Strengths in your Profession

After taking the VIA Signature Strengths assessment I was intrigued by my results. The assessment gave me great insight about my strengths. This allowed me to be able to reflect on how I can use my strengths to better help the students that I will be working with. This is particularly helpful since one of the most important aspect of choosing a career is to discover something that I have a passion about. By using the result of the assessment I will discuss how I can use my strengths better to serve the population of students that I will be working with.

My top strength was "Spirituality, sense of purpose, and faith". One of the most important things that I want to do, as a person, is to help others find the meaning of life and the purpose for their life. I think the best part of this strength is the "sense of purpose" that most people want to have. I also believe that the career we chooses has a lot to do with the sense of purpose one has about life. There is nothing worst than hating to wake up because you have to go to a job that you hate. I believe that many people live this way and unfortunately never find the meaning or the purpose of their careers. If a person is able to choose a career because it gives them pleasure and makes them feel whole, then they are more likely to stick to that job and be happier in it. I believe that I will be able to help students by sharing the importance of choosing a career that they have a passion about rather than choosing a career because they will make a lot of money. I believe that as a counselor I will work with students to take assessment and explore fields that they might enjoy or have a passion about. I believe my purpose in life is to help those that need direction. I can say that I am content with the choice of career that I have. My hope is to help others do the same, whether it is a career in counseling, engineering, medicine, landscaping, business etc.

My second strength was "Hope optimism, and future-mindedness". I believe this strength is particularly important in my career field. I believe that if we have a positive outlook about life, we have a better opportunity to succeed in whatever career we choose. One of the most important aspects of my career is that I expect the best in the future for myself and I expect the same for others. I would like to help students understand that they have a choice and that they have control over their lives. I believe there is nothing worst than to feel like you have no control over your life. This is especially important because I believe students cut themselves short a lot of the time. I have spoken to students that I know are very bright and they believe that they will not go far in life. For example, I asked a student what they wanted to do for a career. The student responded that they wanted to be a medical assistant. I asked them why a medical assistant and not a nurse or a doctor. The students said that it was just easier to become a medical assistant than a doctor or nurse. After talking to the student, she expressed that she wanted to become a nurse but that she thought it was too difficult. I discussed with her what the requirements for being an RN were and she was amazed that it was not what she expected. I believe this student was capable of becoming more than a medical assistant, but at the time they did not believe it. Once we talked the students realized that becoming a nurse was not very difficult. Making changes like this in student's life is what gives me hope for the future.

My third strength is "Gratitude". The more I reflected on my strengths the more I realize how choosing a career in counseling goes along with my personality and my sense of being. I believe this strength is very important because I am really grateful to have the opportunity to be able to work with students and guide them into becoming all they can be. I believe this strength is something that we can teach our students. I believe that students do not realize the opportunities that are out there for them. I also believe that in order to take advantage of those opportunities we need to be thankful for what we already have. Many students take shelter, food, and necessities for granted. What they don’t realize is that there are others that do not have these basic necessities. I believe that if students realized how blessed they are, they might be more likely to take advantage of what is out there for them.

My fourth strength is "Capacity to love and be loved". I believe this important when it comes to building a rapport with students. I believe that students can see right through you and see whether you really care about them or you are there only for the money. I believe that if we are able to build a rapport with students, we are more likely to influence them into making choices that would benefit them.

Some of the other strengths that came out will be very useful in my profession. For example, my fifth strength was "Fairness, equity, and justice". I believe all students should be treated equally and that they all should have a chance at choosing whatever career they feel strong about. My sixth strength was "Caution, prudence, and discretion". This helps me understand that at the end of the day we need to let the students make the choices rather than us making it for them. We can lead them, direct them, or counsel them, but the choices need to come from them. These strengths along with the others are great insight into making me a better counselor for the students.

Strategies for Professional Practice

The population I will be working with is high school students, low middle class to high middle class, of different races. This potential population will definitely have a lot of potential issues. Some of the core issues that I might face as a counselor are parental lack of involvement, unmotivated students, language issues, teenage pregnancy, peer influences, self concept and community options. Even though there are many other issues that one can face as a counselor, I believe these will be the core issues that I will have to address with students because of the wide diversity of students.

As a counselor we can definitely make parent involvement a key to a successful school. As I counselor I can conduct parental meetings to get parent to help their students develop career awareness. One suggestion might be for parents to take their students to their work site, and other work site, to explore different careers. In the area of student motivation we can definitely get students motivated if we can help them find something they enjoy. My goal is to work with students to complete different inventories that can help them become aware of what they enjoy doing and what their strengths are. I can also conduct some classroom lessons that help them explore what people do for a living. One issue that I will face is the language issue. At most schools there are some type of program that supports students of native languages. As a counselor I can help these students understand that they have options for choosing a career. Many students might think that they aren’t able to continue their education because of their resident’s status. One of my goals is to get students to become aware of AB 540 and how they can pursue a higher education if they want. One of the biggest issues that continue to become a problem is with teenage pregnancy. This is one issue that as a counselor one can support by making connections between the parents and the students. As a counselor we can try to work with the parents to make them aware of this potential issue. For the students we can work with them to make them aware that their actions have consequences. In other words, my goal will be for students to become aware that they need to think before they act, and how having a child will impact their career choices. In the realm of peers, we need to work with students to become who they choose to be rather than whom their peers want them to be. This is correlated with the self concept of the students. Those students that have a more negative self concept usually want more approval from their peers. Those with a more positive self concept are able to care less about what their friend’s think about them. My goal as a counselor will be to work with students and their self concepts. This will influence the students peer interaction. Lastly, my goal as a counselor will be to build community relationships to get students to explore different careers. I can build a relationship with a nearby elementary school in order for the high school to visit and see if they would like to pursue a career in education. I can also do the same with other agencies around the neighborhood. If I am able to build some of these supports, I know that students will have a better opportunity to pursue their career choice.

Career Theory Application of My Work History

After researching the different types of theories from our readings, I was able to narrow my work history to correlate with three theories. The first theory is the Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choices that is part of the Trait-and-Factor Theories. The second is the Gottfredson’s Theory of Circumscription and Compromise that is part of the Developmental Theories. Lastly, the Status Attainment Theory that is part of the Socioeconomic Theories.

The Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choices states that we choose careers that are closely correlated with our personalities. There are several assumptions according to this theory as to why we choose the career that we choose. The main assumption is that our personality drives us to choose our vocation. There are several factors that shape our personalities such as our inherited characteristics, the activities that we accomplish, and the interest that develop out of those activities. Because of our experiences we are shaped and our personality comes out. Holland also states that there are six “pure” personality types which are realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. These six types of personalities can also be seen as work environments. This theory focuses on personality inventories in order to see what we might enjoy as a career. Holland also states that the top three personality scores are the ones that drive us, with the top score being the most influential, the second score being the second most influential and so on. These are known as the Holland’s code. This theory shows how my work history has developed because of my personality. By reflecting on my work history I can see that my dominant personality is social which also shows that I enjoy working on a social environment. Holland’s theory also correlates with the fact that I was able to see how I was influenced by my inherited characteristics and that I have been shaped by the experiences that I have encountered in my life. As a young adult I was able to see that I enjoyed talking to people to discuss their problems. I always felt a need to solve their problems or help them get through their tough times. As I also reflected back on my childhood I remember always trying to make people feel better. In a sense I was always trying to be empathic of people that were having problems. As I got older I was able to use those characteristics of empathy to see that my personality of being social was what I enjoyed. I still remember taking an inventory in community college to see what kind of personality I exhibit. The inventory showed that I was the type to work with people, or as Holland will call it “social”. This has been great insight as to why I chose counseling as a career.

The Gottfredson's Theory of Circumscription and Compromise main focus is to see how career ambitions develop. This theory describes how people seem to be more willing to seek certain jobs. The theory states that in order for us to know what kind of vocation we want; we need to be aware of who we are, or become aware of self concept. This theory has four basic assumptions which are that (1) career development begins in childhood, (2) career ambitions are a form of developing our self concept, (3) career satisfaction depends on the congruence between work and our self perception, and that (4) we develop stereotypes that guide our career choices. Since this theory is a part of the developmental theories, it also suggests that we have developmental stages. The first is from age 3-5 called the Orientation to Size and Power, ages 6-8 called Orientation to Sex Roles, ages 9-13 called Orientation to Social Valuation, and age 14 called Choices Explored. This theory made me think about my upbringing and how I got to the place where I am at today. As I mentioned before, I have always been really empathic with people. However, as I was reading this theory it showed me that I was also empathic even with animals. I remember that I use to love animals that that I wanted to help them. As a child I wanted to be a veterinarian in order to help animals. As I got older I was able to “compromise” becoming a veterinarian since I was not really doing well in school and the career of veterinarian took too long to complete. I also remember thinking about the sex-roles stereotype and whether what I was choosing was manly enough and whether it was a prestigious career. As I got older and I began have a clearer view of my self concept and who I was. Because of this I was able to see what kind of aspirations developed as I got older. Most of this change took place in community college as I was forming my self concept. Now I know that my satisfaction with my work is due to the congruence with my self perception.

At first The Status Attainment Theory stated that families social economic status influences education, thus, influencing the occupation that people enter. Now, they theory has been modified to state that family status and cognitive variables combine influence education attainment, which influences the career that people choose and how much money they make. This theory has been developed by economist to see the influence of economic forces that influences career development of the whole work force. I chose this theory for one particular reason. This theory brought back memories about why I decided to pursue an education. I have to say that my families social economic status highly influence my decision to continue my education. My father was a gardener and my mom worked at Mc. Donald’s. Growing up I can say that I was never pleased with the line of work my mother and father were doing. The reason I did not like my fathers job was that he was always working very hard in the sun and he never brought home enough money. I remember going with him to help with the gardening as a child. I remember that I dislike how tough the job was and how much my father got paid. It seems like money was always in issue in our family. My mom working in Mc. Donald’s showed me that she was never making enough money to get through. When I worked there as a teenager, it confirmed that this was not the route I wanted to take. The fact that we were on the poverty level was one of my influences to seek a better future.

Reflection on Personal Work History

I was able to discover a lot from my reflection on my personal work history. I guess many times we forget all of the different types of employments we have held through out our lives. One of the patterns that I noticed in my work history is that every time I left an old job I moved into a better position. This showed me that unconsciously I was working on getting a more respectable job each time. Another pattern that I noticed in my work history is that most of my jobs, except for one, involved working with different people. In other words, it seems like I have always pursued jobs that entails interacting with people. I never worked in a factory or in a place where I work mostly with computers or other technology. This is interesting to see since I never made a conscious decision to work mostly with people. Of course this would be an issue if I was going to be working as an engineer or computer analyst, however, my goal is to become a school counselor so I feel like I am on the right track as far as experience goes. One issue I do see is that I did not last too long on some jobs. This can potentially be an issues for employers that are looking for dedicated, lifelong employees.

I believe potential employers might interpret my work history as a good variety of experience. If I were applying for a counseling position, my prospective employer would probably like the variety of different populations that I had a chance to work with. For example, at the probation department I was able to work with juvenile delinquents to get them on the right path, as a special education assistant I worked with students with special needs, and as a counselor I worked with families to advocate for services for their children. However, my prospective employer might be somewhat uncomfortable with how many jobs I've had, and the amount of time I spent on each. I typically spend more than two years on all my jobs, but some people might feel like I jumped from job to job and did not know what I wanted.

If a prospective employer for a non educational position was to look at my work history I think they might still like the experience that I have. The reason I believe they will like my experience is because I did not only hold educational positions through the years. For example, at the probation department I was not in charge of education the minors that were incarcerated. My job was to provide a safe and secure environment while they were at juvenile hall. I do see a problem is I was going to apply for a position to work as an engineer or a computer tech. I've only had one position that did not had to do with working with people.

Overall, I am pleased to see that I was able to reflect on the accomplishments that I have done. I thank God for the opportunity to have such a wide variety of experience that will help me in my career as a school counselor.

Personal Work History

Job Title and responsibilities - How long I had the Job -Why I left Job, ex. leave, fired etc.

1) Mc Donald's Cashier, responsibilities included: taking customers orders, cleaning the restaurant and preparing food.- I was employed part time for one year.- I left because I moved to another restaurant.

2) Arby's Cashier, responsibilities included: taking customer orders, cleaning the restaurant, and preparing food.- I was employed part time for two years.- I was terminated from this position.

3) Maintenance Technician, responsibilities included: maintaining the facility clean and making necessary repairs.- I was employed part time for two years.- I left this job to work as a teachers assistant.

4) Teachers Assistant, responsibilities included: helping the teacher correcting work, working with students in small groups, making copies, and assisting students with their work.- I was employed part time for two years.- I left to work as a special education assistant.

5) Special Education Assistant, responsibilities included: working with individuals with special needs, assisting student with academic work, assisting teachers to support students.- I was employed full time for 5 years.- I left to become a Detention Services Office for the Probation Department.

6) Summer Camp Counselor, responsibilities included: maintaining the safety of children while at summer camp, coordinating games for the children to play, and maintaining groups safety while at field trips.- I was employed during the spring, fall, and summer breaks for 4 years.- I left to become a Detentions Services Office for the Probation Department.

7) Detention Services Office, responsibilities included: working with minors incarcerated in juvenile hall to maintain their safety and security.- I was employed for 2 years.- I left to work as a Counselor for a Regional Center.

8) Counselor, responsibilities included: advocating for families with children with special needs, preparing annual reports, working with different agencies to provide services, and coordinating services for children with disabilities.- I was employed full time for 2 years.- I left to work part time as a substitute teacher and go to school full time.

9) Substitute teacher, responsibilities included: making lesson plans, keeping classroom in order, and teaching curriculum to students in the absence of the regular teacher.- I have been employed for 4 months.- I am currently employed.