Personality tests have long been used to predict people’s life outcomes – and not always that successfully. But a HOT new kid on the block – the Holland Occupational Themes – might be the best test yet.
Based on your hobbies and interests, which category from the six below do you feel you fall into? In other words, are your hobbies mainly...
Realistic hands-on activities using tools, machines, animals
Investigative museums, science
Artistic making music or art
Social interacting with others
Enterprising running stalls or selling online
Conventional computers, data
A recent study found that the answers given on this questionnaire could predict a whole host of lifestyle factors 10 years later. Realistic types are high earners, and the least likely to be unemployed, with artistic types the opposite. The latter also see themselves as less healthy than others of the same age, though there’s no evidence that this is actually the case.
Social and conventional types might sound like polar opposites, but both are particularly likely to get married and to have children within 10 years of leaving school.
However, only the social types are also likely to be low earners. Enterprising types are the opposite: high earners who tend not to marry (or even have a single serious relationship) within this period. Finally, investigative types are an enigma, scoring neither the highest or lowest on any of these measures of professional and personal life – a mystery that they themselves would presumably enjoy investigating.
A fully referenced version of this article is available at benambridge.com. Order Psy-Q by Ben Ambridge (Profile Books, £8.99) for £6.99 at bookshop.theguardian.com
