studies (since the offers of educational systems have the same code system for areas of
interest).
What is “person matching ”?
As early as 1990, Kuder wrote “instead of matching people to jobs, why not match people
to other people already employed?” This “matching” is advantageous because it
introduces in the act of counselling testimonies form people employed in certain
professions, and clients seek to see to what extent they can identify with these, while the
interpretation of the score itself is of lesser importance. Each client is presented with the
“job story” of 14 people with similar interests, even if employed in various fields. The
counsellor’s question could be: “Which of these professional mini-autobiographies would
be right for you?”. This procedure is fully justified by the fact that many people are
interested in the people they might work with as much as in the job itself. These clients
require answers to questions such as: “What kind of inter-human relationships are
developed in certain work situations? How much freedom is there for creativity and
personal initiative? What are the people with interests as myself like? Which aspects of
their work would I enjoy and which wouldn’t I? Can I, finally, find a profession suited to
all my preferences?”
Clients will thus notice that certain structures of professional interests can be compatible
with several professional fields, occupations or jobs.
To the same end several Kuder instruments can be administered (e.g.: The Kuder Career
Search with Person Match, The Kuder Skills Assessment) and their results can make up a
“Kuder Portfolio” for each client, helping in decision-making and drawing up an
individual career development plan. The following can also be added: information on the
level of education and training, work experience, involvement in voluntary community
work or extra-curricular activities, skills, aptitudes and talents, CV, etc.
The inventory consists of 60 items, and answering to the questions takes 20-30 minutes.
There is a version where the counsellor makes the marking and the results are sent by
mail to the client.
Target population
The KOIS target population is:
- students (6 th to 12th grade) or in senior high school years;
- students and
- adults – any age range – wishing to change careers, (re)entering the labour
market or enrol in training programmes.