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How to Link Learning Styles to Careers

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Every student has a preferred learning style, and most learners have components of several styles they frequently use to assimilate new information. Many job coaches, or occupational and school counselors, offer learning style assessments to help clients identify strengths and weaknesses. They may offer the client career suggestions based on the assessments. Exploring your preferred learning styles could assist you to plan an educational experience that propels you into a successful career.

Visual Learners

Visual learners prefer to see things when learning. They use maps, diagrams, charts, whiteboards and handouts when learning or teaching. Common professions for visual learners include visual artists such as painters, sculptors and graphic artists; photographers; interior decorators; teachers and strategic planners.

Verbal Learners

Verbal learners prefer the written and spoken word. They communicate concepts and application information in a clear and concise manner. Most have large vocabularies. Professions well suited to verbal learners include politicians, public speakers, physical and occupational therapists, debaters, journalists and professional writers.

Tactile Learners

Tactile learners like to take things apart and put them back together again. They recognize patterns and identify associations other might miss, following a logical process to see individual parts and the big picture. They make good problem solvers and look for systematic ways to reach a goal. Logical learners succeed in law enforcement, medicine, accounting, mathematics, computer programming and all branches of science.

Auditory Learners

Auditory learners appreciate sounds and enjoy lectures, music and retaining information through the use of word association or mnemonics. Auditory learners often choose professions related to sound, becoming musicians and vocalists, conductors, sound engineers and audiologists.

Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners often learn with some part of their body in motion. They have difficulty sitting still and some teachers and parents may label them as hyperactive. They want to know how something works and like to touch and experience things. Professions that attract this type of learning include sports professionals, physical and occupational therapists, mechanics, construction workers, dancers and actors.

Solitary Learners

As the name implies, solitary learners prefer to learn alone, finding concentration easier without all the chatter than comes with learning in a group. They tend to be introspective and self-aware, analyzing things before they speak or put them on paper. Many solitary learners prefer self-employment or choose jobs that allow them to work away from coworkers. Ideal career choices include professional writing, researching, pharmacy and working in isolated environments, such as park ranger or security work.

Social Learners

Social learners like people and fill their world with personal interactions. People listen to the social learner because she radiates confidence and a trustworthy demeanor. They tend to use their emotions and intuition to feel out a situation. Social learners prefer to learn in classrooms, interacting with others in small and large groups. They often talk out their thought processes, bouncing their ideas off others in the group. Professions that attract social learners include counseling, teaching, politics, sales, coaching and human resource work.

References
Writer

Rev. Kathryn Rateliff Barr has taught birth, parenting, vaccinations and alternative medicine classes since 1994. She is a pastoral family counselor and has parented birth, step, adopted and foster children. She holds bachelor's degrees in English and history from Centenary College of Louisiana. Studies include midwifery, naturopathy and other alternative therapies.

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