Who Before What: Interests, Strengths and Career Choices

1Before you read

1. Write down the job you wanted at age ten and the one you are considering now. What changed?
2. Who has influenced your choice most: family, teachers, friends, media or you? Rank them.

2Reading: Who Before What

1 Few questions are asked of children as often as "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Most six-year-olds answer with a uniform: doctor, pilot, footballer. By S6 the question returns with real consequences, since the subjects you chose in S4 have already opened some doors and closed others. Yet it is usually asked the wrong way round. Before deciding what to be, it is worth asking who you are.

2 Three kinds of self-knowledge matter. The first is your interests: the activities that absorb you so completely that you lose track of time. The second is your strengths, the things you already do well or can learn to do well with practice. The third, most often forgotten, is your values: whether you care most about security, service, creativity, independence or income. A career built on only one of these is fragile. Consider Keza, an imagined student who came top in mathematics and chose accounting because it seemed secure. Three years into the job she realised that the part of her day she enjoyed was explaining figures to colleagues. She now teaches mathematics, earns less, and describes herself as far happier. Her strength had been right all along; her values had been ignored.

3 A widely used map of interests comes from the American psychologist John Holland, who grouped them into six broad types. Realistic people like working with tools, machines, plants or animals; investigative people are drawn to ideas and research; artistic people want to create; social people enjoy helping and teaching; enterprising people like to lead, persuade and sell; and conventional people prefer organising information accurately. Most of us are a blend of two or three types, and the blend points towards work in which we are likely to feel at home. Holland's model is a map, not a verdict. It suggests where to look; it does not tell anyone where they must go.

4 Once you have some idea of the territory, test it cheaply before committing years to it. Join the club that is closest to the career you are considering. Volunteer during the holidays. Ask a nurse, a mechanic or a software developer whether you may spend a day watching them work, and ask what they wish they had known at your age. An afternoon of observation can confirm an ambition, or save you from an expensive mistake.

5 Three traps catch many school leavers. The first is choosing for prestige alone, because a title impresses relatives. The second is treating the first choice as permanent, when most careers are paths with several turns. The third is waiting for a passion to arrive fully formed. Interest often grows out of competence: the more skilled you become at something, the more satisfying it tends to feel. Remember, too, that the routes after S6 are more varied than a single queue for university: technical and vocational training, apprenticeships and starting a business are serious options, not second prizes.

6 Perhaps, then, the childhood question needs rewriting. Instead of "What do you want to be?", try "What problems do I want to help solve, and what am I willing to become good at?" It is a harder question, but it has better answers.

Keza is an imagined example. Holland's six types are described in his book Making Vocational Choices.

3Holland's six interest types

4Comprehension

1. According to paragraph 1, why does the childhood question matter more in S6?
2. Name the three kinds of self-knowledge the writer describes, and say which is "most often forgotten".
3. What does Keza's story show? Which of the three was right, and which was ignored?
4. Explain in your own words what the writer means by "Holland's model is a map, not a verdict."
5. Give two ways of testing a career "cheaply", according to paragraph 4.
6. What are the three traps in paragraph 5?
7. What does the writer mean by "Interest often grows out of competence"?
8. How does the writer's attitude to technical and vocational training show in the phrase "not second prizes"?
9. Do you agree that "What problems do I want to help solve?" is a better question than "What do you want to be?" Give reasons.

Show answersHide answers

1. Because it now has real consequences: the subjects chosen in S4 have opened some doors and closed others.
2. Interests, strengths and values; values are most often forgotten.
3. That a career based on one factor is fragile. Her strength (mathematics) was right, but her values (she enjoyed explaining and helping) were ignored.
4. The model suggests which kinds of work might suit you, but it does not decide for you or limit you.
5. Any two: join a related club; volunteer during the holidays; spend a day watching someone at work; ask professionals what they wish they had known.
6. Choosing for prestige alone; treating the first choice as permanent; waiting for a passion to arrive fully formed.
7. As you become skilled at something, you usually start to enjoy it more; enjoyment can follow skill, not only come before it.
8. The writer values these routes highly: they are real, respectable options, not a consolation for those who do not reach university.
9. Open answer. A strong answer gives a reason, for example that it focuses on contribution and effort rather than on a title, and may note a limitation.

5Vocabulary in context