Blog 1, Chapter 1 - Nicole

          As I was reading the book Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development by Duane Brown, I had a pen and notebook out beside me to take notes if needed. At first, the chapter was a little dry. It was only dry because it started out with a history lesson, and it continued for about two and a half pages. Some of the information was interesting and others were not, but as I looked back the next I realized that the table, that was really hard and dry, I could have just waited to read when I wasn’t tired. I’m just so used to seeing a table or a chart in a book and needing, to read it for some connection that they make. I would want to understand what proof they had, or tests results, that had data to support what they were saying.

            The next part that made me stop to right something down, was the section on the common words used and the definition. It defined position, job, and occupation, but when I kept reading I noticed career had several different meanings. The definitions were all nice, but I think my favorite definitions for job and career I learned from my mom. I learned that a job is something you do. You don’t have to like the job, and might only be temporary. It’s the career you want to strive for. A career is what you want to be doing for the rest of your life. That’s how I would come up the different jobs that I worked while I was growing up. My first job was at a sandwich shop, it was great for part time and they were really easy to work with. As I grew my goals for having a career of my own pushed me to having two part time jobs.

            I worked at a day care and learning center, I loved that job but I knew it wasn’t my end goal. After several different jobs, and some of them over lapping, I found a full time job as a community support professional, I love my job but I know it’s only a job. My goals and aspirations are leading me a different path towards my career. The definitions in the book are nice, and technical terms, but I think as a school counselor who will be helping kids and young adults making these decisions for them. I don’t think that students are going to want a vocabulary lesson with words that have five definitions. I don’t know, I just know it helped me and I’m guessing it might help others, but I’m here to learn and I think this class will help.

           

Brown, D. (2016). Career information, career counseling, and career development (11^th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 978-0-13-391777-2.