Career Test (Holland Code)

By Murat Şahin · Updated November 12, 2026 · How we test

How this career test works

Press Start the career test and you see one work activity at a time, such as "Run experiments in a laboratory" or "Persuade customers to buy a product". For each one, pick how much you would enjoy doing it: Strongly dislike, Dislike, Not sure, Like or Strongly like. Keys 1 to 5 work too, and Back lets you change an answer. There are 42 activities and most people need about five minutes.

Rate the activity itself, not whether you have the skills, the degree or the salary for it. Interest tests work best when you imagine doing the task on an ordinary day. Your interests are linked to your personality; the Big Five personality test shows the broader traits behind them.

The six Holland types (RIASEC)

The test is built on the theory of vocational choice by psychologist John L. Holland. Holland (1997) proposed that both people and work environments can be described by six types, usually shortened to RIASEC:

• Realistic (R): hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals.
• Investigative (I): observing, researching and solving problems with ideas.
• Artistic (A): creating and expressing, with room for imagination.
• Social (S): helping, teaching and caring for people.
• Enterprising (E): leading, persuading, selling and taking risks.
• Conventional (C): organising data, records and procedures.

Holland arranged the six types on a hexagon in that order. Neighbouring types (such as Social and Enterprising) have more in common than opposite ones (such as Realistic and Social). People tend to be more satisfied when their work environment matches their type, an idea Holland called congruence.

How to read your Holland code

Each type gets seven activities, so its raw total is between 7 and 35. We convert it to 0–100 with (raw − 7) ÷ 28 × 100. Your Holland code is your three highest types in order: for example, SAE means Social first, then Artistic, then Enterprising. If two types tie, the one that comes first in R-I-A-S-E-C order is listed first, and the card tells you when your third and fourth types are equal.

Under each of the six bars you see a short description and example careers, such as teacher, nurse and psychologist for Social, or accountant, bank officer and auditor for Conventional. Look for jobs that combine your top two or three letters rather than only the first one. The scores are not percentiles and not aptitude scores: a 70 in Investigative means you liked most of those activities, not that you are better at science than 70% of people.

Interest test or aptitude test?

Many people search for a "career aptitude test", but this is an interest test. Aptitude tests measure abilities, such as numerical or spatial reasoning. Interests tell you what kind of work you are likely to enjoy and stick with. Both matter. A large review by Christopher Nye and colleagues (2012) found that people whose interests fit their job tend to perform better and are more likely to stay, although interests are only one piece of the picture.

If you want to check how you handle the people side of work, the emotional intelligence test looks at self-awareness, self-management and relationship skills.

Why our items are original

The best-known free RIASEC questionnaire is the O*NET Interest Profiler from the U.S. Department of Labor. It is free to use, but it is not in the public domain: it is licensed under Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0 for unchanged copies, and translated or shortened versions fall under the O*NET Tools Developer License, which requires a validation study before release. Because this site offers the test in two languages, we wrote 42 original activities based on Holland's type definitions instead. They are original and unnormed, and the job examples are our own illustrations. If you prefer the official English instrument, it is available through O*NET's own sites.

Limits of this test

Your answers depend on what you know about each activity and how you feel today. A test cannot tell you which job to take; use your code as a starting list to explore, talk to people who do those jobs and try short experiences such as internships or volunteering. For a structured plan, a school or university career counsellor can help.

More tests like this: personality tests.

Sources

• Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Psychological Assessment Resources.
• Nye, C. D., Su, R., Rounds, J., & Drasgow, F. (2012). Vocational interests and performance: A quantitative summary of over 60 years of research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(4), 384–403.
• Rounds, J., Su, R., Lewis, P., & Rivkin, D. (2010). O*NET Interest Profiler Short Form psychometric characteristics: Summary. National Center for O*NET Development.
• National Center for O*NET Development. O*NET Career Exploration Tools content license (CC BY-ND 4.0 and O*NET Tools Developer License): onetcenter.org/license_tools.html.

Frequently asked questions