Using a Typology of Persons and Environments to Explain Careers: Some Extensions and Clarifications

The purposes of this paper are to show more completely, than before how a theory of careers (Holland, 1973) can be used to explain common career phenomena and concepts, to report some new insights and supportive data, to rectify some theoretical misunderstandings, and to spell out the implications of these ideas for counseling practice and vocational interventions. The theory attempts to provide explanations for some important vocational questions. What personal and environmental characteristics lead to vocational choice, involvement, satisfaction, and career achievement? What-personal and environmental characteristics lead to stability of the kind and level of work a person performs? What personal and environmental characteristics lead to chant of instability of the kind or level of work a person perform Why do some people make choices that are congruent with their-vocational assessments, others do not, and still others are undecided? ,---1.116-st of the problems and questions about careers can be restated in terms of these more fundamental questions. Subsequent sections use these questions to illustrate the use of the theory, to explain common career behaviors, and to reinterpret developmental concepts.