Activity 18

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Overview

Planning for College
   Introduction
   Getting Started
   Resources
   Activity 18
   Activity 19
   Activity 20
   Activity 21
   Activity 22
   Activity 23
   Activity 24-25
   Summary

Applying to College

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Download Post-ITT Materials

Exploring Interests with an Interest Inventory

What Students Do

Students complete an interest inventory, summarize the results, and discuss the findings.

The purpose of interest inventories is to stimulate thinking not to establish the absolute answer to the question "What am I going to do with my life?" For this reason, the summary and discussion elements of the Activity are especially important.

Planning

Review several interest inventories and decide which one to use with the students. When selecting, consider reading requirements, gender equity, and regional representation issues. You may want to narrow down the selection and then let students decide. Students may complete more than one and compare the results. Consider sharing your own completed interest inventory. The Supplemental Resources section below provides information on three interest inventories commonly used in high school. Check with your counseling office or career center for other inventories that may be available to you.

Introducing the Activity

Activity 18 asks students to relate their interests to career options. Help students think of as many aspects of their lives as possible that interest them. You can broaden the students' thinking by asking what they like to do. This question may produce responses that lead to possible careers that otherwise wouldn't be thought of.

Encourage students to list as many interests and likes as they can no matter how silly something may seem.

Everyone should have the opportunity to dream. Talk to the students about their dreams when they were younger. Ask how they developed those dreams. Give an example of your own childhood aspirations. Share how those developed (or didn't) over time. Ask students how their dreams have evolved. Explain that some people limit themselves to the familiar while others dream of careers providing fame and fortune. While this is normal, explain that these Activities will help them refine their dreams, take action, and possibly turn those dreams into attainable goals.

Interest Inventory -- Resources

Ladders to Success, a Student's Guide to School After High School, Jennifer MacKillop, MSW.

Section 1, Planning Ahead, discusses ways students can learn about themselves and their interests while planning for college.

A Guide to Functional Vocational Evaluation in Washington State

The Center for Change in Transition Services in Washington State operates this Web site. This Guide provides a structure for interviews with students to explore their career interests.

Some commonly used interest inventories are:

Wide Range Interest - Occupation Test (WRIOT2)© By Joseph F. Jastak, Ph.D. and Sarah Jastak, Ph.D.

This assessment tool can assist in vocational and career planning without requiring reading or language understanding. The tool uses 150 sets of 3 picture cards to identify the participant's interests and aptitudes. The range in occupations identified is from unskilled to highly technical and professional training. The Wide Range Interest-Opinion Test© (1979) is a pictorial interest test that is culturally and sexually unbiased. It does not require reading or language understanding. The pictorial presentation reduces the confusion of mental images and multiple meanings that words evoke. The results are presented on a report form that graphically shows an individual's strength of interest in each of the 18 clusters as well as 8 more general attitude clusters. Available through: Guidance Centre, The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, 712 Gordon Baker Road, Toronto, Ontario, M2H 3R7, 1-800-668-6247.

Developed by the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration as part of the O*Net Career Exploration Tools, the Interest Profiler helps students find out what their interest are and how they relate to the world of work. It does this by asking questions that represent important interest areas. The Interest Profiler scores will help identify strongest work-related interests. It provides 180 work activities that some people do at their jobs. For each work activity, a person answers if he or she thinks they would like the work activity, dislike the work activity, or are unsure.

Career Occupation Preference System (COPS) Inventory© -- EDITS Corporation

The COPS Interest Inventory© consists of 118 items, providing job activity interest scores related to the 14 COPSystem Career Clusters. Each Cluster is keyed to high school and college curriculum, as well as current sources of occupational information. The COPS interpretive material emphasizes a "hands-on" approach to career exploration, featuring career and educational planning worksheets, along with a listing of suggested activities to gain experience.

Career Development eManual© - University of Waterloo, Career Services

This career development manual is organized into 6 steps. The second of these steps uses an interest inventory that is available on line.

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View Activity 18

View Evaluation Questions

Ladders to Success

A Guide to Functional Vocational Evaluation in Washington State

Wide Range Interest Occupation Test (WRIOT2)

Washington Occupational Information System

Career Occupational Preference System (COPS)

University of Waterloo Career Development eManual