Thinkers are one of six career types in the system developed by psychologist Dr. John Holland. Holland's theory of occupational choice uses your interests to classify you as one of six types. Each type has their own values, motivations, and preferred career fields.
A person is classified as a Thinker when he or she is mostly interested in jobs that involve theory, research, and scientific inquiry (what Holland called the Investigative interest). Thinkers are typically intellectual, inquisitive people who enjoy searching for facts and understanding.
Thinkers often choose careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, research, academics, and medicine.
Top Job Tasks
- Researching
- Experimenting
- Theorizing
- Analyzing
- Problem-Solving
Core Values
- Discovery
- Understanding
- Logic
- Independence
- Intellect
Key Personality Traits
- Intellectual
- Curious
- Logical
- Analytical
- Scholarly
How Do I Know if I'm a Thinker?
If you are a Thinker, you will probably like working with ideas and theories. You will enjoy building your knowledge and gaining a greater understanding of the world around you. You will likely be interested in science and technology.
Most Thinkers do not enjoy working with people as much as they like working with ideas. They are academic and rational and enjoy logical systems of thought.
If you are not sure if you are a Thinker, you can take a career test to measure your interests. The Career Personality Profiler will test your interest level in all six of the Holland Code career areas and match you with appropriate careers for your personality profile.
Sample Careers for Thinkers
- Physician or Surgeon
- Dentist
- Petroleum Engineer
- Podiatrist
- Pharmacist
- Natural Sciences Manager
- Physicist or Astronomer
- Computer Hardware Engineer
How Do I Find the Right Investigative Career?
The most popular careers have been classified according to their interest area, so once you know you're a Thinker, you can match yourself with Thinking careers.
If you take a good quality career interests inventory, then careers will be suggested to you based on your personal interest profile. Or, you can do a search for careers that match the Thinking interest area.
Remember that not all Thinking careers will be right for you. Most careers combine one, two, or even three interest areas, so it is important that your interests match all aspects of a job. You will need to have an idea of your interest level in all 6 interest areas to make the best choice.
More Interest Areas to Explore
There are 6 total interest areas, some of which will appeal to you, and some of which will not. If you haven't yet read about the other five interest areas, you'll want to do so now to get a complete picture of your interest profile. Or, you can take the Career Personality Profiler test to measure your interests in all 6 areas.