The Nature, Athletics, and Mechanical Activities Basic Interest Scales

The Basic Interest Scales (BIS) on the pages 1 and 2 of the Strong Profile show how your interests match those of people working in various careers. Your BISs show the things you like to do, as opposed to just interest you. This time we'll look at three BISs on the Strong and which careers they match. You'll notice these three BISs are all from the Realistic General Occupational Scale. We'll look at the jobs that match these BISs to give you a better idea of where you might enjoy working.

Let's start with the Nature BIS. The six professions with the highest scores on this scale are Horticultural Worker, Vocational Agriculture Teacher, Forester, Gardener/Groundskeeper, Biologist, and Veterinarian. In contrast, the lowest six professions on this scale are Business Education Teacher, Marketing Executive, Life Insurance Agent, Bookkeeper, Advertising Executive, and Accountant.

For the Athletics scale, the highest scorers were Physical Education Teacher, Athletic Trainer, Agribusiness Manager, Parks and Recreation Coordinator, Community Service Organization Director, and Physical Therapist. The lowest scores were found among Translators, Fine Artists, Physicists, Interior Decorators, Librarians, and Art Teachers.

On the Mechanical Activities BIS, the highest scoring professions are Auto Mechanic, Electrician, Carpenter, Agribusiness Manager, Plumber, and Engineer. The lowest are Child Care Provider, Public Relations Director, Advertising Executive, Speech Pathologist, Life Insurance Agent, and Secretary.

You'll notice that the same professions cluster in the highest and lowest scores. Agribusiness Managers score high on all two scales, while Advertising Executives score low on two other scales. This makes great sense, as the Realistic scales are most dissimilar to the Artistic scales, followed closely by the Social scale. This makes it quite difficult for those who have high scores on both scales to find a job that combines both scales. One profession that combines Realistic with Artistic is Landscape Gardener.

It's important to remember the matches on your BISs are frequently a better indication of where you might like to work than the General Occupational Themes. That's because your answers are compared to people who are working in these particular professions.