The Case of "Rosie R"
When the pieces don’t seem to fit...

By Judith Grutter, M.S., NCC, MCC, G/S Consultants

“Rosie” is the third in CPP’s Series of Assessment Case Study Discussions by Judi Grutter, co-author of the Strong Interest Inventory^® Interpretive Report and the combined Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® Career Report. This issue’s discussion addresses many of the questions counselors ask when interpreting what appear to be inconsistent Strong results. Our client is “Rosie,” an adult re-entry university student who is considering a career change.

About Rosie
For six years, Rosie has been working in human resources for a large company that manufactures agricultural equipment. She is primarily responsible for recruiting and employee screening. She began with the company as an HR assistant with an undergraduate degree in business. At the time she was considering either law school or an MBA, but her interests have since turned in other directions. She is currently considering three options:

• Continuing in human resources with an emphasis on training and development
• Pursuing a teaching credential or perhaps moving toward educational administration
• Attending law school with a focus on family law policy development

Rosie is the youngest of five siblings, with four older brothers. Her father owns a large construction company. Her mother works as a church secretary, but her real passion is teaching church school and Bible study. Two of her brothers work in construction with their father; one is in the Air Force, and one is a police officer.

The children were raised on a large farm in the mid West and spent most of their free time playing and working on the farm. As president of her regional 4-H club, Rosie was an active member and frequently won prizes for the livestock she raised. Her favorite game when she was little was playing “school” with the young animals on the farm. She also loved all kinds of sports and was considered “one of the boys” when it came to baseball and soccer.

Rosie has always been very well-spoken and was often called upon to represent 4-H in classroom presentations and community meetings. She formed a young women’s political group in high school and was president of her junior and senior classes.

Rosie’s political interests continued throughout college, where she was a representative to her party’s national convention the summer after her junior year. Her plan was to work for her father’s company for a year or two after graduation, save some money, and then go to law school.

Rosie’s mother was seriously injured in a farm accident during the year that she was working for her father, and Rosie decided to stay close to home. She was able to find a good job with a company for which she has worked ever since. She and her mother developed a closer relationship after the accident, and Rosie became somewhat of an advocate for the physically disabled. She organized a statewide fundraiser for the Special Olympics and obtained sponsorship from several major corporations. She even testified before her state legislature on behalf of public school funding for physical education for the physically challenged.

Somewhere along the way Rosie’s career plans fell by the wayside. She is now about to turn 30, her mother is steadily improving, and it’s time for her to reconsider her options.

Addressing her concern

Rosie signs up for a career exploration class that is offered to alumni through the continuing education program of her university. She takes the Strong Interest Inventory^® assessment after the first class meeting.

The teacher reviews his students’ Strong results in preparation for a class interpretation and notes several things of interest in Rosie’s results:

• Section 6 of the Profile indicates that her results meet all of the requirements for interpretability. Her Item Response Percentages are fairly evenly distributed and her responses appear consistent.
• Section 1 of the Profile indicates a differentiated Theme code, but her first two Themes—Realistic and Social—are opposite each other and listed out of numerical order—57 followed by 61.
• Section 2 of the Profile indicates only three Very High or High Basic Interest areas, with many in the Moderate range.
• Section 3 shows that Realistic, the first letter of her Theme code, does not appear in any of her Top Ten Occupations. The teacher decides to compute an overall Occupational Scales Theme code for her results (ref. Strong User’s Guide RM 1) and determines her Occupational code to be ESC—very different from her RSA Theme code. In fact, her Enterprising Occupational code far outweighs the other five letters, and Realistic is essentially insignificant.

Rosie’s teacher puts a sticky note on her Strong Profile suggesting that they might want to discuss her results one-on-one after the class interpretation, and she takes advantage of the opportunity.

When Rosie meets with her teacher, she shares that she really enjoyed the class and learning about RIASEC, but that she really isn’t able to translate her Realistic Theme into anything career-related. Given her diametrically opposed Themes, the teacher is not surprised. He explains that to understand assessment results, it is often helpful to take the pieces apart and put them back together so they make sense. This is how he encouraged Rosie to do it:

At first, Rosie was confused because her Realistic score of 57 was listed before her Social score of 61 and interpreted as Very High vs. High. Her teacher explained that the Themes are listed in comparison to gender. Women in general tend to score lower on Realistic than on Social, so even though her Realistic score is lower, compared to women, it is considered Very High.

• First answer the question, “Who am I?” by highlighting personal descriptors from your highest themes on page 2 of your Interpretive Report and on the Realistic, Social, and Artistic pages in the Where Do I Go Next? booklet. Rosie answers this way:
  
  I am practical, reliable, persistent, adventurous, physically strong, self-reliant, sensible, athletic (Realistic descriptors).
  
  I am helpful, concerned for others, verbal, generous, caring, responsible, cooperative, kind, understanding, talkative, friendly, cheerful, patient (Social descriptors).
  
  I am independent (Artistic descriptor).
• Next answer the question, “What do I want to do?” by considering your Top Strong Interest Areas on page 4 of your Interpretive Report. Also consider any other Basic Interest Scales on which you scored at least Moderate, and look up their descriptions in Where Do I Go Next? Rosie answers that she would like to:
  • Teach physical education (Athletics)
  • Train new employees, facilitate leadership programs (Human Resources and Training)
  • Learn about people and cultures, study changes in society (Social Sciences)
  • Teach young people, plan learning activities, explain what things mean (Teaching and Education)
  • Help people overcome their difficulties (Counseling and Helping)
  • Give speeches, make public presentations, raise funds (Politics and Public Speaking)
  • Argue legal issues, head a civic improvement program, debate public policy (Law)

The codes of the occupations on the Strong reflect the personalities of the workers in the occupations. Since work environments are defined by the people who work in them, consistent occupational codes suggest the work environments that the respondent would be likely to find the most satisfying.

• Now answer the question, “What work environment would be most satisfying to me?” from your overall Occupational Scales Code: ESC. Rosie looks up Enterprising, Social, and Conventional and her favorite Basic Interest Scales in Where Do I Go Next? and highlights these words and phrases:
  
  I would like a work environment that is influential and fast-paced—perhaps a lobbying firm, a political campaign, a law firm or corporate legal department (Enterprising).
  
  I would like a work environment that is collaborative and supportive—perhaps a social service agency, university or college, or employee training department (Social).
  
  I would like a work environment that is organized—perhaps a large corporation or government service (Conventional).
• Finally, consider the Personal Style Scale descriptions on page 7 of your Interpretive Report, and highlight any words or phrases that are important to you. Rosie chooses these statements:
  • Work more with people than ideas, data, or things (Work Style)
  • Apply new ideas to concrete problems (Learning Environment)
  • Can be outspoken and direct others (Leadership)
  • Enjoy new opportunities to pursue (Risk Taking)
  • Share responsibility and accomplishments with others (Team Orientation)

Rosie can now take these pieces and put them together in a way that makes sense to her. She generalizes this way:

• I am concerned for others—especially their physical well-being—and want to help them in practical ways. I want to learn all I can about the challenges of people with disabilities and how to make school and work meaningful for them. I might even like special education teaching, except that for me, I think something in law or politics would be a little more fast-paced and exciting—and I like excitement! It just has to be something I really believe in.

• I’d like to explore two things—how legislative mandates regarding people with disabilities are addressed in the human resources departments of large corporations, and maybe even law school and the field of employment law. Ultimately, I’d like to have something to do with either training employers in this area, or if I go to law school, policy development. What do you think?

Following the conversation with her teacher, Rosie has had a lot to think about, and to share with her friends and family. One remaining question with her Strong results is that Special Education Teacher came up as one of her top occupations, and Attorney did not. Hopefully what she will find as she further explores her options is that sometimes all the pieces don’t fit together perfectly. In her case, she will need to find an Enterprising niche for her Realistic-Social personality. She is enjoying the career exploration class in which she is enrolled and has made appointments for informational interviews with some people she knows in the regional Special Olympics organization.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI and Introduction to Type are registered trademarks of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust in the United States and other countries. Strong Interest Inventory is a registered trademark of CPP, Inc. O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

Judith Grutter, 2008. All rights reserved.