Together with Grade 10 students in defining their career profiles through the Holland Project

Choosing a career based on trends or following one’s own calling? Among countless pathways, how can students accurately identify who they are? Is each individual suited to only one dominant career group, or are there multiple possible choices? In the Career Counselling class, students of Class 10G1 (Global Citizen Bilingual Programme) worked together to “decode” the Holland Codes in search of convincing answers to these challenging questions.

Proposed by American psychologist John L. Holland, the Holland Codes (RIASEC Model) have become an effective method for assessing the fit between personality and career paths. According to Holland, there are six basic career groups, each corresponding to specific personality traits and interests: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

However, most individuals tend to show strengths in more than one career group. The task for students in this project was to explore the unique intersections between the Holland Codes and present to the class on closely related code pairs. Through this process, students gained deeper insights into how different Holland Codes can be combined, enabling them to identify suitable career profiles that support their future academic and career planning.

With five minutes of presentation per group, students demonstrated fresh and insightful perspectives on each code pairing. Some highlighted the alignment between Social – Investigative, others explored the common ground between Social – Artistic, while several groups presented compelling examples of the compatibility between Realistic – Enterprising, Enterprising – Conventional, and Conventional – Realistic. Beyond introducing typical career options, students also analyzed well-known public figures to illustrate each code combination.

The constructive feedback and guidance from teachers and peers throughout the presentations helped students further refine their perspectives. Most importantly, what they gained was not merely a grade, but a meaningful shift in mindset—from feeling uncertain about career choices to proactively analyzing themselves and making informed, confident decisions about their future career paths.