The Evaluation Inventory has four scales:
- Activities (11 items – for each of the six personality types) – 66 items.
- Competences (11 items – for each of the six personality types) – 66 items.
- Occupations (14 items – for each of the six personality types) – 84 items.
- Self-assessment (2 items for each of the six personality types) – 12 items.
There are 228 items in total but with uneven distribution among the four scales – and a
section titled Vocational aspirations (with up to eight occupations).
The scales 1, 2, 3 and 4 are used for scoring each of the six personality types. The level of
frequency of the scores in the six personality types yields the order of the three letters in
the Holland code. The section – Aspirations (in vocational field) – can be employed to
validate the score / code obtained. It will be then used to find the equivalent work
environment in the Supporting list (an occupation with the same code).
This instrument is very popular in the counselling practice in the United States and
Canada, and also in other countries with a tradition in counselling, due to a pragmatic and
comprehensible approach to counselling.
In the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (1989), 12099 occupations are listed,
accompanied by their Holland code. In compiling this dictionary, data regarding the
analysis of jobs and the personality profile of the person occupying the position were
used; the following was considered important: required education and training, aptitudes,
temperamental traits, interests, physical requirements, in correlation with the conditions
of the work environment. This Dictionary is a transposition of the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles (DOT) into Holland’s coded language (RIASEC).
Concretely, The Dictionary includes: the Holland code, the occupations titles, the levels
of education and practical experience required, the DOT code (9 figures, yielding a
description of the vocational profile).
In using this Dictionary several aspects must be kept in mind:
- Classifications are not strictly distinct; there are occupations that may have
been associated to different Holland codes (e.g.: CR occupations from the
Conventional categories are similar to RC occupations from the Realistic
category); more, occupations accepting lower levels of education and training
are less differentiated among themselves compared to the occupations
requiring higher education. - In the classification of occupations many stereotypes regarding the content of
work have crept in (“a Realistic never does paperwork”, “a Conventional
never handles tools”, “an Investigative does not need artistic opinions”, etc.)
which are not completely true.