Discover your 3-letter Holland Code in 15 minutes. The assessment uses 60 research-backed questions to score you across all six vocational interest types, then matches your code to 2,536 careers with salary and demand data drawn from public job-posting boards.
Take the Free Test→The Holland Code Test (also called RIASEC) is a free 60-question career assessment that ranks your interests across six work-personality types — Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional — and returns a 3-letter code that the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET database maps to more than 900 occupations.
A Holland Code is a 3-letter string — such as RIA or SEC— that summarizes your top vocational interests. The letters come from psychologist John L. Holland’s six work-personality types: Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising (E), and Conventional (C). Holland’s core finding, first published in 1959 and validated across hundreds of studies since, is that people perform best and report highest job satisfaction when their work environment matches their interest profile. The U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET database uses Holland Codes to classify over 900 occupations, making the code directly actionable for career planning.
Holland arranged the six types in a hexagon. Adjacent types are most similar in interest pattern; opposite types are least similar. The hexagon makes interest conflicts visible at a glance.
Realistic sits opposite Social. Investigative opposite Enterprising. Artistic opposite Conventional.
Every person has all six types to varying degrees. Your code ranks your top three.
Hands-on, practical, mechanical.
Analytical, curious, intellectual.
Creative, expressive, original.
Empathetic, cooperative, communicative.
Persuasive, ambitious, leadership-oriented.
Organized, detail-oriented, systematic.
Hands-on, practical, mechanical. Realistic types prefer working with tools, machinery, plants, animals, or the outdoors over abstract ideas or social interaction.
Analytical, curious, intellectual. Investigative types thrive on research, data, and untangling complex problems. They prefer ideas over action and accuracy over speed.
Creative, expressive, original. Artistic types are drawn to open-ended work where they can produce something distinctive — writing, design, music, performance.
Empathetic, cooperative, communicative. Social types are energized by helping, teaching, and teamwork. They prefer working with people over working with data or tools.
Persuasive, ambitious, leadership-oriented. Enterprising types excel at selling, managing, and influencing. They thrive in fast-paced environments with measurable outcomes.
Organized, detail-oriented, systematic. Conventional types thrive with structure, data, and clear procedures. They prefer accuracy and order over open-ended invention.
Built on John Holland’s six-type vocational interest model — validated across hundreds of studies since 1959.
Your code maps to 2,536 career profiles drawn from the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET database.
Salary ranges sourced from public job-posting boards (LinkedIn, Indeed, remote-first boards) and refreshed on each crawl.
Rate 60 work-activity statements on a scale from “strongly dislike” to “strongly enjoy.” No right or wrong answers — answer based on genuine interest, not your current skill level.
Your scores across all six types are calculated instantly. Your 3-letter Holland Code appears with a bar chart showing relative strength across R, I, A, S, E, and C.
Browse 2,536 careers matched to your code with O*NET-aligned role descriptions, median salary data, and job market demand ratings. No account needed to view them.
Yes — "Holland Code" and "RIASEC" refer to exactly the same assessment. RIASEC is the acronym formed from the six types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. "Holland Code" is the informal name, honoring the framework's creator, psychologist John L. Holland, who published his vocational interest theory in 1959. Both terms describe the same test and the same 3-letter code output.
The JobCannon Holland Code test has 60 questions. Each question asks you to rate how much you enjoy a specific activity or work environment on a simple scale. The 60 items are evenly distributed — 10 per type — so your scores across all six Holland types are directly comparable. The test takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Yes — the Holland Code test is free to take with your full result included. You take the 60-question test, and your 3-letter Holland Code plus a list of matching careers from our 2,536 profile database appears immediately on the results page. We also offer an optional Premium tier with a deeper career guide for those who want it, but the free Holland Code result is complete on its own.
Your 3-letter Holland Code is your top three interest types ranked in order of strength. For example, a code of "IAS" means Investigative is your strongest interest, followed by Artistic, then Social. With 6 types and 3 positions, there are 120 possible ordered codes (or 720 if you include all orderings). Each code corresponds to a cluster of careers where people with those interests consistently report high job satisfaction. The O*NET database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, uses Holland Codes to classify over 900 occupations.
The Holland hexagon arranges the six types in a fixed order — R, I, A, S, E, C — so that adjacent types are most similar in interest pattern, and types directly opposite are least similar. Realistic sits opposite Social, Investigative opposite Enterprising, and Artistic opposite Conventional. The hexagon visualizes why a person with a Realistic-Investigative profile (adjacent) feels coherent, while a Realistic-Social profile (opposite) often signals internal conflict between interest areas.
Holland's vocational interest theory is one of the best-validated frameworks in occupational psychology. Research consistently shows that person-environment fit — matching your interests to your work environment — predicts job satisfaction, job tenure, and career stability. A 2021 meta-analysis covering 70+ studies found RIASEC interest congruence correlates with job satisfaction at r = 0.20 and with job tenure at r = 0.15. These are meaningful, replicable effects. The test is most accurate when you answer based on genuine interest, not perceived skill or social expectation.
Yes, and it can be useful to retake it every few years. Vocational interests tend to stabilize in your mid-20s and remain fairly consistent through adulthood — which is one reason Holland's framework has strong predictive validity. If you retake the test after a major career transition or life change, you may see shifts in your secondary and tertiary types, though your primary type typically stays stable.
Your results page shows your 3-letter code, a score breakdown across all six types, and a curated list of careers matched to your code. JobCannon maps your code against 2,536 career profiles with salary data and job market demand. You can explore each career in detail — no account needed. To save your results across sessions, create a free account after taking the test; a downloadable PDF career report is available on the Premium tier.
60 questions across all six RIASEC types. 2,536 O*NET-aligned career matches with salary data. Free.
Take the Free Holland Code Test →