Career counseling: beyond “test and tell”

Behavior-oriented inventories need not be used in a static manner. This article presents a way of using John Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) as an illustration of how such an inventory can be employed dynamically within a developmental career counseling framework. Use of the SDS is discussed in terms of environmental exploration, self-exploration, and integration of information. The breadth of individual behavior styles and the flexibility of work environments are the key concepts in the approach to career counseling described here.