Despite the widespread use of RIASEC interest inventories, little is known about whether these inventories actually measure the same core constructs and provide similar career recommendations to individuals. This study investigates the construct validity among four major interest inventories—the Self-Directed Search (SDS), O*NET Interest Profiler (IP), ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT), and Strong Interest Inventory (SII). Results showed that RIASEC interest scores from the four inventories were highly correlated, but the measures often gave respondents different high-point codes. Item content analysis revealed that the basic interests reflected in each RIASEC scale both overlapped and diverged across inventories, providing an explanation for why RIASEC inventories are not interchangeable. We integrate findings across our analyses to offer cautionary notes for choosing among established RIASEC inventories and interpreting interest results. Furthermore, we also provide recommendations for constructing the next generation of basic interest inventories.

Despite the widespread use of RIASEC interest inventories, little is known about whether these inventories actually measure the same core constructs and provide similar career recommendations to individuals. The current study investigates the construct validity among four major interest inventories—the Self-Directed Search (SDS), the O*NET Interest Profiler (IP), the ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT), and the Strong Interest Inventory (SII). Results showed that RIASEC interest scores from the four inventories were highly correlated, but the measures often gave respondents different high-point codes. Item content analysis revealed that the inventories measured both overlapping and distinct basic interests, as well as which basic interests are being measured by popular interest inventories. We integrate findings from the three sets of analyses to discuss implications for advancing interest assessment using basic interests as the core structural units. We also put forth practical recommendations for constructing future interest inventories with increased convergence.

Over the past half-century, Holland’s RIASEC model has dominated vocational interest research. Although the RIASEC categories effectively capture general occupational domains, their breadth obscures meaningful variability across underlying basic interests. In this research, we adapted the Comprehensive Assessment of Basic Interests (CABIN; Su et al., 2019) to be used alongside O*NET for assessing interest fit, resulting in the 60-item CABIN-NET that measures 20 basic interest scales nested within RIASEC domains. To construct the CABIN-NET, we selected basic interest scales central to the broader RIASEC types, then connected each scale to an O*NET knowledge variable. In Study 1, we refined items for the CABIN-NET using a nationally representative adult sample (N = 768). In Studies 2 and 3, we collected extensive reliability and validity evidence using longitudinal samples of graduates from four-year universities (N = 816) and community colleges (N = 560). Across samples, results consistently showed that basic interest fit had stronger predictive power for career outcomes compared to RIASEC interest fit, highlighting the CABIN-NET’s utility in research and applied settings. Overall, the CABIN-NET provides a short, reliable measure of both basic interests and RIASEC interests, offering two ways of objectively assessing person-occupation interest fit. The CABIN-NET also advances interest measurement by providing a standardized, hierarchical structure for grouping basic interests into RIASEC types, balancing bandwidth and fidelity.