Insights of Chapter One

After reading chapter one, I started thinking about the status attainment model and how it affected my career development. Looking back on my childhood, I had it pretty easy growing up. My mom was and still is a stay at home mom and my dad owns his own accounting firm. I was an only child so I had the spotlight on me to be successful and make my parents proud. I would go into work with my dad and he would transform right in front of me. He immediately went into business mode and worked as hard as he could to support his family. My father has been the only source of income for my family since he was in his early 20s. My mother suffered from a stroke and has been in a wheelchair ever since. I think this is also where he gets his values from; he knows he needs to do whatever it takes to keep his family together.

We were certainly economically stable, but one of my first lessons was the value of a dollar. My father taught me all of his work ethics and to never give up and always aim high. Even though I had it semi-easy, I was still taught the importance of working hard and staying focused. These values are why I want to better myself and go further in my education. The inner motivation stems from my father and his will to work along with my mother’s positive attitude. I think my own career development proves that it is an ongoing process and starts at a young age.

Until I got older, I never realized what privileges I had growing up and not everyone is as fortunate. I always had it in my head that I would graduate high school, then college and then get a job in my field. For some, this dream often doesn’t become reality. The social injustices in society are creating unequal career development for all minorities. Unemployment rate is greater for those who are African American and Hispanic and the median salary for men is higher than the median salary of a woman (Brown, 2012). Even with all of the advances we have made over the years in society there is still inequality in the workplace. I think that career counselors can certainly make a difference to make a change for the better, but in order for these systems to work society needs to recognize the injustice.

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10^th ed.). New York: Pearson.