Discussion on mechanization of occupations have been significantly precipitated due to COVID-19. According to 'The Future of Jobs' of World Economy Forum 2020, most jobs well-known to the public are going to disappear within 20 years. In this context,...
Discussion on mechanization of occupations have been significantly precipitated due to COVID-19. According to 'The Future of Jobs' of World Economy Forum 2020, most jobs well-known to the public are going to disappear within 20 years. In this context, the importance of the career counseling for adolescents is being further magnified(Savickas et al., 2009). However, schools are giving more weight to educational guidance for students' entrance into college rather than the career counseling(Kim, 2000). Nonetheless, universities might not guarantee occupations nor development of careers. In fact, many graduates have failed to connect university to jobs (Lee, 2011).
According to the survey from Korea National Statistical Office in 2017, adolescents between 13~19 responded that the primary factor of their future occupation was ‘aptitude, interest’(36.3%). Lots of empirical studies have already shown that interest is one of most influential variables for students in a career choice(Kim, 2000). In particular, the response rate for ‘aptitude, interest’(36.3%) among middle and high school students was two times more than that in other age groups. Therefore, it seems necessary for counselors not only to get information on occupations but also to understand their vocational interest to provide a proper career counseling to middle and highschool students(Paisley & Hubbard, 1994).
The Holland Interest Location, known as Holland or RIASEC theory, is considered as the most frequently used and influential theory in career development(Kim et al., 2010). Holland(1987) pointed out that an individual’s interest can be a precursor to personality, and accordingly, the Holland Interest Location has the advantage in its independent practicability. Nonetheless, there has not been any definite conclusion regarding the argument that the job preference and personality are the same concepts(Kim et al., 2010). Gottfredson(1993) suggested the use of both personality and the job preference inventory in the career counseling. Park et al.(1999) also claimed that personality tests and job preference should be used altogether because an individual’s interest type and personality do not reflect the entire factors.
This research tried to examine the correlation between the vocational preference and personality of high school students. NEO personality test and Holland Interest Location were conducted with 210 high school students and Pearson correlation analysis was carried out to analyze the correlation among factors. The standard for the significance of all statistic results was p<.05. The research result by Gottfredson, Jones and Holland(1993) revealed that the social and enterprising types had the positive correlation with extroversion, and the investigative and artistic types showed the positive correlation with openness to experience. Plus, the conventional type had the positive correlation with conscientiousness. Accordingly, this research tried to analyze the former correlation by formulating hypotheses.
First, the hypothesis that postulates the positive correlation between the social type and the extraversion has been dismissed in this research. The sociable type showed a statistically meaningful positive correlation with openness to experience, and it especially had the positive correlation with ‘imaginative’ and ‘warm’ among sub-factors while it showed the negative correlation with the neuroticism's sub-factor, ‘envious’. Therefore, this hypothesis was dismissed.
Second, the hypothesis that postulates the positive correlation between the enterprising type and the extraversion has been dismissed in this research. However, enterprising type showed a statistically meaningful positive correlation with sub-factors such as ‘cooperative’ and ‘courageous’ approximately as much as 0.2. Hence, this hypothesis was dismissed.
Third, the hypothesis that postulates the positive correlation between the investigative type and openness to experience has been validated in this research. The investigative type showed a statistically meaningful positive correlation by more than 0.2 with openness to experience and agreeableness. It also showed the meaningful positive correlation with sub-factors such as ‘courageous’, ‘intelligible’, ‘philosophical’, ‘systematical’ and ‘warm’.
Fourth, the hypothesis that postulates the positive correlation between the artistic type and openness to experience has been dismissed in this research. The artistic type did not show a meaningful correlation with any other factors among 5.
Lastly, the hypothesis that postulates the positive correlation between the conventional type and conscientiousness has been validated in this research. The conventional type showed a statistically meaningful positive correlation with openness to experience and conscientiousness. Therefore, this hypothesis was adopted.
As shown in this research, in terms of difference between genders, many of male students were identified as the realistic type, and the scores for neuroticism of a senior group was higher than that of other student groups. The relation between Holland Interest Location and NEO personality test is clarified as in the following. First, The realistic type and conscientiousness showed the statistically meaningful negative correlation. Second, the investigative type showed statistically meaningful positive correlation with openness to experience and agreeableness. Third, the social type showed the statistically meaningful positive correlation with openness to experience. Fourth, the enterprising type showed the statistically meaningful positive correlation with openness to experience and conscientiousness. Fifth, the conventional type showed the statistically meaningful positive correlation with openness to experience and conscientiousness.
Seligman(2006) demonstrated that 'openness to experience' of adolescents is relatively high compared to other age groups, and it can affect the other features. According to the result of this research conducted to high school students, openness to experience and Holland Interest Location test types showed the evident correlation between them unlike the result of the precedent studies.
As forementioned, this study tried to put forward the reference data in the highschool setting to keep pace with the increased need for the career counseling. In addition, this research sought to provide useful data by investigate the correlation of highschool students' occupational interest and personality.