If you’ve ever had someone describe you as selfless, altruistic, or considerate, then there is a strong chance that you have a social personality type. Many people often incorrectly assume that having the social personality type means having strong social skills or being friendly and outgoing.
However, the truth is that the word “social” in “social personality type” can be a bit misleading. In fact, social skills are entirely separate from personality type and can be cultivated irrespective of your personality bracket.
This article will correct any similar misconceptions you may have about the social personality type, and as you read through, you'll realize that there is much more to the social type than may be apparent at first glance. By the end, we’ll have brought you up to speed on everything you need to know about them including their meaning, characteristics, possible combinations, and what careers are best suited for them.
What Is The Social Personality Type?
The social personality type is one of six occupational personality types in the Holland Code/RIASEC model—a system developed by psychologist John Holland to assist people in making career choices. We call people who fall within the social personality bracket “helpers”, and their defining characteristic is a concern for the welfare of others.
Thus, if you are a helper, you might find yourself volunteering at your local community center, donating to charity, or even just adjusting the thermostat to make sure other people are comfortable. Helpers are empathetic, service-minded, and humanistic, and usually prefer to work with others rather than in isolation.
Ironically though, you don't need to be a social butterfly or extroverted to have the Holland social personality. While it is true that social personality types spend a lot of time around people, the focus here is on their motive—helping others—rather than on their social nature. Therefore, it is possible to be a social type even if you are introverted and shy. What really matters is whether you have a genuine desire to help and care for others.
How Do I Know If I Have A Social Personality?
According to Holland’s theory, social personality types are those people who go out of their way to help others, even to the point of impracticality. They are listeners rather than talkers, but when they do speak, they use their words to teach, encourage and inform. They are empathetic, always looking out for others, and value teamwork and cooperation.
If you identify with any of these social personality interests, then you might be a helper. You can take a Social Personality Test to get exact results of your compatibility with the social personality class.
Social Holland Code: What Jobs Match My Personality?
Helpers love to assist others, and their strengths include compassion, positive-mindedness, and cooperation. These skills are highly sought after in service-oriented jobs, and as a result, helpers shine bright in industries such as healthcare, education, social service, and business management.
Healthcare jobs, being very closely connected to individual welfare, are ideal examples of social personality jobs. They allow you to interact with patients and serve them with the aim of helping them live healthy, fulfilling lives. Popular health care Social Holland code jobs include nurse, medical assistant, and therapist.
Helpers who pursue social personality careers in the education industry often end up working as teachers or school counselors. Their communication skills help them impart knowledge while their nurturing personality helps them cultivate their students’ talents.
Social service is another popular industry for helpers, and common social personality type jobs include childcare worker, counselor, and social worker. Since these jobs require a lot of empathy, they are aptly suited for helpers who love to show compassion and care to others.
One unexpected career field where helpers thrive is business management, specifically, human resources. Their cooperative spirit helps them develop healthy employment practices that promote teamwork, and they are passionate about the personal development of employees.
RIASEC Code Combinations for Social Personality Type
The six Holland personality types in the RIASEC model represent the ideal or pure personality types. However, humans are anything but pure and ideal, so we very rarely fit into only one of these personality types. Instead, most people are a blend of various personality types, with two or three types dominating.
As a social personality type, you could be one of several RIASEC code combinations, and your secondary and tertiary personality types will have a significant impact on what kind of career best suits you. We’ll explore some of the most common Holland Code Social combinations below, including their consistency (how closely related your various personality types are), what they mean, and what social careers make the most sense for them.
Social-Investigative-Conventional Careers: RIASEC CODE SIC Jobs
The investigative and conventional personality types are both alternate points on the Holland hexagon model, making them reasonably consistent with the social type. The former introduces analytical, investigative, and logical traits, while the latter incorporates organization, methodology, and efficiency. As a result, people with this personality type typically seek jobs that allow them to help people by investigating problems and exploring ideas while keeping within a defined set of rules.
Some careers that come to mind include registered nurses, computer science teachers, and library science teachers.
Social-Enterprising-Artistic Careers: RIASEC CODE SEA Jobs
The enterprising and artistic personality types are both adjacent to the social type on the Holland hexagon model, making them perfect fits consistency-wise. People with this code combination are extremely passionate, sociable, and outgoing and they use these skills to recruit people to further their vision. They have strong leadership skills and are full of new and innovative ideas.
Examples of jobs that fit this personality type include clergy, political science teachers, and recreation workers.
Social-Realistic Careers: RIASEC CODE SR Jobs
The helper and builder personality types are on opposing ends of the Holland hexagon and therefore, highly inconsistent. However, this inconsistency gives rise to niche career opportunities. Think midwives, physical therapists, and technical education teachers.
People with this social code combination love to give physical assistance such as helping elderly people with groceries and teaching people to work with their hands.
Social-Artistic Careers: RIASEC CODE SA Jobs
Jobs that fall within the social-artistic category require high amounts of social interaction and creativity. Examples are art teachers, recreational therapists, and childcare workers.
Since both personality types lie adjacent to each other on the Holland hexagon, you can easily apply one’s traits in concert with the other.
Social-Conventional-Enterprising Careers: RIASEC CODE SCE Jobs
People with the Social-Conventional-Enterprising personality type are the perfect workers. They are sticklers for rules but are also passionate about bettering themselves and others around them.
Examples of jobs they gravitate towards include case managers, business employment specialists, and workforce advisors.
What Career Should I Go Into If I Have A Social Personality?
A few things helpers do better than other personality types are teaching, training, empathizing, mediating, cooperating, and encouraging teamwork among others. Therefore, if you are a helper, it makes sense for you to choose careers like therapist, counselor, and teacher, where these skills are in high demand.
However, as we already mentioned, your secondary and tertiary personalities greatly influence your career results, in extreme cases, even moving it in entirely new directions. Therefore, your best bet at finding a career that’s right for you is taking a career test that accounts for your multifaceted personality.
Learn more about the other Holland RIASEC personality types:
