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2. Investigation- science, mathematics

3. Artistic- art, language, music

4. Social- helping, teaching

5. Enterprising- selling, business

8. Interest inventory is to match the individual’s characteristics to the career.

9. A person’s interest remains stable.

10. The interest structure of jobs remains stable.

11. People have interests that must be objectively measured to match occupation.

12. NATURE OF VII

13. The inventory approach presents quite a string of statements to examinee /respondent and they are the following:

14. Jobs

15. Activities

18. Manifest interests – what an individual actually does in portraying his interests

19. Testing interests – using instruments to measure the individual’s interest e.g. OIP, SCII, SDS etc to portray that if an individual has an interest in an area, he should have a vocation from that field.

21. Provide the full range of vocations options by both type and level, inventories fail to suggest all possible vocational options,

22. Provide information that is in accordance with a person’s life history, current circumstances, and personal potential,

23. Be oriented toward the most common occupations and to some degree, toward the spectrum of the future world of work,

24. Be adaptable to new educational and occupational information,

25. Should include other materials such as brochures that summarizes information about the inventory’s strengths and weaknesses,

27. Self-administration, scoring, interpretation (do-it-all-yourself) features, and

29. Selecting a career, and

31. It can stimulate a comprehensive exploration of the world of work with attention to hitherto unconsidered options,

32. It can provide increased self-understanding, and

34. The relationship between interests and other psychological variables such as personality, satisfaction, success, and

35. The role that interests play in career development.Furthermore, the VII are assessed for use in selection and classification evaluation of some cases, assessed interests that add valuable data to career choice predictions are used even after selection in order to help an employee to find the position within a particular organization (Hansen, 1994).<br />Also, knowledge in VII is not only for the career counselor and the psychologist, but also for the individual who needs to match his interests with the available occupations. This is because interests are the key to occupational satisfaction; persons whose interests are not represented in their occupational choice can suffer much unrest and dissatisfaction.<br />According to Oladele (2000), “interest tests are used to get a measure of the individual’s feelings of like or dislike, concern or curiosity toward an activity. The VII are mostly used for career guidance because they highlight the direction of the individual vocational thinking”.<br />Limitations<br />As regards the nature of VII in using the empirically keying, research conducted by Reilly and Echternacht (1979) cited in Herr and Cramer (1984), casts some doubts on the manner in which criterion-keying has been effected. They claim “Criterion- Keying has been done without regard to the dimension of job satisfaction. There is now some evidence to suggest that job satisfaction within occupations should be considered.<br />Again, the preoccupation of interest inventories has been concerned primarily with the area of prediction rather than research in the area of vocational interest development. For instance the SVIB, with its empirical keying, provides no information regarding the development of interests or the relationship between interest patterns and occupational success or job satisfaction (Shertzer, & stone, 1976).<br />Early VII were more focused on professional careers which demand at least a college education.<br />Other limitations of VII are that the responses could be faked; the vocabulary level may be over and above the comprehension of the examinees; and that examinees may not respond to their own true preferences but to socially acceptable choices<br />Implications for Counseling<br />For the purpose of career exploration, counselors need to study and understand the use of VII in order to assist their clients especially those in school for the student to make meaningful and fruitful decisions on their future career life.<br />It is also essential for counselors to acquaint themselves with the carious interest tests available in order to know which will best help a client.<br />Conclusion<br />Vocational interest tests are interest-based inventory test to discover an occupation that you are passionate about. The interest tests will lead you to your true calling, the sources of job satisfaction and life's fulfilment. <br />Unlike career aptitude tests that measure your mental abilities, interest tests examine the types of occupation you might enjoy and be successful in. <br />Reference<br />Betsworth, D.G., & Fouad, N.A. (1997). Vocational interests: A look at the past 70 years and a glance at the future. The Career Development Quarterly, 46(4), 352-360.<br /> Brown, D. (2007). Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development (9th ed.). <br />Cunningham, G. K. (1986). Educational and Psychological Measurement. New York Macmillian Publishing Company.<br />Donald, A, Cheser, J. L. Asghor, R (1990). Introduction to Research in Education. (4th Edition). Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winsoting, Inc. <br />Ebel R. L, Frisbi, D. A. (1991). Essentials of Educational Measurement. (5th Edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. <br />Hubert, L., & Arabie, P. (1987). Evaluating order hypotheses within proximity matrices. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 172–178.<br />J.C., Sarman, Z.M., & Collins, R.C. (1999). An evaluation of Holland’s model of vocational interests for Chicana(o) and Latina(o) college students. The Journal of Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 32(1), 2-14. <br />Leedy, D. L, Ormrod, J. E. (2005). Practical Research: Planning and Design. (8th Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merril/Prentice Hall. <br />UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST<br />FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS<br />PROGRAMME<br />M.PHIL (GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING)<br />EPS 522: TESTING IN COUNSELLING<br />TOPIC<br />VOCATIONAL INTEREST INVENTORY<br />LECTURER<br />PROF. J.K. ESSUMAN<br />PRESENTED BY<br />INEKE FABEA BOSSMAN<br />MAY, 2011<br />