Use Personality as Basis for Education and Career Decisions

Too often, college students choose their academic major for all the wrong reasons. For example, many choose their major based on how easy the course load seems to be, what their friends are doing, or because of parental pressures. Instead, college students should consider how their personality connects to various majors to help identify the major that's right for them, according to Laurence Shatkin, co-author of the recently-released book 10 Best College Majors for Your Personality.

Indianapolis, IN (PRWEB) March 20, 2008

Indecision about their education and career plays a significant role in students' inability to achieve satisfaction and success in college and the world of work. Studies indicate that most students are unsure of their academic major upon entering college. Even after completing a few semesters' worth of courses many students realize the major they initially chose is not right for them, opting to start over and choose another.

Many theorists and academic counselors believe the key to overcoming such situations is for students to consider their personality type before choosing a major.

"Your personality type can predict how well your skills will match the demands of the tasks in a particular major or job. It also predicts how well you will fit in with the culture of the classroom or work site as shaped by the people who will surround you and interact with you. Therefore, your personality type is a key to career choice because it affects your satisfaction with the job, your productivity in it, and the likelihood that you will persist in this type of work. Likewise, your personality indicates which majors might be good choices for you because most students choose their major to help advance their careers," explains Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., co-author of 10 Best College Majors for Your Personality.

In the book, Shatkin and The Editors at JIST identify the 10 best majors for each of the six RIASEC personality types developed by researcher John Holland--Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. They also identify the best majors for students based on other aspects of a person's personality, such as the best majors for introverted, persistent, or detail-oriented people. Shatkin and The Editors at JIST based their lists on a scoring system of combined pay, growth and annual openings of jobs related to each major.

"For example, Computer Engineering topped the list of best majors for introverts. For this major the annual earnings of related jobs are $83,960; the percent growth of related jobs is 35.3 percent; and annual openings of related jobs are 126,000," says Shatkin.

In their book Shatkin and The Editors at JIST have also included an assessment to help readers identify their personality type and connect it to promising academic majors.

"When you compare yourself or a major to certain personality types, you encounter much less complexity. With fewer ideas and facts to sort through and consider, the task of deciding becomes much easier."

10 Best College Majors for Your Personality is available at all major bookstores and from the publisher (http://www.jist.com or 1.800.648.JIST). To speak with the authors, contact Natalie Ostrom.

JIST, America's Career Publisher, is a division of EMC/Paradigm Publishing and is the leading publisher of job search, career, occupational information, life skills and character education books, workbooks, assessments, videos and software.

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