Running head: ON THE O*NET 1

On the O*NET: Considering The O*NET Interest Profile As A Tool For Clients

Wilson R. Harvey

West Virginia University

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The O*NET, or Occupational Interest Network, is one of, if not the, preeminent tools

currently available for information on American occupations (O*NET Resource Center, 2018).

Unsurprisingly, then, the O*NET Interest Profiler is an extremely relevant and powerful tool for

school counselors or anyone else working with clients trying to find a career of interest. Though

there can be more factors in choosing a career than one’s interest, the O*NET offers counselors

and their clients a resource that allows for insight into this important area. While there is room

for error on every assessment, it is important to note the popularity of the O*NET Interest

Profiler, which may be due in part to the consistent updating of the O*NET’s database of

occupational information among other factors. Unsurprisingly, I found a striking accuracy in

relation to my personal stated interests and the career path which I have chosen.

When I personally took the O*NET assessment, my scores clustered in the center of the

RIASEC code. I scored only a five in Realistic and a three in Conventional, but I scored a 15 in

Enterprising, a 16 in Investigative, and a 31 in both Artistic and Social. This distribution was, in

my view, definitely reflective of my own personal interests, though I did have some mild

surprise at how high my score in Artistic was. Indeed, I would say that these scores point

towards my being an inquisitive social innovator, which fits well with my orientation towards

both education (in which I earned my undergraduate degree) and counseling. Though I don’t

necessarily pursue innovation for the sake of itself, I do love to find new ways to solve problems;

this is why, for example, I used my time as a student teacher in a high school to run classes

exclusively in discussion and project-based format. These scores are also indicative of my

personal orientation towards counseling as an Impact Therapist, with my belief in engaging and

creative therapy.
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Though my scores are only one sample, they do point out an intriguing application of the

O*NET – the interest profile could in fact serve not only as an indicator for potential careers, but

also for one’s preference and styles in their career of choice. For example, with my high social

score, one might have predicted that I would have entered helping professions such as education

or counseling, and indeed, the scores are quite valuable for exploring careers in which clients

may be interested. However, an added benefit of the O*NET results – or for that matter, any

interest inventory – is their applicability to specific situations within various careers or fields.

Once our clients narrow down upon their field of interest, the results of the O*NET could spark a

powerful conversation wherein we could begin to explore the way in which they want to

approach their career. Were a counselor to know when looking at my results that I was intending

to enter the counseling or teaching field, they could have a conversation with me about if I

wanted to use a creative orientation in those occupations. It is not inconceivable that such

conversations might help potential professions come more to life for our clients, and in fact they

lend relevance to the use of the O*NET even when working with clients who have already

determined their future career path. For those clients or students who have not yet decided on a

career path, though, the interest profile’s matching of O*NET’s constantly updated and immense

occupational database to individuals’ assessment results (with an option to narrow the job field

by specifying the level of training one intends to complete) could lead to a healthy discussion of

relevant careers they might enjoy.

But that last point, of individual enjoyment, is also one of the most important limitations

of the O*NET Interest Profile as a career assessment. It is significant to note that an interest

profile is indicative of interest alone, not of personal aptitude for a specific job or set of skills

(Sharf, 2018). Though the two may often be correlated, it can certainly be the case that one’s
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interests and aptitude are in opposition, and for that reason we as counselors should be cautious

not to represent O*NET results as an indicator of future success in work. In fact, it may be

important to gauge how important factors such as work satisfaction are to our clients/students

before determining whether or not to use an interest inventory such as the O*NET with them.

Furthermore, we as counselors should be aware that interests can be fluid rather than static,

especially when working with students. As clients and students are exposed to various life

experiences, there is potential for their interests to shift, so assessment should not be considered

final with one set of results, especially in the case of interests.

Still, there is a lot of value in the O*NET Interest Profiler (and other interest inventories)

for both the clinical and the school counselor. This assessment gives counselors a quick and

accessible way to measure their clients’ personal interests and match them with a constantly

updating occupational database. Though it isn’t likely by itself to be a reliable indicator of the

right career for an individual, this profile is at worst a strong conversation starter for a counselor

in a career session, and at best a significant piece to the puzzle of occupation for our clients.
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References

O*NET Resource Center. (2018, September 20). Overview. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from

https://www.onetcenter.org/overview.html

Sharf, R.S. (2013). Applying career development theory to counseling. Cengage Learning.