Career Guidance Center, University of Cincinnati

The Holland Hexagon

Careers and Six Basic Types

John Holland, a career specialist, developed a theory that people and careers can be characterized by six basic "types". These "types", or Holland Codes, are commonly referred to as RIASEC to reflect the first letter in each of the themes.

R for Realistic	S for Social
I for Investigative	E for Enterprising
A for Artistic	C for Conventional

Your Holland theme code will generally consist of three letters that correspond to your first, second, and third strongest preferences or interests.

The following table describes people and work environments according to Holland's theory of Careers and Basic types:

PEOPLE AND THEIR WORK ENVIRONMENTS* (based on John Holland's Career Theory)
Types	People	Work Environments
*Realistic*	Strong mechanical, psychomotor, and athletic abilities; honest; loyal; like the outdoors; prefer working with machines, tools, plants, and animals.	Structured; clear goals and lines of authority; work with hands, machines, or tools; casual dress; focus on tangible results; engineering, military, skilled trades
*Investigative*	Strong problem solving and analytical skills; mathematically inclined; like to observe, learn, and evaluate; prefer working alone; reserved; idea generators	Nonstructured; research oriented; intellectual; discover, collect, and analyze ideas/data; science, math, medicine, and computer related; labs, universities, high tech, hospitals.
Artistic	Creative; complex; emotional; intuitive; idealistic; flair for communicating ideas; prefer working independently; like to sing; write, act, paint, think creatively	Nonstructured; creative; flexible; rewards unconventional and aesthetic values; creation of products and ideas; arts organizations, films/TV, publishing, advertising, museums, theater, galleries
*Social*	Friendly; outgoing; find fulfillment in helping others; strong verbal and personal skills; teaching abilities; impulsive	Harmonious; congenial; work on people-related problems/issues; inform train, develop, cure, or enlighten others; team oriented; human resources; training, education, social service, hospitality, health care, nonprofit
*Enterprising*	Confident; assertive; sociable; speaking and leadership abilities; like to use influence; strong interpersonal skills; status conscious	True business environment; results oriented; driven; high-quality service and product orientation; entrepreneurial; high prestige; power focused; sales, management, politics, finance, retail, leadership
*Conventional*	Dependable; disciplined; precise; persistent orderly; efficient; practical; detail oriented; clerical and numerical abilities	Orderly; clear rules and policies; systematized manipulation and organization of data; control and handling of money; high income potential; accounting, business, finance, administration

* From: Real People Real Jobs, by David H. Montross, Zandy B. Leibowitz, and Christopher J. Shinkman

One way to identify and probe your career type is illustrated with a hexagon. A hexagon can be used to represent the similarities and differences of characteristics among people, among jobs, and between people and jobs.

Most people’s interests combine several types to some degree. The six types can be arranged around a hexagon. Types that are next to one another on the hexagon are most closely related. Types that are opposite one another on the hexagon are the most dissimilar. For example, the Realistic and Investigative types are similar, while the Realistic and Social types are often dissimilar.

Learning what your type is and how the types are related to each other is important to your successful career decision-making process.

Basic CareerTypes*

Artistic

Enterprising, Conventional

Investigative, Social, Realistic

Investigative, Realistic

Social, Enterprising

This page last updated on October 8, 2003
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