Study of Personality Type and Relationship With Job Selection Between Iranian and American Students

Background: Today, continuous emergence of new jobs and elimination of old jobs have made a lot of problems for some individuals andin the meantime, developing countries transferring from traditional economy to world economy are more influenced by these changes. Objectives: Considering the importance of personality types and the role of culture in job selection, the current study was conductedaimed to examine personality types in students of Iran and America. Patients and Methods: The study method was correlation. The statistical population consisted of all students at Ferdowsi University ofMashhad, Iran and all the students at El-Camino College, America in the academic year 2012-2013. The participants were selected usingconvenience sampling method. Using Cochran’s sample size formula, 320 students (170 Iranian students and 150 American students) wereselected from two universities and questionnaires were distributed among them. Data collection tools included Holland’s vocationalpersonality questionnaire in six personality types of social, artistic, conventional, realistic, enterprising, and investigative that its validityand reliability have been confirmed in different countries. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistical indices, Z-test andChi-squared test. Results: The findings of the study showed that: 1) There was a significant relationship between Iranian students personality type and theirjob 2) There was compatibility between American students personality type and their job 3) There was not a significant difference betweencorrelation rate of personality type and job in two groups of Iranian and American students. Conclusions: Considering the obtained results, job selection by students in both Iranian and American groups was not independent fromtheir personality type.

Keywords:

Job Selection , Personality Type , Culture