Profilia lets you run the RIASEC test with a whole class for free, with no sign-up for you or your students. You open a session in one click, you project the QR code on the board, and each student answers from the device your school allows: phone, tablet or a computer-room machine. You watch the spread of the six Holland profiles build up live: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional. First names are optional, the grid only appears once 3 participants have taken part, and first names and answers are deleted after 30 days by default.
How it works
1. You open the session before the lesson. One click from the test page, no form at all. You land straight on the session screen, with the link and the QR code. No account to create, neither for you nor for the students, and no email address to ask anyone for.
2. Students answer together. Project the QR code or write the link on the board, or post it in the class's online space. To have everyone start at the same time, tick "Live workshop" when you create the session: students wait in a lobby and you start the test once the class is ready. Without this option, the session is open straight away and each student can answer at their own pace, in class or at home.
3. You project the grid. It refreshes by itself as answers come in, and can be projected as it is. Nothing to restart or reload. Each student keeps their own full result, with the breakdown of their six scores.
What each student gets
Each student takes the full RIASEC test exactly as if they were doing it alone, and lands on the same complete result page: the detailed description of their profile, with no account to create and no email address to leave. They can download a PDF version, built in their own browser (nothing is sent or stored), or save the image of their result.
They then see the class's collective breakdown, with no names at all, with pointers for each profile present and questions to start the discussion. Their first name, if they entered one, is visible only to you.
What you have for the debrief
- The class grid, which updates by itself and can be projected on the board as it is.
- For each profile present in the class, pointers to discuss, as hypotheses.
- Up to four questions to start the discussion, chosen from the group's actual makeup: one majority profile, two tied, one profile that is rare in the split, one profile absent from the room.
- The "first name and profile" list, visible only to you, for the students who entered a first name (the others appear as "Anonymous").
- A PDF printout of the grid from the browser, without first names, with the date.
- A 60 to 90 minute facilitation kit, opened from your session page, with the "where this profile got me wrong" exercise. It is written for a group of adults; the plan below brings it down to a one-hour lesson.
- A printable report, for the session host only, meaning you: the breakdown, a few sentences reading the group's makeup as hypotheses to discuss, one card per profile present drawn from the test's own content, the same discussion questions and, as an option, the "first name and profile" list (unticked by default, so absent from the printout).
- A button to rerun the same test with another class, without starting from scratch.
You can also take the test yourself, and your result counts in the grid.
What Profilia does not do: there is no spreadsheet export, no result sent to families and no grade. You prepare the debrief on the projected grid or on the printed report, with you as the interpreter.
Reading the class grid
The collective grid places each student on their dominant profile. What it shows is not the class's level or its chances of success: it is the family of activities each student says they are drawn to today, at an age when interests are still taking shape. Each reading below is a hypothesis to put to the class, not a finding.
A class spread across several profiles is a good starting point: it shows everyone that there is no single normal path, and that the classmate at the next desk does not want the same things.
A class where one profile dominates often says as much about what students know as what they like: people may more readily say they are drawn to jobs they have already seen up close. A useful question: which jobs from this profile do you know little about, and which, at the other end, have never crossed your path?
A profile missing from the grid does not mean nobody is interested in that path. The dominant profile hides each person's second and third interests, which appear in their individual result. Asking the class who has that profile in second place can bring part of the room back into view.
A very uniform class is a signal to read with caution, because it is often an artifact: a track selected on a similar academic profile ends up looking alike. The conclusion is about how the group was recruited, not about its abilities.
For every profile present, the grid also offers pointers drawn from the test, as hypotheses. They are pointers to discuss with the students who recognize themselves in them, not a way to guess a classmate's profile or to put anyone in a box.
Plan for a one-hour lesson (55 min)
A class result without a debrief is just one more picture. Here is a plan that fits in 55 minutes.
Minutes 0 to 5, the framing. State the aim: open a conversation about interests, not pick a career. Say that the result is a starting point, that first names are optional and that a nickname works. Project the QR code.
Minutes 5 to 20, taking the test and reading alone. Each student answers on their own, then reads their own result page in silence. Ask each one to note one sentence that sounds like them and one that does not: disagreeing with the result is allowed, and useful to say out loud.
Minutes 20 to 35, the grid. Project it and first ask the students what they see in it, before any interpretation. Then ask one or two questions from the previous section, as hypotheses to check together: majority profile, missing profile, a profile with few people behind it.
Minutes 35 to 50, the discussion. Go back to the questions suggested under the grid, or start from what the class knows: a job they have come across, an internship, a career fair. Which jobs from each family of activities could the students name, and which do they not know yet?
Minutes 50 to 55, a commitment. One concrete step, chosen by each student: note one activity or meeting (a job, an internship, someone to interview) to explore before the next session.
To avoid: naming out loud which student has which profile if they have not said so themselves, forming groups from the profiles, and using the grid to assess, grade or steer a student on the strength of their result. The test can open a career guidance discussion, never settle it. The first names you see on your screen are not meant to be read out loud.
The RIASEC facilitation kit repeats this plan on a page reserved for the facilitator, opened from your session page. It is written for a group of adults. It adds the "where this profile got me wrong" exercise, which is a reminder that the result is a starting point, and the list of what the questionnaire does not allow: saying how a person or the group will succeed, comparing two people, assigning a course of study, a job or a role by profile, assessing or hiring.
When to use it
In a career guidance lesson or a class meeting, as a starting point for a discussion about jobs. A student who discovers that their interests have a name and a logic can arrive at a one-on-one meeting with a vocabulary to talk about them.
In the school library or a career guidance workshop, to open a group session before individual appointments, with a shared vocabulary to start from.
Before an internship, a career fair or a choice of subjects and specializations, so everyone arrives with two or three job families to explore rather than a blank page. The test opens up paths, it does not say which subjects to choose.
Anonymity, age and data
The grid only appears once 3 participants have taken part. Below that, a distribution would give too much away about each person: in a group of two, the spread names everybody.
The first name is optional. If one is entered, only the session host, meaning you, sees it, next to the student's profile. Students only see the collective breakdown, with no names. A nickname works just as well, and without a name the result still counts in the grid. Our privacy policy states that taking part in a group session is open to all ages, and that under 15 the first name should be left blank or replaced by a pseudonym.
No account is needed, for you or for the students, and no email address is asked for. Sessions and any first names given are deleted after 30 days, automatically, unless you sign in and choose to keep the group for 12 months: students are told before they answer. There is no advertising on Profilia, and the data is not sold to anyone.
What RIASEC measures, and its limits
RIASEC measures stated interests for six broad types of activity, according to John Holland's model. It measures neither aptitudes, nor academic results, nor the chances of succeeding in a job.
There is no reference group: a student's profile is what stands out most in their own answers, not a ranking against others. And interests can still change. A profile taken in high school is a snapshot, not a destination.
The practical consequence: the grid is there to open up paths and start a discussion, never to steer anyone into a track or close one off. The detail of the model is in our article on career guidance with RIASEC, and the guide teen career guidance with RIASEC goes further into supporting high school students.
Frequently asked questions
Is the RIASEC test in class really free? Yes, the RIASEC test in class on Profilia is entirely free, with no cap on the number of sessions, no paid tier and no advertising. There is no limited trial and no feature held back behind an upgrade.
Do students need to create an account or give an email address? No. Neither the teacher nor the students need an account. You create the session and project a QR code; each student answers directly, with no sign-up and no email address.
Are students' answers anonymous? For the students, yes: they only see the collective breakdown, never who has which profile, and it only appears once 3 participants have taken part. The session host, meaning the teacher, sees each person's profile next to their first name, if one was entered. The first name is optional and a nickname is enough.
How many students are needed, at minimum and at maximum? You need 3 participants at minimum for the grid to appear, and a session accepts up to 300 people, which covers a small guidance group just as well as a whole year group.
How long is the data kept? A group session and its results are deleted automatically 30 days after it was created, first names included, or 12 months after if you chose to keep it (account required, students told before they answer). If the group is linked to your account and the grid was shown, only an anonymous summary then stays in your account, for 12 months after the group closes: how many people per profile, with no names or answers.
Can the test be given to students under 15? Taking part in a group session is open to all ages, since it asks for no email address and no identity. Under 15, the first name should be left blank or replaced by a pseudonym. Our questionnaire has not been validated with students: present it as a set of questions to get people talking, not as a measurement.
Does each student keep their detailed result? Yes. The class grid only shows each person's dominant profile, but each student sees their own full result on their screen: the breakdown of their six scores, their portrait, their strengths and the profiles they pair best with.
Is RIASEC enough to choose a career path? No. It describes interests, not aptitudes or job prospects. It is a starting point for exploring paths, ideally with a counselor or a teacher, not a decision.