Self-Directed Search Paper ~  Jessica K. Bower ~  Chadron State College ~  Dr. Sasse ~  June 27, 2022

The Self-Directed Search is vocational assessment tool created by John Holland in 1970 (Holland & Spokane, 1995). The SDS was first created as a tool for career counselors to utilize when working with clients who were dissatisfied with their jobs or were in transition and needed guidance. The SDS helps individuals seek out a new career, based on their intrinsic interests and work styles (Janse, 2019). The SDS started as a paper assessment (obviously) and has evolved into an electronic assessment that can be completed at home, without a counselor. This evolution or update has made the SDS easy to complete and interpret, while being accessible to anyone with $14.95 and a computer. I found that I felt most comfortable completing an assessment in this manner, as I am very comfortable with computers, enjoyed the immediate results and felt as though I could be completely honest. One issue I think the electronic SDS might have is the lack of feedback from another person. I could see how some people may not know how to take the results and jump right into the next steps, without a little back and forth from another person. This would be especially true for a young person who has never worked a job or for a mid-life individual who has many factors to think about when making a career change.
 

The electronic SDS is still a great tool. This assessment asks several questions about interest and self-efficacy about specific tasks. These tasks individual tasks represent one out of six categories. Holland proposed that occupations could be divided into six categories: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional- RIASEC (Janse, 2019). The realistic set are doers, investigative are thinkers, artists are creators, social are helpers, enterprising are seducers and conventional are organizers. These descriptors really helped me to understand these categories better. I can imagine how someone who really had no idea what line of work to pursue would appreciate the guidance the SDS provides.
   

My SDS results showed that I was an SCE, or Social, Conventional and Enterprising. I scored a 52 in Social, a 44 in Conventional, and a 39 in Enterprising. This means that I am most interested in social or helping professions and activities, but just a little less interested in Conventional and Enterprising activities. All three of these scores were fairly high, while all three of my Realistic, Artistic, and Investigative scores were really low. I scored a 4, 7, and 10 in these categories. I found it interesting how large the spread was.
   

The section directly below the results includes several possible jobs that match my interests. I found that most of these were jobs I would naturally be inclined to pursue, so that felt pretty accurate. However, the job of counselor was not present, and I know this is the career I am most excited about pursuing. I also thought some of the positions listed were unusual and I wasn’t able to understand why that would be an option for me. For example, Air Traffic Control Specialist, Automobile Rental Clerk, and Barista. I would find these jobs incredibly boring and tedious.
Just below the list of jobs applicable to my personal interests are the jobs applicable to my dream occupations. My dream occupations indicated that I should be an SIE- Social, Investigative, and Enterprising. This got me thinking about the validity of the Investigative questions. If I remember right, they all seemed to be inclined toward astronomy, biology, and physical science investigations. I am not particularly interested in investigating the natural processes and functioning of physical science, but I am very interested in investigating human behavior and researching behavioral changes. It seems that the Artistic category questions are similar to the Investigative category questions. These questions primarily describe activities related to playing or writing music and painting or drawing. However, I feel that someone can be an artist in organizing their garden or navigating their relationships with other people.

 

Having said all of that, Ultimately, I was in agreement with the SCE result I received. It was not at all surprising that social was my highest score, given that I have spent much of my work life in helping professions and I am now studying to become a counselor. Social work is my greatest interest, yet I realize that it is not my only interest. I completely agree that I am conventional as well. However, when I first read this title, I found it off-putting for some reason. Upon reflection, I think I associated conventional with boring and typical. I felt like the term ‘organizer’ better captured the heart of this category. When I think about it, organizing is often boring and typical, but not to people like me. I love organizing things; I can and will organize everything! In fact, the last few weeks have been very challenging for me because I have been so busy with school, my household has deteriorated to a state of absolute chaos. I look around and see things that need to be organized everywhere. For some reason, no one else in my house sees this.
 

The fact that I scored third highest in Enterprising is also no surprise to me. I grew into this role during my time as a business owner. I would not have thought I would enjoy this aspect of business ownership as much as I did, but I found that negotiating was a skill I had. I do not like the negative connotation associated with the nickname ‘seducer’. This word does not adequately describe how I engage in Enterprising, so I replaced it with negotiator. This role probably comes naturally for parents, managers, and counselors. I broker deals between my kids and employees all the time. It is simply a matter of understanding people, primarily their needs, and negotiating a win-win solution for everyone.
 

Although I agree with my result of SCE, I would have to say that there are subcategories of the Investigative and Artistic categories that I probably would have scored higher in. However, I realize that this is an assessment based on norms and it can never fully capture every eventuality. This is another reason why I feel that although the SDS is helpful, it may be better for some individuals to complete it with the guidance of a counselor.
 

The SDS assessment is a great tool for counselors to employ when working with clients who are looking for a career to pursue. I would use this assessment to help clients start thinking about were their interests lie and what their options are for pursuing a career in line with those interests. As I said previously, I would prefer to use this assessment in conjunction with guidance from a counselor.
 

I feel that the results of the SDS would be best utilized if a counselor were there with a client to ask a few key questions. Some of these questions might involve- asking questions about nontraditional activities that may be included in a given category or asking a client to think about whether they are truly interested in a given activity or if they are merely comfortable with their ability to complete this activity competently. Finally, I would ask clients about their comfort level vs. interest level. Sometimes, I think people may be inclined to shy away from an interest because they are not confident in their ability to pursue that interest.
 

Combining the SDS with guidance from a counselor is a viable option for those who need more than just an interest score and some examples of possible positions that align with those interests. I would suggest that individuals who find their SDS results lacking, seek out a counselor who can help them process these results and determine a course of action. Counselors have long been able to provide this type of professional and personal enrichment to their client’s lives. Since the development of the community counselor, these types of guidance services, as well as many other counseling services have been available to members of the community (Gladding & Newsome, 2018). This is one of the many advantages community members have now, and it would be a shame not to utilize them. My experience with the SDS and my assumptions about how to best serve my future clients, lead me to believe that the SDS is a valuable tool, which can be enriched by the added guidance of a counselor, in many cases.





References
Janse, B. (2019). Self-Directed Search (SDS). Retrieved [June 27, 2022] from Toolshero:
https://www.toolshero.com/human-resources/self-directed-search/
Holland, J. L. & Spokane, A.R. (1995). The self-directed search: a family of self-guided career
interventions. Journal of Career Assessment, 3 (4), 373-390.
https://doi.org/10.1177/106907279500300409
Gladding, S. T. & Newsome, D. W. (2018). Clinical Mental Health Counseling in Community
Settings and Agency Settings (5th Edition). Pearson.