Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY Andreas Konstantinou Objective 11- Change agent Professional Entry McDaniel College 1 Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY 2 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 3 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 Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY 4 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. Running Head: OBJECTIVE 11- PROFESSIONAL ENTRY 5 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. 6