When people think in terms of occupations, they most often think of just that – an occupation, a job, a title. Rarely does one consider the person behind the occupation, and the characteristics he or she embodies to make them successful in their career.

One of the most innovative parts of the Kuder Career Planning System (KCPS) is the Person Match feature. Person Match takes away titles and gives users a view of the person behind the job. A Person Match profile may include the person’s education, likes and dislikes about their job, how it fits their personality, and the day-to-day work they do. Instead of outlining a generic job description, Person Match is an intimate look at a real person’s career and why it’s important to them.

Individuals can access the Person Match feature through the Kuder Career Search with Person Match (interest inventory). After completing the assessment, system users receive a series of Person Match sketches, or profiles, from real life working adults that are satisfied in their careers. Assessment takers are matched to these particular sketches based on their scientific assessment results.

Although Person Match continues to be discovered everyday by new users, it is not a new component to the KCPS. Dr. Fredric Kuder introduced the concept of Person Match in presentations at two national conventions of psychologists and vocational counselors in the late 1980s, but the idea did not gain acceptance. Then again, he tried to interest major test publishers in Person Match, but it was met with no success. It wasn’t until Phil Harrington, president of National Career Assessment Services, Inc., took a different marketing approach that Person Match really started to catch on.

Dr. Kuder’s associate, Dr. Don Zytowski, has worked on Person Match since its conception. Today, Dr. Zytowski continues to work with project, updating the Person Match pool of applicants and studying the effects of Person Match.

“We operate on the assumption that no two jobs are alike, so we ought to have a variety of people who have the same occupations, but are using their skills in different ways,” Dr. Zytowski said. “We also don’t see any job as too unusual, so we have a baseball mascot and two astronauts. We try to represent careers that anyone aspires to be.”

In the realm of careers, just about anything is possible. Anne Cerny, Editorial Director of Person Match, has encountered many interesting people through the process of collecting sketches. From identifying a desired occupation to getting the profile ready for viewing, Cerny plays a crucial part in Person Match.

“I usually find people to interview by reading about individuals featured in the news, by receiving referrals from others, and by researching occupations. Dr. Zytowski has generated lists of occupations to target as well,” Cerny said. “When we are seeking specific occupations to represent, we contact businesses or professional organizations for potential candidates. Once we find an interesting person to feature, he or she is contacted and asked to take the Kuder assessments. Once that is complete, I interview the person via phone or e-mail. Then, I make sure everything is complete, all the questions are answered and I put it into a question-and-answer format, which is how it appears to system users reading the profiles.”

From astronauts to gemologists, greeting card writers to church bishops, Cerny has encountered many interesting stories in the five years she has worked with Person Match.

“People are usually very flattered that we have asked them,” Cerny said. “I’ve found that once they start telling me about their job, I get quite a bit of information. Our jobs are a big part of our day, and people have a lot to say about what makes them enjoy their jobs and how their careers have evolved over time. Overall, most have a desire to help. They remember what it was like to decide upon a career and are glad to help others with that process.”

The Person Match feature is used in schools and counseling/career centers across the country. And while it is just one part of the Kuder Career Search with Person Match, it can have profound impact on the people who read the profiles. Sarah Toman, Ph.D., is a private-practice psychologist in Ohio and faculty at Cleveland State University, and wrote about the effects of Person Match on one particular client in her scholarly article, “Advantages To Vocational Counseling When Using The Kuder Career Search With Person Match.” 1 Through her work, she has been able to see the connection people make with other people’s work.

“As the process of the counseling session shifted from a focus on numbers or rank ordered scales to a focus on the works of stories, discussion opened to a consideration of the meaning of work in Joel’s [client] life.”

Toman goes on to conclude that Person Match approaches career planning in a completely different way than other methods.

“The person to person matching philosophy of the Person Match section makes it possible to elicit a different type of information from our clients. The telling of the vocational story can help keep the client involved in a dialogic process of discovery, rather than listening to the interpretation of the test results. Storied intervention offers an exciting approach to an old, traditional form of vocational counseling, interest inventory assessment.”

This new approach to counseling and career planning is not only popular with adults, but also with students and their educators. Tanya Ickowitz, Director of Student Outreach Services for Edsouth, often explains and demonstrates the Person Match feature for counselors and students.

“What I like about the Person Match feature is that it highlights careers that might not be on the radar of most high school students,” Ickowitz said. “It lets them think outside the box and consider occupations that are not on a typical career chart.”

Sometimes, running across a different kind of career can take students by surprise.

“We had one student whose closest match was a funeral director,” she said. “This is a career they hadn’t ever considered, but when we were able to strip away the title, and get down to the qualities that a funeral director had, the student saw why it was a match. This feature expands the thought process beyond first impressions.”

From personal to practical, Person Match has many uses, and finds its true fit among students – opening their eyes to a realm of career possibilities.

As Person Match approaches the 20-year mark, users can expect to see it keep up with changing occupations and current career information. Renewed interest from the professional and educational market has spurred a need for a more extensive pool of profiles.

“We will try and be as representative as possible,” Cerny said. “The labor market is always changing and we hope to be able to continue to add more occupations that reflect job trends, like those in health science, homeland security, and international work.”

For Dr. Zytowski, this is a wanted workload.

“The idea is gaining acceptance,” he said. “People are catching on to this and finding out it’s a good idea. Fritz [Dr. Kuder] would have been extremely pleased, as Person Match was the idea that he was most proud of.”

1 Toman, Sarah. “Advantages To Vocational Counseling When Using The Kuder Career Search With Person Match.” Career Trainer. 3 Nov. 2006 <http://www.careertrainer.com>