Career Interest Test (RIASEC)
The 60 activities of the O*NET® Interest Profiler Short Form, scored on your device.
O*NET INTEREST PROFILER SHORT FORM
Read the 60 work activities below. Place a check in the box by the activities you would like to do. Do not think about how much education/training is needed or how much money you will make! Count the number of checks for each shaded section and write that total in the box to the right of each section. These are your scores for each interest area.
This page counts the checks in each section for you, and keeps your answers on this device only.
0 of 60 activities checked
Your interest areas
Congratulations on completing your O*NET Interest Profiler! Interest Areas are a summary of the type of work you like.
The Profiler’s instruction:
In the boxes below, write the names of the interest areas with the three highest scores. The first box is your highest or primary interest. If there are ties, choose the interest with activities that you think are the best fit for you.
Remember the Interest with the highest score (most number of checks) is your Primary Interest.
What do your Interests mean?
All six interest areas
What is Your Job Zone?
To figure out what careers to explore, it’s helpful to know how much education, training, and experience you need to do a job. This level of preparation is known as a Job Zone. Careers that require similar levels of preparation are grouped into the same Job Zone.
- Job Zone 1 — Careers need Little or No Preparation
- No previous skills, knowledge, or experience is needed.
- May require a high school diploma or GED certificate.
- May need from a few days to a few months of training.
- No previous skills, knowledge, or experience is needed.
- Job Zone 2 — Careers need Some Preparation
- Usually need a high school diploma.
- Some previous skills, knowledge, or experience is usually needed.
- May need from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees.
- Usually need a high school diploma.
- Job Zone 3 — Careers need Medium Preparation
- Usually requires training in vocational schools, related on–the-job experience, or an associate’s degree.
- Previous skills, knowledge, or experience needed.
- Need one or two years of training.
- Usually requires training in vocational schools, related on–the-job experience, or an associate’s degree.
- Job Zone 4 — Careers need High Preparation
- Most careers require a four-year bachelor’s degree, but some do not.
- Long-term skills, knowledge, or experience needed.
- Need several years of work-related experience and training.
- Most careers require a four-year bachelor’s degree, but some do not.
- Job Zone 5 — Careers need Extensive Preparation
- Most of these careers need a graduate school education.
- Extensive skills, knowledge, and experience are needed; many requiring more than five years of experience.
- May need some on-the-job training; however, the person will usually have the needed skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and training before starting the job.
- Most of these careers need a graduate school education.
Exploring Careers Using Your Interests and Your Job Zone
Using your Primary Interest and Job Zone allows you to find careers that match your interests and fit your amount of job preparation.
No Careers Available
Each title opens a search for it on My Next Move, the U.S. Department of Labor’s career site, in a new tab. Tick a title to add it to your list.
**The career was assigned to the group based on its second highest interest.
***The career was assigned to the group based on its third highest interest.
For more careers linked to your interests, use the Interest Browse at mynextmove.org/find/interests.
If you don’t like the careers in your Job Zone listed for your Primary Interest, you have choices:
- Review the Job Zone definitions to make sure that you have chosen the Job Zone that best matches what you have now.
- Choose a different Job Zone that you want to work towards in the FUTURE.
- Use your second or third highest interests to look at careers.
Career titles you have picked to explore
Tick up to 10 titles in the lists above, as on the O*NET® Careers Worksheet.
About the Career Interest Test (RIASEC)
Find out which kinds of work interest you most. This page reproduces the **O*NET® Interest Profiler Short Form** — 60 everyday work activities, from “Build kitchen cabinets” to “Stamp, sort, and distribute mail for an organization” — unchanged, under its CC BY-ND 4.0 licence. Check the activities you would like to do, without thinking about the training or the pay, and the page counts your checks in each of the six interest areas.
You get a score out of 10 for each area — Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional (RIASEC) — your three highest interests as a Holland code such as SAE, what each interest means, and the O*NET® career lists for your interests and Job Zone, the level of preparation you have now or want to reach. Your answers stay on this device.
How to use it
- Read each of the 60 activities and tick the ones you would like to do. Leave the others blank: there are no right or wrong answers.
- Watch the total under each section — it counts your checks for that interest area.
- Press See my results to see your scores, your three highest interests and their meanings. If two areas tie, choose the one whose activities fit you best, as the Profiler asks.
- Under What is Your Job Zone?, pick the Job Zone that matches the education, training and experience you have now, and one you want to work towards.
- Browse the careers listed for your interests and Job Zone. Each title opens a search for it on My Next Move; tick up to 10 to make your list, then copy or print your results.
Examples
Realistic 2 · Investigative 8 · Artistic 6 · Social 5 · Enterprising 1 · Conventional 3
Holland code IAS: Investigative is the Primary Interest, then Artistic and Social
Social 8 · Enterprising 8 · Artistic 4 · the rest lower
The page asks which of Social and Enterprising fits you best; choosing Enterprising gives ESA
The Profiler’s own rule: “If there are ties, choose the interest with activities that you think are the best fit for you.”
Primary Interest Investigative · Job Zone 4
20 careers such as Chemists, Data Scientists, Software Developers and Water Resource Specialists
A title marked is listed by its second highest interest, * by its third.
Common uses
- Students choosing subjects, a course or a first job who want a structured starting point.
- Adults thinking about a change of career and wondering which kinds of work they would enjoy.
- Teachers and counsellors running a quick interest activity with a class — the same 60 activities as the paper version.
- Comparing your interests with a friend’s or with the careers you are already considering.
About the O*NET® Interest Profiler Short Form
The O*NET® Interest Profiler is a family of career exploration tools from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, developed by the National Center for O*NET Development. The Short Form has 60 activities, 10 for each interest area. In its paper version you tick the activities you would like to do, count the ticks in each shaded section, and write down the three areas with the highest scores; this page does the counting for you and keeps everything else as it is.
The activities, instructions, area descriptions, Job Zone definitions and career lists are reproduced unchanged under the CC BY-ND 4.0 option of the O*NET® Career Exploration Tools licence, which allows verbatim copies only. That is why the page is in English: a translation would be a modification. The O*NET® program also offers its own web version at onetinterestprofiler.org, and the paper version and its score report can be downloaded from the Interest Profiler page.
The six interest areas (RIASEC)
The six areas follow John Holland’s theory of vocational interests (Holland, Making Vocational Choices): Realistic (hands-on, practical work), Investigative (science, research and problem solving), Artistic (creating and self-expression), Social (helping and teaching), Enterprising (leading, selling and managing) and Conventional (organising, records and detail). Holland arranged them in a hexagon in the order R-I-A-S-E-C, with neighbouring areas the most alike — so a code such as SAE combines neighbours, while RS combines areas that sit opposite each other.
Your code is the first letters of your three highest interests, best first. It describes the kinds of work activities you like; it says nothing about ability, and many careers suit more than one code.
Job Zones
A Job Zone groups careers by how much education, training and experience they need, from Job Zone 1 (little or no preparation) to Job Zone 5 (extensive preparation, usually a graduate degree). The Score Report suggests looking at careers for the Job Zone you are in now and for a higher one you plan to work towards. The O*NET® career lists show a sample of careers for each interest and Job Zone; My Next Move’s Interest Browse has more.
Making use of your results
- Read the meanings of your three interests and see which parts sound like you.
- Look at the careers for your Primary Interest and Job Zone first, then for your second and third interests.
- Open a few titles on My Next Move to see what the work involves, the skills and education it needs and its outlook.
- Talk your list through with a teacher, a careers adviser or people who do those jobs. Interests are one part of a career choice, with your skills, values and circumstances.
Limitations
- For self-exploration only: an interest inventory is not a test of ability and not a professional assessment.
- English only, because the licence allows the Short Form to be copied but not translated.
- The career titles, Job Zones and education terms (such as a GED certificate or an associate’s degree) come from the United States; similar jobs exist elsewhere, but their names and training routes differ from country to country.
- The career lists are a sample from the O*NET® Career Listings, not every career that fits an interest.
- Your answers are kept in this browser only, so they do not follow you to another device.
Privacy
The test runs in your browser: your answers, tie choices, Job Zones and picked careers are kept only in this browser’s storage, and nothing is sent anywhere. A career title you open goes to My Next Move as a search, like any link you follow. Clear my answers deletes everything.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Holland code?
The first letters of your three highest interest areas, best first — for example IAS for Investigative, Artistic and Social. The letters come from John Holland’s six RIASEC areas: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional.
How are the scores worked out?
Each activity you check adds one point to its interest area, so each area scores from 0 to 10. The area with the most checks is your Primary Interest; the next two are your second and third interests.
What if two areas have the same score?
The Profiler says: “If there are ties, choose the interest with activities that you think are the best fit for you.” The page shows the tied areas and lets you choose; you can change your choice at any time with Choose again.
Do I have to answer every activity?
No. Tick only the activities you would like to do and leave the rest. Don’t think about how much training a job needs or how much it pays — the Profiler asks you not to.
Is this the official O*NET® Interest Profiler?
It reproduces the official paper Short Form unchanged, under its CC BY-ND 4.0 licence, with the required credit; it is not run or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Labor. The official web version is at onetinterestprofiler.org.
What do and * after a career mean?
They come from the O*NET® Career Listings: means the career is listed under this interest because it is its second highest interest, and * because it is its third.
Are my answers stored or shared?
They stay on your device, in this browser’s storage, so you can come back to your results. Nothing is uploaded. Clear my answers removes them.