John Holland and the Holland Code Theory
Introduction
Choosing a career is undoubtedly one of the most important choice any person makes throughout the course of entire life. Without exaggeration it is justifiable to state that career choice is the most important choice one can make in life. The reason of this is that a great number of factors, crucially important for the development of a person as of an individual, are not the ones that person can consciously choose or control. For example, Nobody can choose time and place of their birth while these two factors are obviously of a great value in terms of determining the person’s future path in life. Origin and conditions in which person had been growing shape the individual’s personality, having a decisive effect on what biological predispositions shall manifest themselves in future. However, if every single aspect of life was predefined by biology and early socialization, there would be no way to explain the cases, which contradict the logic of determinism with their existence. Free will is the factor that is able to change the person’s life no matter how good or bad initial conditions were. Choosing a profession is the field where the freedom of will can take over the life’s circumstances and contribute to a productive, positive change in person’s life.
However, choosing a profession is not always something that exclusively brings positive change and empowers an individual. It often happens in life that the professional path one decides to choose is not something that would bring joy and sense to the life. On the contrary, sometimes choosing wrong profession is able to ruin the person’s life completely. Poorly chosen profession, especially if the person continues to work in the wrong field for a long period of time or even for the rest of its productive life, is able to destroy both physical and psychological health, make life seem to be senseless and empty. This creates a strong argument for putting effort in ensuring that people have a better chance to choose the future profession correctly. The fact that most of people today have to choose their path in life in their teens, while usually not having any real knowledge about the actual situation in the field they want to become a part, only makes the issue more problematic. Young people often do not have enough life experience or ability of reflection to conduct self-observation for figuring out what profession would suit them the best. Unfortunately, teen people often have to rely on popular images of professions, fashion tendencies and other highly unreliable sources when making their choice. Obviously, the chance of making a mistake in case an individual is guided by such reference points is too high from acceptable.
Overview of Holland’s Theory
To help people in dealing with the problem of having to make the choice without a proper basis or unfitting profession, scientists, especially psychologists, have developed a number of theoretical approaches and practically applicable instruments based on those. One of …
