Influence of Personality Variables on Career Choices of Senior Secondary School Students in Lagos State: Implications for Career Guidance in Post Covid-19 Era

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of Personality variables (interest and motivation) on the career choices of SS II students in Alimosho Local Government Area, Lagos state. The samples used for the study were one hundred and twenty (120) students (60 female students and 60 male students), who were selected by stratified random sampling from four secondary schools in Alimosho L.G.A. Lagos state. The vocational Interest Inventory (VII) and the Motivation for Occupational Preference Scale (MOPS) which are standardized Psychological instruments were used for data collection. The results were analyzed with chi-square as the statistical instruments. Four hypotheses were tested; one was rejected while three were accepted in their null forms. The result shows that there is a significant influence of interest of students on their career choices. However, there is no significant influence of motivation of students on their career choices. Gender neither influence students’ motivation nor interest in the choices of their career.  It was recommended that students should endeavour to discover their real interest in order to choose careers that will suit them; they should be exposed to a number of trainings to sharpen their ICT skills to cope with the prevailing job performance challenges associated with our present age – the post covid-19 era. There is the need to expose the students to activities that will arouse their interest in outdoor and artistic areas of works. Counsellors should periodically administer psychological test on the students, interpret and explain the result of such tests to help them understand their areas of interest and motivation for their career choices.

Keywords: Career, Personality, Interest, Motivation, Post Covid-19 Era.