Below are descriptions of each area PathwayU assesses. More information about your results and what they mean for you can be discussed in an appointment with a career counselor. There are also worksheets available under “tools” in PathwayU to guide you in better understanding your results and career matches.
Understanding Your Results
Interests
Interests are areas we find fascinating or are motivated by. The theory behind interest in career development started with John Holland’s RIASEC model which identifies six areas based on person-environment fit. While we all have some underlying interest in all six areas, some are more prevalent than others, which is shown in your top three highest ratings. A career that is a good fit for you should have work activities and a work environment that align well with your interest areas. Below are the characteristics of each interest area.
Realistic
People with Realistic interests enjoy mechanical activities, athletics, working with their hands, and being outdoors, getting dirt under their fingernails.
Investigative
People characterized by Investigative interests enjoy asking intellectual questions and investigating the answers to those questions, maybe using the methods of science.
Artistic
Those with Artistic interests really appreciate self-expression, certainly through fine arts but also drama, writing, music, and even culinary activities.
Social
People with Social interests like being in roles where they can directly help people – teachers, pastors, and counselors, for example.
Enterprising
Those with Enterprising interests enjoy persuading people. They can do so in business-related tasks like sales and marketing, but also through law, politics, and public speaking.
Conventional
People with Conventional interests enjoy organizing things. They love detail-oriented tasks and get a kick out of things like filing systems and spreadsheets.
Personality
In the psychological sense, personality refers to an individual’s pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving. PathwayU measures personality using a proprietary HEXACO-based assessment. The HEXACO framework includes six dimensions: Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O). More information about the HEXACO framework is available here.
Values
Values are what we find important to us. Our values in our personal life may differ from what we look for in a work setting. This assessment aims to identify what values are most important for you to have in a career. These six areas have been identified by the Theory of Work Adjustment, which suggests that individuals with certain characteristics are best suited for jobs with demands that correspond to those. A greater correspondence, or fit, between individual values and work characteristics leads to a greater likelihood of employee satisfaction and performance.
Achievement
People with Achievement values want to do something that makes use of their abilities, in which they experience a sense of accomplishment.
Independence
Those with Independence values appreciate being able to plan their work with little supervision, try out their own ideas, and make decisions on their own.
Recognition
People who value Recognition want the opportunity for advancement in a job, appreciate getting recognition for their work, want the social status that comes from being viewed as “somebody” in the community, and like the authority to tell people what to do.
Relationships
Relationship values are characteristic of people who desire good friendships with their coworkers, want to do things in service of others, and want to avoid being asked to do work they feel is morally wrong.
Working Conditions
People who value Working Conditions want to keep busy while at work, appreciate the chance to work independently, like variety on the job, desire pay that compares well with that of other workers, and appreciate steady employment.
Support
Those with Support values want the company to administer its policies fairly, and desire supervisors who back up employees with upper management and who train workers well.
Workplace Preferences
Workplace Preferences describe the characteristics of an organization that individuals need in order to feel satisfied. These preferences vary from person to person. PathwayU assesses these workplace needs using a modified version of the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) measure. The OCP measure can be used to assess what an individual is looking for from an organization, as well as what organizations can provide for their employees. Thus, by comparing an individual’s culture profile to an organization’s culture profile, we can better understand the degree of correspondence between individual needs and the likelihood of fulfilling such needs within an organization.
Get Help Interpreting Your Results
A career assessment can provide a lot of clues about who you are. A career counselor can help you better understand what those clues might be telling you about your educational and career path and next steps. Make an appointment to dig deeper into your results to understand what they mean for you.