1. The Strong Interest Inventory® Instrument
An Assessment of Personalities and Work Environments
All rights reserved, 2006 by GS Consultants. No portion of this program may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or media or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written consent of GS Consultants, except as expressly indicated on the PowerPoint slides and participant worksheets.
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Strong Interest Inventory is a registered trademark of CPP, Inc.
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2. The RIASEC Theory
Based on John Holland’s theory of vocational psychology.
There are six basic personality types.
There are six corresponding types of work environments.
Most people and work environments are combinations of more than one type.
We recommend that the theory be explained and RIASEC activity completed prior to distributing Strong results to participants.
Basic introduction to Holland’s theory. For more information, see the Strong User’s Guide, pages 1-2.
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3. The RIASEC Categories REALISTIC INVESTIGATIVE ARTISTIC SOCIAL
ENTERPRISING
CONVENTIONAL
The “Doers”
The “Thinkers”
The “Creators”
The “Helpers”
The “Persuaders”
The “Organizers”
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4. Realistic—The “Doers”
Realistic people like Fixing/repairing Using tools Heavy equipment The outdoors Building things
Realistic environments are Physical Product-driven Manufacturing/industrial Clear in lines of authority
Career Motivator: using physical Skill
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5. Investigative—The “Thinkers”
Investigative people like Conducting research Solving complex problems Theoretical models New ideas Working independently
Investigative environments are Research-oriented Scientific Intellectual/academic Unstructured
Career Motivator: analyzing
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6. Artistic—The “Creators”
Artistic people like Conceptualizing Expressing their individuality Writing/composing/performing Designing Working independently
Artistic environments are Self-expressive Flexible Aesthetic Idealistic Unstructured
Career Motivator: expressing creativity
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7. Career Motivator: helping others
Social—The “Helpers”
Social people like Helping Encouraging Teaching Counseling/guiding Working collaboratively
Social environments are Supportive Cooperative Idealistic Relationship-based
Career Motivator: helping others
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8. Enterprising—The “Persuaders”
Enterprising people like Debating ideas Selling Managing people & projects Taking risks Discussing business
Enterprising environments are Competitive Fast-paced Entrepreneurial Profit-oriented
Career Motivator: persuading and influencing
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9. Conventional—The “Organizers”
Conventional people like Organizing information Writing reports Operating computers Managing data Making charts & graphs
Conventional environments are Structured Organized Practical Hierarchical
Career Motivator: organizing
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10. The RIASEC Hexagon Realistic Investigative Artistic Social
Enterprising
Conventional
Use this slide to explain the relationship between the Themes.
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11. RIASEC TV Programs
The object of this activity is to actively engage participants in a discussion that makes the RIASEC categories meaningful for them.
Several variations of the activity are described in the Strong User’s Guide, page
There are three ways to do the activity, depending on the size of the group and time allowed:
Give an overview of the RIASEC categories using the previous six slides.
Draw a large hexagon on a flip chart. Beginning with the R corner, ask the group to name as many TV programs as they can that fit the category. Do the same with each corner of the hexagon. If they name programs that fit better in other corners, write them in the correct corner and explain why.
Give the group five minutes to name at least three programs that fit each corner of the hexagon. You can make a contest out of it by awarding a prize to the group that comes up with the most correct responses.
Divide the group into six groups and assign each group a RIASEC category. Have each group come up with as many TV programs as they can that fit their category.
Hand out participants’ Strong results at the end of the activity.
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12. Which Themes describe you the best?
REALISTIC
INVESTIGATIVE
ARTISTIC
SOCIAL
ENTERPRISING
CONVENTIONAL
The “Doers”
The “Thinkers”
The “Creators”
The “Helpers”
The “Persuaders”
The “Organizers”
Most people are a combination of two or three Themes.
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13. The Strong Scales
There are over 150 scales on your Strong Profiles that generate RIASEC codes.
The scales go from the very broad to the very specific.
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14. BISs
GOTs
OSs
PSSs
A geographic analogy of how the Strong scales flow from the broad to the specific.
State in which you live = GOTs
City or town in which you live = BISs
Your street address = OSs
The way you decorate your home = PSSs
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15. The Strong Scales Your interests are compared to . . .
People in general
Workers in various occupations
Highest scales represent your RIASEC code.

16. Assumptions Underlying the Strong Interest Inventory
Measures interests, NOT abilities.
Does NOT tell you what you should be.
Intended to expand your options, rather than limit them.
Interests are only one factor in career exploration.
Most jobs are NOT listed on the Strong.
There are places for all six RIASEC codes in every organization.
No RIASEC code is better than any other.
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17. Your Strong Results This is the most commonly used form of the Strong.
Slides of other forms are in the “Optional Slides” file.
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18. Strong Profile—Page 1 How Your Results are Organized
The General Occupational Themes*
The Basic Interest Scales*
The Occupational Scales*
The Personal Style Scales
Profile Summary
Response Summary
Note that Section 6 is primarily for the career professional.
*RIASEC Scales
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19. Strong Profile—Page 2 Theme Descriptions
General Occupational Themes are listed in respondents’ order.
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20. Strong Profile—Page 2 Prioritized Themes
Interpretive comments (Very High to Very Little) compare respondents with people in general of their own gender—males or females in the General Representative Sample.
Themes are listed from Very High to Very Little, and rank ordered compared to their gender.
Standard scores compare respondents to a combined male/female sample of people in general (the entire General Representative Sample). Scores are standard scores, not percentiles. Standard score interpretive boundaries are different for each GOT (see User’s Guide, page 8). Highest possible score is 87 (Realistic). Lowest possible score is 21 (Enterprising).
Scores are based on how often the respondent said “Strongly Like” and “Like” to the items on the scale.
Themes that are in the same interpretive category (“Very High,” “Moderate,” etc.) and are less than 8 points apart are interchangeable. The Theme for this respondent could just as easily be SA as AS. In this case, is up to the respondent to verify the order.
NOTE that the themes are not necessarily listed in Standard Score order. An example follows.
Working adults often identify with their Occupational Scales code more than with their Theme code. See slides
Your Themes are rank ordered compared to your gender.
Scores compare you to both males and females.
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21. Themes that look out of order: John
Themes are ranked by interpretive comment/gender comparison first. Within each interpretive category, they are ranked by standard score.
This one is fairly easy to figure out: Men typically do not score high on the Social Theme, so a score of 62 is considered “Very High.” Men do typically score high on the Realistic Theme, so a score of 64 is only considered “High.”
See the Strong User’s Guide, Table 1.6 on page 8 for the means and interpretive comment boundaries for each Theme.
Note that John’s Themes are rank ordered by interpretive comment. Very High-High-Moderate, etc. compare him with other men.
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22. Where Your Theme Scores Come From
+2 and +1 points for “Strongly Like” and “Like”
0 points for “Indifferent”
-1 and -2 points for “Dislike” and “Strongly Dislike”
This slide is referring to raw score points.
Raw scores are converted to the standard scores that appear on the Profile.
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23. Sample Items on the Social Theme
Taking care of children
Social worker
Helping others overcome their difficulties
What do these and all of the items on the Social Theme Scale have in common?
HELPING!
You can find sample items for all of the Themes in the User’s Guide, page 7.
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24. Strong Profile—Page 3 The Basic Interest Scales
The Basic Interest Scales narrow the Themes into very specific interest areas.
The Basic Interest Scales (BISs) narrow down the General Occupational Themes.
They represent all areas of life—work, school, leisure, relationships.
Page three of the Profile lists respondents’ top five and bottom three.
The two groups of BISs will usually have different Themes.
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25. Strong Profile—Page 3 The Basic Interest Scales
The BIS categories are presented in the order of the respondent’s Themes.
Within each Theme, the BISs are listed in rank order by interpretive comment (gender comparison).
Like the GOTs, scores are based on how often the respondent said “Strongly Like” and “Like” vs. “Dislike” and “Strongly Dislike” to the items on the scale.
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26. Sample Questions on the Teaching Basic Interest Scale
Elementary school teacher
Teaching children
Have patience when teaching others
The Teaching BIS is related to the Social Theme, and represents one form of Helping.
You can find sample items for all of the Basic Interest Scales in the User’s Guide, pages
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27. Basic Interests represent all areas of our lives . . .
Work
Study
Leisure
Friendships
Occupations of family members
Books we like to read
Favorite kinds of movies
Favorite kinds of TV programs
Others?
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28. Small Group Discussion
How are your five highest Basic Interests present in your life now?
Are any missing that you could activate?
Which ones represent current or potential work-related interests?
There is a motto here “Happy people live their BISs.”
High school and college students usually focus on the first and third bullets.
Adults often have “aha” moments around the second bullet.
Life is more than just work!
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29. Strong Profile—Page 4 The Occupational Scales
Page 4 of the Profile lists respondents’ top ten and bottom five occupational scales.
The two groups of occupational scales will often represent opposite Theme codes.
Scores are derived from how often respondents answer the items on the scale in the same way as the occupational sample.
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30. You get points on the Occupational Scales . . .
Every time you answer a question on the Strong the same way that people of your gender in the occupation answer it.
For all responses:
Strongly Like—Like Indifferent—Dislike—Strongly Dislike
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31. Sample Items on the Social Worker Occupational Scale
Auto mechanic (dislike)
Helping others overcome their difficulties (like)
Repairing electronics equipment (dislike)
If you say “Like” to helping others overcome their difficulties, you get a point on the Social Worker scale.
If you say “Dislike” to repairing electronics equipment, you get a point on the Social Worker scale!
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32. Strong Profile—Pages 5-7 The Occupational Scales
Rank ordered by your Themes.
The longer the bar, the greater your similarity to workers in the occupation.
Scores over 39 are significant, and indicate more similarity than is likely to happen by chance.
People in general—the General Representative Sample—tend to score between 30 and 39 on these scales.
Respondents are only compared to their own gender on these scales.
See the User’s Guide, Appendix B, for the male and female Theme Codes of each occupation.
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33. Occupational Scale Scores
<20
Very dissimilar
20-29
Dissimilar
30-39
Mid-range
40-49
Similar
>49
Very similar
There are only 122 occupations on the Strong.
They are representative of all of the occupations in O*NET.
See the User’s Guide, Appendix B, for a crosswalk between the Strong and O*NET job titles.
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34. The Coding of Occupations
Find the Attorney Occupational Scale on your Strong Profile.
What is the Theme code for male attorneys?
What is the Theme code for female attorneys?
Why do you think Attorney is coded this way?
Respondents will come up with all sorts of reasons that Attorneys are coded Artistic – the have to perform in court, they do a lot of writing, they decorate their offices creatively, etc.
BUT the reason Attorney is coded Artistic is that when they take the Strong, that is their predominant Theme code. More than half of the sample has A as the first letter of their code.
However, the other five Themes are also represented, but to a much lesser degree.
The moral of the story: Any personality can be attracted to any occupation. They will just do it differently.
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35. Interpreting the Occupational Scales
Don’t pay too much attention to specific job titles.
Find the Themes with the most scores 40 and higher.
You would probably like working in environments that are coded the way these occupations are.
The purpose of the Occupational Scales is not to pinpoint a specific occupation.
Look for the Theme sections that have the most long bars.
Those are the Themes of the work environments that will be the most satisfying to them.
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36. Figuring out your Occupational Scales Theme Code
Find your Top Ten Strong Occupations on page 4 of your Profile.
List the codes of each occupation down the left column of your OS Theme Code Worksheet.
Follow instructions 1-5 to assign values to each letter in the codes and determine your overall OS Theme Code.
This slide and the next one to demonstrate RM 1 from the User’s Guide.
Respondents’ resulting Occupational Scales Theme Code describes the work environment that will be the most appealing to them.
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37. An OS Code Example—SAE R I A S E C OS Code AE EAS SA Total 3 2 1 4 7 87 8 5
This respondent has an ASE Theme Code. Her motivator is expressing her creativity and individuality.
Her OS Code is SAE. She wants to work in a helping environment.
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38. Strong Profile—Page 8 The Personal Style Scales
Scores >54 usually identify with descriptors on the right.
Scores <46 usually identify with descriptors on the left.
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39. Work Style Scale
Trio discussions: In terms of people contact, what would an ideal day at work look like for you?
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40. Learning Environment Scale
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41. Learning Environment Activity
Line up across the room according to your Learning Environment score.
Answer these questions in small groups:
How do you like to learn?
What do you like to learn about?
Does your Learning Environment score reflect that style?
If we were doing this in class:
Line participants up from lowest to highest score.
Have them count off according to their scores.
Group them together by close scores. You will find that natural gaps occur. Make sure that are together, below 40 are together, and above 60 are together.
In the debriefing ask them to name their undergraduate majors from low score to high score. You will usually see that the “ologies” and “osophies” begin to emerge right around 50. Education, business, and other more practical fields tend to score to the left.
Point out that many graduate school majors score to the left – professional degrees, MBAs, etc. We have a sample of MBA candidates with an average LE score of 38!
Point out that scores tend to drop around graduation time.
Emphasize that this scale has nothing to do with ability, “tracking,” or academic performance.
If you are doing this with students, have them suggest specific courses that might fit each end of the scale, and/or certain teachers and how they like to teach.
An alternative way to do this activity if time is short or if all of the scores cluster together is to ask the highest and lowest scores to step forward and debate the questions in front of the group.
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42. Leadership Style Scale
Project management vs People management
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43. Leadership Style Activity
In pairs or trios, compare your Leadership Style results.
In what ways do you show this style in your work, or overall in your life?
What are your “Ahas” from your discussion?
Optional Leadership Style activity
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44. Risk-Taking Scale Three kinds of risk-taking: Physical Financial
Relationship
Scores in the mid-range on this scale usually mean that the respondent enjoys one kind of risk-taking but not the others.
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45. Risk-taking Activity
In six months I am beginning a new venture that lies within your area of expertise. I would like you to join me in this venture. What would need to be in place for you to consider this opportunity and leave your present work?
If we were doing this in a face to face class: This one is fun to do right after the debriefing of the Learning Environment activity, because many will move to the opposite end of the line.
Have participants count off and form small groups where the natural breaks occur.
Try to have those below 40 in one group and those above 60 in another.
Have them discuss and debrief.
Be sure to note that men usually score higher than women, and that scores usually decrease with age.
When people score lower than they think they should, it is usually because of physical risk-taking.
An alternative way to do this if time is short or if all of the scores cluster together is to ask the highest and lowest scorers to step forward and debate the question in front of the group.
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46. Team Orientation Scale
In pairs or trios, compare your Work Style and Team Orientation scales.
What do these two scales suggest about how you like to do your work?
There are several combinations here: High WS and low TO High TO and low WS High on both Low on both All of the mid-range possibilities
Have a few participants share their combinations with the larger group and clarify how the combinations might affect how they do their work.
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47. Strong Profile—Page 9 Profile Summary
Have participants look at their summary page.
Respondents will usually find consistent codes throughout their Summaries. Some exceptions are:
BISs outside of their Themes—fairly common, especially with Nature, Athletics and Culinary Arts.
Themes and Occupations that don’t agree. Point out how the scales are constructed. On the GOTs, scores come from how often the respondent says “Like” and “Strongly Like.” On the OSs, scores come from how similar the respondents’ answers are to workers in the occupation.
BISs and Occupations that don’t agree. Consistency between BISs and OSs is the highest predictor of career choice. Lack of consistency can mean almost anything – usually that they would enjoy the work, but would do it in an atypical way.
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48. Strong Profile—Page 9 Response Summary
This section indicates the interpretability of the Profile and is not usually explained to respondents in detail.
This slide is here just in case you want to mention that this piece closes out page 9.
If any Profiles in your group are outside of interpretable range, consider speaking to the respondents before the group begins, acknowledging that their Profiles are somewhat unusual, and suggesting that they follow along as best they can. Follow-up individual appointments may be necessary.
See the Strong User’s Guide, pages 4-6 for a full discussion of Profile interpretability.
You might say something like: This part of the Profile contains some administrative indexes for me to review to make sure that we can make sense out of your results. Everything with this groups is fine.
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49. Optional Slides for Use With the GS Consultants Strong Interest Inventory® PowerPoint Presentation
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Strong Interest Inventory is a registered trademark of CPP, Inc.
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50. RIASEC Sign-up
Tom (C) E
Put your name in the corner of the first letter of the RIASEC Hexagon that fits you best-- like this . . .
Use this if you want participants to sign in on a hexagon to prepare for Theme- alike groups for discussions or activities.
Have them put their name in the corner that represents the first letter of their Theme code.
Have them put their second letter after their name in parentheses in case you need to break the Themes down. A sample activity follows.
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51. Activity: Holland Codes
What words or phrases would you use to describe your Holland code? Where Next? Even pages 6-16
Were there any signs of these interests when you were a child? What were they?
Choose a childhood story to share with the larger group.
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52. Your Strong Results
The slides that follow are sections of the Interpretive Report that you may want to explain to participants.
Note that the Interpretive Report is individualized to reflect respondents’ scores on all of the Strong scales.
The Interpretive Report is available with all forms of the Profile.
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53. Interpretive Report—Page 2
The Interpretive Report adds Definition, Career Fields, Personal Descriptors, and Leisure Activities to the descriptions on Page 2 of the Profile.
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54. Interpretive Report—Page 3
A+S Career Fields
This is the only section of the Strong Profiles and Interpretive Reports that suggests career fields based on respondents’ two-letter codes.
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55. Interpretive Report—Page 3
The Career Motivators are based on the first two letters in respondents’ Theme codes, and provide critical information for the career exploration process. They clearly state exactly what is likely to motivate respondents to choose one career field over another.
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56. Interpretive Report—Page 4
Page four adds Typical Interests and Activities to the information provided on the Profiles.
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57. Interpretive Report—Pages 5-6
Page five of the Interpretive Report defines respondents’ top ten Occupational Scales.
The Typical Work Tasks column is necessary for the Job Design Activity that follows.
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58. Job Design Activity Turn to page 5 of your Interpretive Report.
Cover up every column except for the Typical Work Tasks Column.
This activity is often given as a “homework” assignment between group sessions.
The activity is fully described in Career Exploration for College Students by Judith Grutter (CPP, 2005).
It is the most popular activity in the GS Strong Interest Inventory Qualifying Program.
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59. Job Design Activity Highlight words and phrases that appeal to you.
Make your highlights as brief as possible.
Many short phrases work better than a few long ones.
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60. Job Design Activity
Copy each separate word or phrase onto an index card.
Lay the cards out face up on a table.
Move them around until they form logical or meaningful groupings.
You are writing your own job description!
The theory behind this is that the respondent has answered the Strong in the same way that workers who do these tasks answered their Strongs.
The Occupational Samples like their work and are satisfied in their jobs.
If they like doing these tasks, the respondent probably would too.
The groupings are actually potential skill sets, and they are empirically derived.
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61. Maximize human resources Discuss • Conduct interviews
Work with managers
Maximize human resources
Discuss • Conduct interviews
Determine the best way to communicate
Conduct training and development programs
Engage in promoting goodwill
Evaluate training programs
Prepare lectures
Teach • Instruct
Present information
Demonstrate
Prepare assignments
Administer evaluations
Research • Investigate facts
Investigate human interest • Cultural aspects
Describe the background and details of events
Report and write
Counsel individuals • Provide group guidance services
Assess abilities, interests, and personality
Help workers improve job skills •Advise in overcoming personal and social problems
This is a sample of one respondent’s Job Design activity.
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62. Interpretive Report—Page 7
Page 7 of the Strong Interpretive Report describes respondents’ Personal Style Scale preferences.
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63. Interpretive Report—Page 8
Page 8 of the Strong Interpretive Report summarizes all of the scales that were interpreted on the previous pages.
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64. Interpretive Report—Page 9
Respondents’ Action Steps are personalized to their primary Theme.
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65. College Profile—Page 1
The College Profile adds four pages to the Standard Profile.
Page 1 of the Strong College Profile suggests college majors for respondents’ top Themes.
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66. College Profile—Page 2
Page 2 of the College Profile applies respondents’ top Basic Interests to college activities.
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67. College Profile—Page 3
Page 3 of the College Profile provides educational information and related careers for respondents’ top 10 occupations.
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68. College Profile—Page 4
Page 4 of the College Profile applies respondents’ Personal Style Scales to college concerns.
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69. The Four Career Ws WHO am I? WHY do I want to work?
WHAT do I want to do?
WHERE do I want to do it?
The goal of career assessments, particularly the Strong, is to help students and clients to define exactly who they are and the role that work plays in their lives.
Answering these four questions is the beginning of this process.
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