Throughout the semester in Career Explorations 131, we have done multiple activities with the goal of getting a better idea of who we are and how that can match up with possible career paths. Some of the activities that have been most helpful to me are the Career Expo, the Resume workshops, the Focus 2 assessment, and the upkeep of a pinterest board.
Towards the beginning of the semester for Career Explorations 131, we attended the Career Expo. While this was a step that seemed extremely daunting at first, it increased my confidence in my ability to talk to professionals. The ability to talk to others in a professional setting is a skill that I believe will be very important in the implementation phase of the professional development process. Towards the end of the semester in Career Explorations 131, we went through the process of developing a resume and gearing it towards a particular job. When we first started this assignment it made me feel really unaccomplished. However after working on it for a while and discussing it with Ms. Taylor, I felt a lot more confident about my resume and my accomplishments. I think that it is normal for people to try to be humble and downplay their accomplishments, however this activity helped me to acknowledge some of the things that I have done in my life. Overall, I think that the resume process allowed me to learn more about myself and made me confident going into the workforce. Towards the middle of the semester, we were assigned the task of completing the Focus 2 assessment. I think that this activity was the best at helping me to bring clarity to my identity. This results of this assessment furthered my belief that I should follow a career in which I can be a leader and use my skills in math. This has lead me to feel that accounting is the career path I should pursue. I think that Focus 2 really confused me at first because I have tried to avoid being an accountant for most of my life, but as I became more open I realized that I would excel as an accountant and success is very important to me. Overall, Focus 2 really brought clarity to me about who I am and what career path I should pursue. Lastly, I want to discuss how we kept pinterest boards throughout the semester in Career Explorations 131. This assignment, specifically the Career and Major Exploration board, helped me to explore different career options as my thoughts about what I wanted to do changed throughout the semester. It is interesting to look back at all of the different paths that I was considering. However, looking at this page makes me feel more confident in my decision to pursue a career in accounting. The How to Build a Resume page makes me feel more confident going into the Implementation phase of my career exploration and professional development process because creating a resume is the first step in finding a job. However, I think that the Culture in the Workplace page has made me feel best prepared for the workplace. I think that my understanding of diversity will allow me to help create a healthy work environment. Overall, I think that my time in Career Explorations 131 has allowed me to learn more about myself as a person. In addition, I think that the activities in the class have allowed me to feel more prepared for the Implementation phase of the process.
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Throughout most of the semester in Career Explorations 131, we have been using Focus 2 to evaluate possible career paths for us. One of the assessments that is on Focus 2 is a values assessment. In this assessment you are given a list of many possible values and are asked to pick the top 3 values that are most important to you. I chose independence, stability, and tangible results.
According to Focus 2, independence is “being able to decide on how to get something done without significant direction from someone else.” To me, this meant that I value being in charge of myself/being my own boss. I realize that I will likely not be able to start out as my own boss, however it is fairly important to me that by the time I have been in my field for 10 years that I do not have someone constantly managing me. I have always felt that I was able to be more productive while not having someone always telling me what to do and how to do it. Thus, being in a job where I can be independent is fairly important to me. I feel that if I always have someone managing me it will create an unhappy work environment for me. In conclusion, independence is important for both my career satisfaction and my ability to have a healthy work environment. Next, I chose stability. According to Focus 2, stability is “having a routine job where the duties are very predictable and not likely to change over a long period of time.” For me, I took stability to mean that I would be financially stable and capable of caring for a family. However, the definition that Focus 2 gives is also important to me because I think that if I know what I can expect to do at work, I would feel more confident in the work environment. Thus, stability in the workplace is important for my career satisfaction and would allow me to feel more positive at work. Lastly, I chose tangible results. According to Focus 2, tangible results is “doing something where you can physically see the results of your work.” This means that when I am done with something, there is some physical thing to prove that I completed a task. This value is important to me because tangible results make me feel more accomplished. Thus, the work environment will be more positive for me if I can produce tangible results. After viewing my values assessment, I decided to combine my results from the values assessment with my results from the skills assessment. I chose this combination because it is extremely important to me that I am good at what I do; I would prefer to work at a job that would showcase my skills. After combining these 2 assessments, I got multiple job matches. However, the job family that appeared to come up again and again was mathematics/ accounting. While I have switched back and forth about what I want to do in my future while in Career Explorations, I have recently begun to notice that my personality would fit well with a career in accounting. Thus, these results only confirmed my thought that I should pursue a degree that would allow me to become some kind of accountant. For me, this likely means applying to the Business school next year! It will be a long process, but Focus 2 is starting to paint a clearer picture in my head of what I should do. Throughout the semester in Career Explorations 131, we have been building a Pinterest board about diversity in the workplace. One of the most important things that I have learned from working on these Pinterest boards is that diversity is not just differences in culture; it also encompases other things, such as whether or not someone has a mental illness, if they are handicapped in any way, if they are male or female, their sexual identity, and many other things. The important thing about diversity is that people in all places, not just in the workplace, learn to accept people for their differences. One quote that I found on Pinterest that exemplifies the importance of accepting people for their differences is “Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness.”
I find workplace diversity very important to me because I am a female. In past years, many career fields excluded women from the workplace. Women were expected to be homemakers and stay at home with the kids. When women did enter the workplace only certain jobs were open to them, such as being a teacher or a nurse. Since I am considering being a dentist, which is on about the same level as a doctor, I find it important that the field, which used to exclude women for the most part, be diverse. For me, this means that I would like there to be a balance of women and men in the field. According to DentistryIQ, dentistry is behind medicine in the fact that medicine has more women workers in the workforce. However, DentistryIQ does predict that the percentage of women in the dentistry workforce will rise to 28 percent by 2020. In 1970 only 1 percent of dental students were female, DentistryIQ states that currently 44 percent of dental students are female. I find it exciting that the dental field is becoming more diverse and is starting to include females in greater numbers. I think that it is important to be culturally competent in the workforce so that you do not offend your co workers. If a workforce is made up of culturally competent people, it creates a more welcoming work environment in which people feel comfortable being themselves. I think that it is important that people feel comfortable at work because then they will be more productive at work. In order to feel comfortable at work, it is important for co workers to acknowledge that the people they work with are different from them and struggle with different problems than they do. I feel that I would feel more comfortable in a workplace where people accept that I am different from them and try to embrace these differences. In embracing differences, you can create an inclusive environment that will make all workers involved feel happier while at work. Overall, cultural competency will allow me to make my coworkers feel comfortable around me at work. All in all, I think the quote “Share our similarities, celebrate our differences” by M. Scott Peck is important value for all people to have. However, this is a value that I believe should be expected in the workplace so that all workers feel included and comfortable at work. http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/wdj/print/volume-3/issue-3/focus-on-career-choices/women-in-dentistry.html Today in Career Explorations 131, we were taught a lesson about the process for making a resume and a cover letter. In this process, we were asked to think about the things we have accomplished in our lives. At first this task seemed really simple to me; I had made it to Carolina so obviously I had to have done something right along the way. However when I thought about it more, it really started to make me feel like I had not done a lot in my life. Yes, I had been involved in clubs and organizations. Yes, I had held leadership positions in several of those clubs. Yes, I had held a job for a little while. However, what had I actually done while as a member of those organizations, clubs, or workforce? This is where the problem came for me.
In this reflection I am going to detail some of the questions that I was able to answer for myself. First off, what have I done? Well, I was Treasurer of my school’s FBLA club, I was President of my school’s Beta club, I babysat, and I volunteered. Furthermore as Treasurer of my school’s FBLA club, I had counted money from fundraisers and helped to organize the fundraisers. As President of my school’s Beta club, I had planned out what was to be discussed at meetings and led the meetings themselves. As a babysitter, I helped parents who needed to spend their time working or just needed a break. However, I also helped the kids in this job by creating a fun environment where they could play games with a new buddy. As a volunteer, I had worked for a program called Teen Court and helped the community by teaching fellow teens who had committed criminal offenses that there are better ways to handle issues. In addition, I helped to train other volunteers how to be a lawyer for the program. Lastly, I have volunteered for a program called Hype Tutoring in which I have helped reinforce educational concepts to elementary students. Listing it all out made me feel a little better about what I have done with my life, but then the question came of who had benefitted from my contributions. Well I had definitely benefitted from all of these activities because I gained new skills. However, I like to think that they helped others to. As Treasurer of FBLA, I had helped the FBLA club at my school. As President of Beta club, I had helped the Beta club at my school. As a babysitter, I had helped both the parents and the children. And lastly, as a volunteer, I had helped other volunteers, elementary aged students, and fellow teens in my community. Next I had to ask myself what the results of my efforts were. I do not think that a lot of my efforts had concrete results, however I do think that I made some impact. For example, I think that my volunteer work through Hype is helping to instill a value for hard work in the students. In addition, I think my volunteer work through Orange County Teen Court has helped fellow teens learn how to handle conflict. Lastly, I think that my work as President of Beta club helped the club run smoothly. Finally, I asked myself about my top skills. I think this may be the part I felt most confident about. My skills are math, communication, and leadership. Now I am stuck with the task of matching those skills to the right job choices. Overall, I think today’s activity helped me learn more about myself and made me proud about what I have accomplished. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been exploring the career options that Focus 2 suggested. One of the careers that I have taken particular interest in is being a professor of some sort. That is why when I was given the assignment of interviewing a professional, I chose to interview a professor. More specifically, I chose to interview my economics professor, Professor Balaban.
In order to get a better idea of what goes into being a professor to see if it is something I really want to pursue, I asked Professor Balaban about what she majored in, if that was the only possible major to become an economics professor, how many years she spent in school, and how hard it is to get a job as a professor. Professor Balaban told me that she majored in economics for undergrad, but that it was not the only major available to people wanting to be an economics professor. In fact, she told me that several of her peers had majored in things such as engineering. She told me that she spent 7.5 years in graduate school since in her last couple of years she was also teaching, however she told me that it takes most people 5-6 years to complete graduate school. I also learned that it can be difficult to find a job in this field because you have to be willing to move around some. In addition, it takes time to find the institution that is right for you. After discussing all of this, I asked what a typical day at work entailed for an economics professor. Professor Balaban told me that she typically works from 8-6, with one of the benefits being that she gets summers off. She said that she generally teaches for about 4.5 hours a day (on Tuesdays and Thursdays), however this is more than some because Professor Balaban is a teaching faculty as opposed to being a research faculty (who spends less time teaching, and more time researching). I did not know that it was a possibility to not do as much research, and this is something that really grabbed my interest. Professor Balaban said that when she is not teaching, she is often working with students, answering emails, planning lessons, or participating on committees. I asked Professor Balaban if she had any advice for someone considering being an economics professor and she told me to know what I am getting myself into, and if/when I start to persevere. She explained that graduate school is extremely hard, but that it is worth it. Lastly, I asked Professor Balaban about what her favorite part of the job was; she told me that it was working with the students. I think that this answer showed how this could be a good profession for me since I like working with others (as reflected by my results on Focus 2). In conclusion, the interview with Professor Balaban did clear many things up for me, however I am still not sure if I want to become a professor or not. I think that I need to do some more research on the path leading up to being a professor to see if it is something that I really am interested in doing. Overall, my biggest takeaway is that a professor does a lot more than just teach and plan for their class. Over the past two weeks in Career Exploration we have been working with the program FOCUS 2. FOCUS 2 asks a series of questions and based on your answers to those questions gives you some possible career paths. While I have taken many of these types of surveys throughout my life, I am starting to feel that I am getting a better sense of what I want to do. I also feel that I am getting a better understanding of what aspects of a job are important to me.
So far I have had three work interest areas that have really stood out to me; being a professor of some sort, being a bank manager, or being an economist. So first I will start out by talking about the possibility of being a professor. One experience in my life that I feel really relates to this is my experience volunteering for HYPE tutoring. Hype tutoring allows me to tutor elementary students in a low socioeconomic area. This volunteering really makes me feel good about myself, however it leaves me very drained. This is why I think it would be better to be a professor dealing with adults, than a teacher, in say middle school, dealing with younger students who require more energy. Overall, I think that this position would allow me to have a positive impact on young adults. Secondly, I have thought about being a bank manager. I have always excelled in math classes, so anything dealing with numbers has always been a possibility for me. However, I do not have any interest in being an accountant. I am thinking though that being a manager of a bank would allow me to escape the monotony of always sitting at a desk, since I would be interacting with the people I managed. One example in my life where I felt that I had done well in a leadership position is when I was treasurer of my school’s FBLA club. I feel that this position relates well to being a bank manager because it is a leadership position that deals with the handling of money. However, the reason I am more interested in being a professor over being a bank manager is because I do not feel that being a bank manager would allow me to make an impact on others. Lastly, I have considered the possibility of being an economist. The only reason that this work interest area really grabbed my attention is because I am currently in an economics class here at UNC and I feel that I am doing well at understanding the concepts of economics. While I think I would excell in this position, I do not think it is going to end up being right for me. I want to have a job that impacts others, and this job really doesn’t have that aspect. My personality type is practical, responsible, thorough, orderly, and sensible. I think that being responsible and practical are the personality traits that exemplify me best. I think that these traits mesh well with all 3 of the jobs mentioned above. I think that my story about helping tutor the elementary school students really exemplifies being responsible and orderly. I think that my position as treasurer exemplifies my responsible, through, and practical personality. Overall, I think that FOCUS 2 is giving me a better idea of what I want to do in the future. This past week I completed the FOCUS 2 assessment. This assessment has you answer a series of questions about you, your interests, your skills, and your values (among other things). The point of these questions is for you to get a better idea of your interests and how those interests match up with possible career options.
The first series of questions called the “Work Interest Assessment” gives you a Holland Code based on your answers to the questions. My Holland Code was ISE, which stands for Investigative, Social, and Enterprising. Investigative people often work in the science field, which is not something that fully interests me. Social people generally work in jobs that allow them to work with others. I find it interesting that I got this result because I generally consider myself to be an introvert. Lastly, Enterprising people generally work in sales or marketing. I actually am interested in looking further into this career path. The second series of questions is a personality assessment. This test said that I like to have straightforward guidelines, be accurate, and use logic to make decisions. All of these statements I agree with. However, one of the jobs it suggested based on these results is that I become an engineer. Engineering is something I have looked at, but really don’t have any interest in doing. The test also suggested accounting, which is another thing that I have considered, but don’t want to do. It also suggested business administration, which is something I want to look further into. The third series of questions was a leisure assessment. My first interest match on this test was sharing. People who match with sharing like to advise and help others. I definitely find that this is one of my interests. The second match was inquiring. People who match with inquiring like to observe and try to solve problems. I don’t really see this as being my match because I don’t really like problem solving. Lastly, I matched with eager. Eager people like to try to persuade others of things. I definitely find myself trying to persuade others of things sometimes and have thought that being a lawyer would mesh well with this trait, but since I do not like to write, law is not the career for me. The fourth set of questions was a values assessment. This assessment suggested job possibilities such as Information Technology Project Managers and Quality Control Managers. I enjoy being in leadership positions so these may be something to look into. The fifth set of questions was a skills assessment. This assessment gave me the possibility of being a professor. I really enjoy teaching others so I have considered this profession. However, I am a little nervous about how many years of school I would have to go through to attain this career. At the end of the assessment you are able to combine your results to see career options that match multiple assessments’ results. No careers matched all five of my assessments results, or even four of the assessments results. However, one of the careers that was listed under matching three of the assessments’ results was a Bank and Branch Manager. This sounds like it would be a fairly stable job that would allow me to have a position of leadership, so it is definitely something I will look into. Overall, I am most interested in looking into the possibility of being a professor of some sort. Today in Career Exploration we attended the Fall Job/Internship Expo instead of going to the actual classroom. While I was feeling pretty confident last week about the job fair, that confidence slipped away as I approached Rams Head, where the Job Expo was being held. I suddenly felt an extreme amount of worry. I was worried that I would not say the right thing, or that I would stutter, or that I would say umm too much. However, after I approached the first booth my fears started to slip away. The employers were extremely nice and not as intimidating as I had imagined they would be.
The first booth that I went to was the Abercrombie booth. Contrary to what the Job Expo brochure said, Abercrombie was in fact looking for part time employees. I was really interested to hear about all of the opportunities that Abercrombie has to progress once you get a four year degree. The man I was talking with informed me that in a matter of 2 years he had gone from the entry level position to becoming a store manager. The other lady I talked to informed me that she was now in charge of all of North Carolina and part of Virginia. It really interested me that it was possible to start now (at the age of 18) in an entry level position there and work your way up to a job that held a lot of power (once you got a degree, of course). Next I talked with Apple. While last week I had planned on talking with MaxPoint Interactive Inc., I could not find them in the brochure map so I instead talked with Apple. While I am not currently eligible to hold a job there because I have a roommate, I was really intrigued that they had a position that allowed you to work from the comfort of your home as a Tech Support person. The reason I was not eligible is because they require that you have a private space to work from. I am definitely considering looking back into this job when I get a place of my own. Next, I talked with Bell Partners, Inc. This is a real estate agency that deals with apartments. I was extremely interested in the internship opportunity that they are offering this summer and may apply for it. They talked about how one of the responsibilities of a position was to show interested people around the apartments, and I thought that this would be a good way to gain more communication skills. After talking with Bell Partners, Inc., I talked with Potomac River Partners, which is a company that deals with pharmacies and doctors to make sure that FDA rules are complied with. However, I am not eligible for any position there because they are only looking for full time employers. Lastly I talked with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. This company has an interesting summer internship that even underclassmen are allowed to apply for. In this internship you are given an overview of the various Financial aspects and get several certifications along the way. I found this a cool possibility, but ultimately don’t think that finance is the path for me. Overall, I really enjoyed the Job Expo. One big thing that I was surprised to learn was that many of the jobs were not looking for particular majors. This made me feel a little better about not knowing what I want to major in. Next week my Career Exploration class will be heading to the Career Expo. to put our elevator pitches to practice. While last week I was still nervous about this big step, I am feeling more confident by the day since we practiced in class today. I am definitely still a little nervous about trying to keep up a conversation with the employers, however I hope that it will not be too difficult to do. My elevator pitch in class today went fairly smoothly despite the fact that I was nervous and I hope that my nerves won’t get in the way of a successful conversation next Thursday. To help prepare me for next week, I have begun researching some of the employers that will be there so that I can target them specifically.
First, I plan on talking with Abercrombie & Fitch. While I do not really have an interest in going into retail, I feel that this job would be able to help me further develop my communication skills and make future interviews and career fairs less daunting of a task. I plan on asking them what skills go into being a successful retailer. While I do not want to work at Abercrombie & Fitch for life, I will ask them about the opportunities for progression in the job. Next, I plan on talking with Bell Partners, Inc. I have thought about going into Real Estate, but have my apprehensions about that career. I definitely worry that Real Estate is not a stable job since it often relies on commission. However, it is an internship that I would be very interested in holding. I think that this internship would help me to develop more communication skills. I will ask the employers about what skills they believe go into being a successful real estate agent. I will also ask them about what trends are going on in the real estate market. Finally, I will ask the employer what majors real estate companies look for when they are looking for new employees. Next, I will talk with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. I have always excelled at math so working in Finance has been a possibility that I have considered for a while. I have also liked how stable the accounting field is. I am going to talk with this employer to find out about the summer internship because it would be cool to get some experience in this field to see if it interests me. I will ask them about the employment trends in this field so that I can make sure my belief that the accounting field is stable is accurate. After talking with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, I will talk with Potomac River Partners. I have always thought it would be cool to be a doctor, but my fear of blood eliminates this job possibility. However, this company deals with Biotech and Pharmaceuticals, so it may be a way for me to be involved in the Healthcare field without having to be around blood. However, this employer appears to be more in the consulting field so it may not be exactly what I am looking for. I will ask them what skills are required for this job, what the job entails, and talk to them about what majors are useful for this job. Finally I will talk with MaxPoint Interactive Inc. This is a marketing firm. While I have never considered marketing, I am currently exploring career options so this may be a fun career path to explore. I plan on asking this company about what skills their job requires and what the job entails. I am pretty excited for the Career Fair and hope that my preparation will allow me to get the most out of it. |
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