2. GENERAL OCCUPATIONAL THEMES
(GOT)
6 broad scales that measure general patterns in your
interests
Each individual and occupation can be categorized as one
of six types:
Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising ,
or Conventional
(Does this seem familiar?)
Most people’s interests combine several GOT’s
Your scores reflect your personal interests
GOT’s reflect your overall orientation to work, which may
combine more than one theme
“Moderate” or higher interest required to be reflected on
GOT
Explore occupations with codes that contain any
combinations of these letters in any order
3. BASIC INTEREST SCALES (BIS)
30 different scales that measure your interests in
particular activities or subjects within the 6 General
Occupational Themes
Arranged in groups corresponding to the strength of
their relationship to the six GOT’s
Each BIS is concerned with one specific area of
activity
Each BIS reflects a cluster of skills – “things people
do”
Example: BIS = Mechanics & Construction (R type) -
means you may like working with tools and
equipment
Your interests on the BIS are compared to those of
people in general and to individuals of your own
gender
4. OCCUPATIONAL SCALES
122 scales that measure your similarity to men
and women employed in different occupations
who reported that they were satisfied with their
work
OS’s represent unique items that define each
occupational group, including both “likes” and
“dislikes”
OS’s are both positively and negatively scored
(GOT’s and BIS’s are only positively scored) – so
very high validity
5. PERSONAL STYLE SCALES
These are 5 scales that assess your personal
preferences
They measure your level of comfort regarding:
Work Style
Learning Environment
Leadership Style
Risk Taking
Team Orientation
6. WORK STYLE AND LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
Work Style Learning Environment
Indicates Indicates the kind of
how much
contact with people you setting in which you may
want during your work enjoy learning
Do “PracticalLearning” –
you prefer working
with people? learn by doing
Or “Academic Environment”
do you prefer working
with ideas, data, or – learn through lectures
things? and reading
7. LEADERSHIP STYLE, RISK TAKING,
AND TEAM ORIENTATION
Leadership Style Risk Taking
Indicates what kind of
Indicates your preference for
taking risks
leader you prefer to be
Do you prefer to take
One who takes charge? chances?
Or do you prefer to play it
One who leads by
example? safe?
The scale helps you to
Team Orientation
decide how you would Indicates how you like to
function best in a solve problems
particular job Do you prefer working
It does not measure independently to accomplish
tasks?
whether you are
interested in leading or in Or do you prefer working on
following someone else’s teams to get something done?
lead
8. REMEMBER…
The SII measures interests, not abilities
The SII is not a crystal ball – it only provides information;
it’s up to you to make use of that information
The SII is just one assessment; you should also consider
your abilities, previous experiences, values, and
personality
Career planning is not passive
You need to take initiative in getting additional
information, planning, and making decisions
Only you know best
It is up to you to interpret how accurately the scores
reflect your personal interests
9. USING YOUR CODE
• Use the O*NET to search for occupations
that interest you
• The O*NET, the Occupational Information
Network, is a comprehensive database of
worker attributes and job characteristics.
http://online.onetcenter.org/
