I tried to predict what my mom’s RIASEC profile would be, but the only thing that I was sure of was that enterprising and conventional wouldn’t be in the top three. Her response to the inventory was similar to what was said in class; she expressed difficulty disentangling interests in things she hasn’t done but might want to, and her interest in things she is familiar with. For example, she responded that she would like the lab science-related items, though she has little experience with these activities and knows that she likely never will. Though an artistic and creative person, she responded “not interested” to many of the artistic items (e.g. tap dancing, writing poetry). Her top three were investigative, realistic, and social, though artistic was a close fourth. She groaned at the top Zone 5 IRS hit: Anesthesiologist (her father and brother’s career). Most of the other results for IRS were medical. Switching social to artistic (IRA) yielded occupations that were much more similar to things she’s done (e.g. patternmaker, aerospace engineer, architectural drafter).
	After taking the RIASEC, we talked about the guidance that she received as a young adult, or lack thereof, “There was absolutely no guidance in high school or college. I wish there would have been. I wish someone had helped me think about different opportunities that might have fit better. Nobody asked. You were supposed to know. I was just supposed to be a doctor.” Despite this lack of guidance, she has experienced relatively good fit, though in different ways, in her different jobs. The most ill-fitting position was her first, at Boeing, which she said was over her head, an ability misfit, and she left. In her next job, she formed an informal mentoring relationship (the only mentor she has had) with her supervisor, who was five years older and grew up in her neighborhood. She said that he was a great boss, “A good listener, gave you responsibility, let you give him feedback, was open, he was supportive if things didn’t go well.” He moved to the bank and got her a job, but they fell out of touch when he was promoted and moved.
	She described her job at the bank as her best-fitting job, “At the bank, the fit was great. I was good at what I did. I could do it well and feel proud. I didn’t make mistakes. It was creative enough, even though it might not sound like it would be.” But the fit was impaired when she was promoted to a management role, which she did not want, as she dislikes managing others. This job fulfilled her investigative and realistic interests, as well as her artistic to some extent, as she saw programming as creative problem-solving, a recurring theme. When she moved into her sewing business, her artistic interests were met in a different way, though she hated the marketing and selling. She connects these experiences:
