Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY
Andreas Konstantinou
Objective 11- Change agent
Professional Entry
McDaniel College
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Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY
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This objective demonstrates my professional development since it denotes my
experience though artifact 11 the career decision making process by which I was able to
provide guidance through career counseling to individuals for their professional and
academic development. By means of administering tools like the Career-Life rainbow,
the Self directed search, and the Dream job exercise, I collected quantitative and
qualitative data alike. In this experience I was able to help an individual, Jane, through
inventories, exercises, questions and active listening techniques introduced in the Human
Resources Development HRD program of McDaniel College, to “come out of the cloud
of uncertainty” and set goals for her professional future (personal communication).
Career counseling is the process in which an HRD professional helps other
individuals reflect on their careers. It is a structured approach to helping an individual
reflect on his/ her own competencies and decide how to improve them for advancing, or
changing careers. It is important to note that career counselors are not there to tell people
what to do, but to enable a decision making process by providing assistance with
information or access to professionals who can help the individual achieve his/ her goal
(Rothwell, 2010).
I have recently consulted with Jane that was interested in changing her line of
work, by switching careers, to a more fulfilling one. Jane came to me being personally
inclined toward improving her professional situation. She told me that her line of work
did not match her interests or needs. She explained that she disliked being inside the
office all day in front of a computer screen. Jane also said that although she was quite
happy at her job with her coworkers, she got along with her boss and other people she
worked with, although, she did not care much for the job tasks she had as a secretary.
Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY
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Interestingly enough she did not know exactly what she was interesting in repositioning
herself doing, but she knew that she had to move on out of that office.
Career development is explained as being comprised by two distinct processes:
career planning and career management. The first involves assessing the interests, skills
and abilities of an individual in order to forming a pragmatic career plan, while the
second involves taking steps towards achieving that plan (Werner & DeSimone, 2009).
Learning on the other hand implies that some form of change has taken place through
knowledge in an individual to affect his/her attitude, and behavior. Professional
development implies that an individual, in the course of their development, will be
enhanced in a broader or more specific area of their professional life. Jane was in the
progress of switching careers and needed help to recognizing a new career path based on
her interests. She was looking for a career that would not only pay her bills, but would
also fulfill her personal needs. Well the right path to choosing your job is to understand
what you like, and find careers that enable you through your course of work follow your
interests as a profession.
Through a set of qualitative and quantitative responses Jane was brought to the
realization of where her interests lie, as opposed to having a professional, me, telling her
what I think it is best for her. Consulting with Jane I knew that was not the person to tell
her what to do, but help her reach her own conclusions by guiding her through the
process, and keeping her on track. I recall our first meeting where we begun by
discussing her current work situation, and what she liked and disliked about it. I kept
notes on her related to her current occupation. I got to know her better by inquiring into
whether or not she had any academic background, diplomas or degrees. Turns out that
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she had a college diploma, as a day-care worker, a subject she had no interest of pursuing
as a career. Additionally, she earned a number of Microsoft certifications that showed
competency with Microsoft office; Word; Excel; and Power-point and Outlook. Jane was
skilled at running an office: she was a good secretary.
We begun discussing about colleges and degrees she had been interested in and
she told me that she had taken college courses in the past for becoming a kindergarten
teacher, but after a job shadowing experience Jane had when she was a sophomore
realized that she was uninterested into continuing into this field of work. I listened to her
attentively, and I realized that she used to take academic and professional decisions, that
would not reflect her personal interests. Common area in need for improvement for
young adults that can be easily explained by the statement: know what you want.
The rest was a breeze, I gave her the tests and she took them all in a serious
demeanor, spending adequate time on reading through the questions, and responding with
her first and more prominent answer. While, throughout the process I would answer
questions she had on the material or to clarify a subject, Jane seemed to enjoy the
questionnaires and was noticeably intrigued by the process.
The Career-Life rainbow showed the roles in her life that she valued more by
coloring the spaces in which words like Worker; Friend; Daughter; Homemaker; and
Learner appeared. She seemed to color more intensely the spaces for the words Worker;
Daughter; Friend indicating that those are the roles in her life she values or feels more
intense for. After completing the exercise she and I discussed the results of her CareerLife rainbow in terms of how important those roles seem to be. She was in complete
agreement with the exercise.
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Next I gave her a copy of the self directed search (SDS) quantitative inventory
which is meant to collect positive and negative responses arranged on a binomial
distribution set to measure interests on themes, fields, and professions, and provides the
person taking the inventory with a three letter summary code, or type that is
representative of the three higher ranking types of positive answers. Only the three
higher ranking types are chosen from the six in total to comprise on an individual’s type.
The six types are Artistic, Conventional, Enterprising, Investigative, Realistic, and Social.
Unique assortments of the three types corresponded to Jane and directed her to a career
that would best suit her (Holland, Powell, and Fritzsche, 1994). Close study of the
careers proposed by her summary code yield a few prospects since she begun to
understand the direction of her own personal interests.
All the information was there in her mind although she was still unable to
unscramble the message, so I requested she takes her time to look through her results
from the Career-life rainbow, and the SDS inventory, and write a paragraph of her dream
job. I gave her a list of things to consider when writing the paragraph like for instance
how long is the commute from her house, where is the job located, what is her salary,
who does she come in contact with at her job etc. She took the exercise home and
worked on it on her own convenience. A few days later she came over and reviewed her
answers and her paragraph with me. It was then when she begun to clearly see a pattern
emerge with similarities from all three exercises. She was excited, she talked about
“emerging out of cloud of uncertainty” she was now ready to take steps toward her next
career.
Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY
References
Holland, J. L., & Powell, A. B., & Fritzsche, B. A. (1994). The Self-Directed Search
professional user’s guide. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Rothwell, W. J., (2010). The managers guide to maximizing employee potential. New
York, NY: AMACOM.
Werner, J. M., & DeSimone, R. L (2009). Human resources development (5th ed.).
Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
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