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In other words, a career based on professional interests contributes only a small amount to job satisfaction among a host of potentially more important factors that influence job satisfaction, including salary, flexible working conditions, coworkers, ease of commuting, office environment, boss, etc.
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The question is not whether these tests predict job satisfaction—research shows that they are a weak predictor—but rather, given that time and resources are limited in career counseling, why spend so much time and money administering them?
It may be because people like the illusion of certainty, and these tools provide that by providing a list of careers to explore. It’s concrete advice.
To make the situation more confusing, a key assumption of these tests is that birds of a feather flock together, an inconvenient truth that is not supported by large-scale independent studies.
A 2018 study looked at the interests of people in 219 different professions. Based on the test results, they calculated the percentage of people in each profession who had the same primary interest.
Even among the top 15 occupations with the highest percentage of people sharing the same interests, 28% had different interests. And in the bottom 15 occupations, about 75% had a primary interest that was different from the area suggested by the test.
In other words, people with different interests end up working in the same careers together. When making career decisions, there are more important things to consider than relying on interest measures to accurately determine which jobs will bring satisfaction.
Mentoring and empowering people with the confidence and skills to continue to explore career opportunities and make decisions for themselves throughout their careers is a more productive way forward.
Life is not horse racing. We cannot cheat and find the best horses in advance. But what we can do is to prepare better jockeys and let them run the best results.
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