Education without aptitude: mismatched vocational personalities for professional placements
Education without aptitude: mismatched vocational personalities for professional placements

Summary/Abstract: Selecting academic fields at university level reflects career interests, which must be alignedwith vocational personalities to avoid job dissatisfaction in the future. Since no earlierstudies were conducted in Pakistan to investigate the compatibility between vocationalpersonalities and career interests of university students, the current study aims to addressthis knowledge gap for the first time in the country. The study also highlights the role ofaptitude testing before being enrolled in a university. As a quantitative survey, the studyadministered the O*Net Interest Profiler on 1503 conveniently selected graduating maleand female students at different universities in Pakistan, with the analysis of vocationalpersonalities based on Holland’s RIASEC codes. The results show that students of pure sci-ences, social sciences, architecture, fine arts, and psychology choose academic disciplinesin alignment with their vocational personalities. Students of computer sciences, manage-ment sciences, electrical engineering, accounting & finance, and mathematics, however,do not select their academic fields in alignment with their vocational personalities. Thestudied male students were significantly more realistic, enterprising and conventional,whereas the female students were significantly more investigative, artistic and social. Thestudy suggests that stakeholders should provide aptitude testing and career counseling atschool and college levels to obtain the best human resources for the country.

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