Arising from the growing need for a comprehensive career-guidance service f
or adults, and in particular for unemployed people in Australia, this study
reports results that can be interpreted as generally supporting the use of
the VISA with the unemployed. Additionally, the factor analyses, particula
rly the higher order factor analysis, raised questions about the utility of
the eight VISA subscales and suggested that a two-factor solution of the V
ISA data might be more practical for practitioners providing vocational cou
nselling to the unemployed. Descriptive statistics for the unemployed Austr
alian population suggest that if a two-factor solution is used to interpret
the data, then the unemployed are significantly more likely to nominate th
eir interests toward the things pole of a people-things dimension than Aust
ralian secondary school students. The study begins to address the dearth of
research in the area of career guidance for the unemployed.