Career Path: Who am I? Essay -- Psychology

Finding a career that overlaps personal and professional concerns is the focus of most career counseling. O*net (2000) has created two assessment tools that help individuals navigate this difficult impasse. This paper focuses on my individual results, reactions and conclusions regarding these two assessments. Career Instrument Results Built around Holland’s Theory of Types and Person-Environment Interactions, the Interest Profiler (IP) and Work Locator (WL) instruments are self-administered, self-scored surveys designed to reveal an individual’s personality type and work values in order to match themselves with a career that will allow the appropriate expression of both. According to the results of these instruments I am categorized as Artistic-Achievement. My secondary interests are Social and Investigative. My secondary work value was revealed as both Relationships and Support. My current job zone is four and my future job zone is five. Niles & Bowlsbey (2009) gives an account of Holland’s personality types. According to this description, artistic types â€Å"prefer ambiguous, free, unsystematized activities†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 64). They tend to gain knowledge in language, art, music, drama and writing and have less tendency toward clerical or business related topics. Some words associated with this type that I feel apply to me include: complicated, imaginative, disorderly, intuitive, nonconforming, expressive, idealistic and original. There are a few that I don’t think I adhere to: introspective, impractical, and impulsive. I will admit that this assessment could be due, at least in part, to a lack of personal insight. It’s interesting to note that my secondary interest areas are Social and Investigative; the two personality pat... ...demic pursuits and the many hats I wear as a mom give me room to express my creativity and build relationships that have great impact on the entire community. I look forward to the future and what God has in store for my life. I believe that He alone has called me to this profession. He alone created me to fulfill His purpose and bring about His kingdom. Works Cited Niles, S. G. & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2009). Career development interventions in the 21st century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. U. S. Department of Labor (2000). Interest profiler. Retrieved April 2, 2012 from http://online.onetcenter.org. U. S. Department of Labor (2000). Work importance locator. Retrieved April 2, 2012 from http://online.onetcenter.org. Whiston, S. C. (2009). Principles and applications of assessment in counseling. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.