Personal Career Development

Personal Career Development

I like that for the first discussion the class was asked to write their own career autobiography. It is interesting to see not only where I started out in the pathway to my career but to see how my classmates started and developed to the position in which they're in now. I think it is humorous to sit back and think where I thought I would be in my career versus where I actually am and how that happened.

As a kid I had a dream of being famous and being in the spotlight. For most of my childhood I had pretty high hopes of becoming an actress. Then when I reached high school I became more aware of the likelihood or non-likelihood of that actually happening. I find it funny that I actually thought I could be an actress with putting no effort into it. If I truly thought I wanted to be an actress I would have taken classes, signed up for all the school plays, and auditioned for roles- but I never did. It’s like maybe I had a fantasy of being an actress but never had any aspirations to make it a reality. I did however study like crazy, earn college credits while in high school, and graduate with honors. I did this all consciously, with goals of continuing my education in mind.

I think that career education in elementary, junior high, and high school is such a valuable tool. Thinking back to high school the only career development I did was my graduation project (which I choose psychologist so I guess I had some idea of what I was interested in). That’s sad, and even though I was one of the smarter kids that always did well, I went into college completely clueless. I jumped from major to major and wasted a lot of time. With career development lessons in school, children are more likely to understand what they’re interested in as far of career choices and have a better understanding of how to move toward their career.

 It’s very ironic to me that the first professional job I obtained was a Career Development Adviser at a high school and that my current job one of my roles is being a career counselor. Even though I lacked the guidance I figured it out but I know that not all kids have the capabilities to do that. I think it is important for those in the education field to have a better understanding as to why teaching career development is important so that it can be pushed into classroom learning. The school I worked at previously made career development a graduation requirement, which in my opinion was brilliant (one of the only good ideas that school has had). With the class being required, all the students received a career development class and was able to have some exposure to the career development process and understand its importance. I look forward to my future as a counselor and hope that career education is something that becomes more prominent in schools of all levels.