The need for adequate knowledge of the personality patterns associated with professional competence, especially that of women professionals, spurred the authors to study this relationship, using 221 professional woman as subjects. The subjects, professionals from nine different occupations, were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) from which the patterning of subtest scores provides the basis for the Gittinger Personality Assessment System (PAS). Primary emphasis was placed on the development of stable reference groups based on the complex interaction of PAS variables. A "good" reference group is defined as a set of individuals subject to similar psychodynamic mechanisms which encompasses a large number of persons within its defined limits. But it must be narrow enough to allow prediction of behavior on a within-group basis. Of the sampled professions, only realtors and social workers failed to contribute any members to the three established reference groups. Meaningful reference groups within these two professions were found, however. It is suggested that the pattern derived from the largest reference group, the Professional Generalists, could prove advantageous in university career counseling for women. (TL)