Examining the Personal Meaning of Inventoried Interests During Career Counseling

Abstract

The present article seeks to renovate the career counseling use of interest inventories as personality indicators by making explicit the link between inventoried interests and their personal meaning to clients. Interest denotes a relationship between the individual and the environment, one to the advantage of the individual. The chief advantage of an interest to the individual is that it cultivates a solution to a personal problem. Viewing interests as a developmental pathway encourages the interpretation of interest inventory results from a psychology of use. A focus on how the client uses an interest prompts counselors to trace a measured interest both backward to its origin in private preoccupations and forward to its expression in public occupations. Using interest inventories as personality indicators helps clients to conceptualize the impetus of their movement (needs), the direction of that movement (values), and the style of that movement (interests). Counseling that includes a coherent narration of the why, what, and how of an individual's movement in the world can clarify the client's occupational choices and enhance that client's ability to make career decisions.