The Public Speaking, Law/Politics, and Sales 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 Enterprising 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 Public Speaking BIS. The six professions with the highest scores on this scale are Elected Public Official, Minister, Public Administrator, Public Relations Director, Broadcaster, and Social Science Teacher. In contrast, the lowest six professions on this scale are Auto Mechanic, Farmer, Veterinarian, Chemist, Radiologic Technologist, and Biologist.

For the Law/Politics scale, the highest scorers were Elected Public Official, Public Administrator, Social Science Teacher, Sociologist, Lawyer, and School Administrator. Many suspect Lawyers would be number one and are surprised Social Science Teachers score higher. The lowest scores were found among Auto Mechanics, Medical Illustrators, Child Care Providers, Dental Assistants, Farmers, and Home Economics Teachers.

On the Sales BIS, the highest scoring professions are Realtor, Life Insurance Agent, Agribusiness Manager, Store Manager, Buyer, and Optician. The lowest are Biologist, Physicist, Mathematician, Chemist, Computer Programmer/Systems Analyst, and Geologist.

You'll notice that the same professions cluster in the highest and lowest scores. Public Administrators score high on all two scales, while Auto Mechanics score low on the same scales. This makes great sense, as the Enterprising scales are most distant and dissimilar to the Realistic scales. 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 Enterprising with Realistic is a Sales Engineer. Another is Sports and Fitness Administrator.

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.