RUNNING HEAD: CAREER PAPER

Reflective Career Paper

After gaining knowledge in this course, I have learned new concepts and theories that have brought meaning to my life. At some point in our life, we all have adopted some type of theory in our life without knowing it. The Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory, Super’s Lifespan Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory are three theories that explain how my career setting and role-play changed due to certain circumstances and life experiences.
The career development is one of the concepts that I have learned to greatly appreciate throughout the Career Development Course. Career development refers to the lifelong psychological and behavioral processes as well as contextual influences shaping one’s career over the life span. As such, career development involves the person’s creation of a career pattern, decision-making style, integration of life roles, values expression, and life role self concepts (Herr et al., 2004). As life takes us for a loop, we will encounter choices that may be difficult to decide upon, but through the process of career development one can make wise career choices.
The theory that plays an important role in my life now that I have experienced the workforce and school is the Krumboltz's Social Learning and Planned Happenstance. This theory address factors related to my experiences with others and in previous work situations. Having positive experiences and role models working in specific careers may influence the set of careers we consider as options for ourselves. One aspect of Social Cognitive Career Theory addresses the fact that we are likely to consider continuing a particular job if we have had a positive experience doing it. In this way, we can concentrate on areas in which we have had proven success and achieved positive self-esteem.

Life Roles – Being an employee is just one of your life roles, in addition to others such as, student, parent, and child. Super's Lifespan theory directly addresses the fact that we each play multiple roles in our lives and that these roles change over the course of our lives. How we think about ourselves in these roles, their requirements of them, and the external forces that affect them, may influence how we look at careers in general and how we make choices for ourselves. In this paper you will see how the Super’s Lifespan theory intertwined with my career choices.
As a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a hairstylist. As time move forward my environment and role-play change my career decision. I started out at the age of 16 to discover the world of work. My first job was a cashier at Hardees’s where the self worth concept was identified. Self-worth is having a high self-esteem. For instance, having a job where you make a difference and feel worthy.
The worth of something is how much we appreciate it and love it for itself, how important it is to us, and how much priority we give it compared to other things. Self-worth is an overall measure of how much we value ourselves and give priority to our own needs and happiness. Our self-worth is a measure of our unconditional self-love. My job as a cashier placed no meaning to my life. It was simply just a job that consists of long hours, no benefits, and dealing with rude customers.
After continuously working as a cashier at Hardees’s the job soon came to an end when I was hired at a daycare. My job title was a daycare assistant. I provided care for three children feeding: changing diapers, and putting them to sleep. I enjoyed my job but the pay was not enough of income to provide me with extra things I wanted in life, such as vacations, name brand clothes and other luxury items. The job provided no benefits and the job was only part-time.
So, I began to think about new life roles and how education would be beneficial to my life. I gave up the daycare job and I enrolled at Robeson Community College in some general elective courses. I knew going back to school was a wise choice for me but months later; I had to return back to the workforce. After a few months, I became pregnant and quit school in order to provide means for my child. After filling out numerous of applications, I was hired as a waitress, waiting tables and being friendly with customers.
The job was a great place to meet new people and learn to interact with people of different cultures. It was quite challenging though because some customers were hard to get along with and thought of you as no more than a servant. I began to think about what I wanted more in life, just a job to pay bills with no extra benefits or a real job with benefits. I started back to Robeson Community College taking College Transfer Courses along with still waiting table. Times got tough working and going to school but in order to place meaning to my life, I had to stay strong and proceed forward.
On May 9, 2007 I graduated from Robeson Community College with an Associate Degree in Arts best known as a College Transfer Degree. I knew this degree was not good enough to find a professional job but a start to further my education. I researched` occupations that best suited me according to my personality traits and abilities. I discovered two areas of study: Social Work and Sociology. I chose Sociology to pursue a degree in. I enjoyed the courses and learned a lot about theories that apply to my everyday life.
There I was again, walking in honor of achieving another degree. Later, I searched the Internet and newspaper ads for jobs. After interviewing for several jobs I was still jobless. Days went by no phone calls, no ads in the paper and no jobs that fit my eligibilities. I became useless to my family and stressed out due to financial burdens. I began to make phone calls to some CNA agencies in search for a Certified Nursing Assistant job. Finally good news arrived, one of the agencies I contacted needed a CNA and hired me on the spot. Not the occupation I preferred, but the income was decent and the hours was 7:00 to 3:00 p.m., plenty of time to spend with my family.
After working 5 months, my patient became ill and was placed in the rest home putting me on the unemployment list again. The job market fell in numbers with few jobs for employment and leaving many jobless. There I was standing in the mirror thinking to myself, I need to do something productive with my life. The only option that seemed to appeal to me was more schooling, which meant more education. There I go again, signing up for Graduate Courses at UNCP in the Counseling Profession.
After being enrolled in the Career Development course doing the exercise Discover Assessment, I am at the conclusion that school counseling is the profession for me. It allows me to develop ideas and useful tool strategies to assist people in need. This program leads me to believe I have what it takes to become a school counselor. I am compassionate, trust worthy, communicate effective with a listening ear. These characteristics are extremely important to provide clients with the appropriate services that are necessary in resolving their issues or concerns. Assessments are essential in the career decision-making process.
The value approach assessment is a great exercise to crystallize and prioritize one’s values, which can be important to their life roles. It will help them make a career choice to satisfy their values of importance and help focus on other importance career attributes. For instance, some may work for the pay while others work to obtain self-worth. We all have to acknowledge the meaning and purpose of our life in order to make positive career decisions.
Now that I know about theories and have connected them with my past career experiences, I can use them as future references to develop a positive career choice. As for the Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory, due to my past experiences of jobs dissatisfaction, I will continue to move forward with my education to pursue a career that best fits me. The Social Cognitive Theory allows me to be aware of my abilities, interests and other related factors that may influence my career path. Applying theories to one’s life can help explain factors that may influence a person’s career decision.

References
Herr, E. L., Crammer, S. H., & Niles, S. G. (2004). Career guidance and counseling through the lifespan: Systemic approaches (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.