
Comprehensive insights and recommendations

About the Holland Code (RIASEC) Career Test

The Holland Code, or RIASEC model, is the most widely used framework for matching people to careers in vocational psychology. Rather than measuring how good you are at anything, it measures what you are drawn to: which kinds of work activities you would enjoy and which you would rather avoid. Your pattern of interests across six broad types is what guides the match.

This 30-item version asks you to rate how much you would like or dislike a range of work tasks and takes about 6 minutes. Your results place you on all six interest dimensions, which is what a two- or three-letter Holland Code is read from - the shorthand counselors and the U.S. Department of Labor use to connect interests to occupations. There are no right or wrong answers; honest preference is the only thing being measured.

Items
30
Duration
About 6 min
Format
Like-to-dislike ratings of work activities across six interest types
Free result
Free, right after the test: your strongest interest type and its band. The other types are named and covered in the full report
Full report
With a free account: the full report for every interest type

What it measures

Holland arranged the six types around a hexagon, in the fixed order R-I-A-S-E-C, so that types sitting next to each other are most similar and types across the hexagon are most dissimilar. Someone high on Investigative usually has some Artistic or Realistic leaning too, while strong interest in the opposite type (Enterprising) is less common. A code is built from the highest-scoring types in order, so an "IAS" profile reads differently from an "ESC" one even though both contain three letters.

The score that matters most is the shape of your profile, not any single number. A clearly differentiated profile - one or two types well above the rest - points to a focused interest area; a flat profile suggests broad or still-forming interests, which is useful information in its own right.

  • RealisticHands-on, practical work with tools, machines, plants, animals, or the outdoors. Building, repairing, and operating things rather than discussing them.
  • InvestigativeAnalyzing, researching, and solving abstract or scientific problems. Curiosity about how and why things work, often in technical or scholarly fields.
  • ArtisticCreating and expressing through writing, design, music, or performance. A preference for unstructured settings that reward originality.
  • SocialHelping, teaching, advising, and caring for others. Work whose core is human contact and the wellbeing of other people.
  • EnterprisingLeading, persuading, selling, and managing toward a goal. Comfort with influence, risk, and taking charge of people or projects.
  • ConventionalOrganizing data, records, and processes with accuracy and order. A preference for clear rules, structure, and well-defined tasks.

The science and validity

Holland's theory is among the most thoroughly researched ideas in career psychology. The hexagonal structure - the specific pattern of which interest types correlate more or less strongly with one another - has been replicated across many samples, and the model underlies the interest framework of O*NET, the occupational database maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor, which codes hundreds of occupations with RIASEC profiles. That is what lets a personal code be translated into concrete job suggestions.

Interests measured this way are stable over years and predict the kinds of work people enter and stay in, as well as their satisfaction and persistence. What an interest inventory does not measure is aptitude or skill: it tells you what you would likely enjoy, not what you would be best at or qualified for. The strongest career decisions weigh interests alongside ability, values, and real-world opportunity, so treat your code as a well-grounded starting point for exploration rather than a verdict.

References

  1. Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Psychological Assessment Resources.
  2. Nauta, M. M. (2010). The development, evolution, and status of Holland's theory of vocational personalities: Reflections and future directions for counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(1), 11-22.
  3. Rounds, J., & Su, R. (2014). The nature and power of interests. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(2), 98-103.

Read more about our standards: How our tests are built and validated.

Sample items

  • "Assemble a piece of furniture from a technical diagram."Illustrative Realistic-style activity - rated by how much you would enjoy it (not a scored item).
  • "Work out why an experiment produced a surprising result."Illustrative Investigative-style activity.
  • "Coach a friend through a difficult life decision."Illustrative Social-style activity.

Frequently asked questions

Is this Holland Code test free?

Yes. Taking the 30-item test is free, with no account required to start, and your free result shows your strongest of the six interest types and its band, while the other five are named and covered in the report. The full report, free with an account, adds your scores across all six types, with an in-depth interpretation of the pattern they form and practical next steps for exploring it.

What is a Holland Code (RIASEC type)?

It is a short summary of the strongest career interests in a RIASEC profile, written as the first letters of the top types - for example "ASE" for Artistic-Social-Enterprising. The same coding system is used by O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor occupational database, which codes occupations by those same six types. This test scores all six interest types and shows the pattern they form; it does not assign you a code or match you to occupations.

Does this test tell me what job I should do?

It tells you which kinds of work you are likely to enjoy, which is a strong starting point for exploration. It does not measure your skills, qualifications, or the job market, so it cannot decide a career for you. The best choices weigh interests together with ability, values, and real opportunities.

How accurate is a 30-item interest inventory?

Interest scales are among the more reliable self-report measures because people generally know their own preferences well, and Holland's six-type structure has been replicated across decades of research. Thirty items give a dependable read on the broad shape of your interests, though a longer inventory would resolve finer distinctions within each type.

Can my Holland Code change over time?

Vocational interests are quite stable from late adolescence onward, more so than many people expect. They can still shift after major exposure to new fields, education, or life experience, so retaking the test after a significant change is worthwhile - but do not expect a different code from week to week.

Is RIASEC the same as a personality test?

They are related but distinct. RIASEC measures career interests, while a personality test like the Big Five measures broad behavioral traits. They overlap modestly - for instance, the Artistic type tends to correlate with Openness - but each adds information the other does not, which is why career counseling often uses both.

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