Career Development - Ivonne Maldonado

Career Development

When I hear the word “career development” I think about a life long journey. It’s a journey where people can learn about themselves, and what their likes and dislikes are when it comes to employment. It’s the journey of setting goals for one self and pushing to accomplish them. I believe that once you reach a goal you should start the process of creating a new goal to aim towards. This way a person can feel as if their career development never ends. Setting goals regarding your career can help people look at their jobs differently and keep them from being burned out with the same everyday tasks.

I have reflected on the multiple jobs that I had before going into graduate school. I worked at an amusement park, at a baseball stadium, as a cashier, as a receptionist, and as a case worker for the Children and Youth Agency. Even though I did not fully like those jobs I do appreciate the skills that I have obtained. I have learned how to deal with people and understand how the environment influences their actions. Working at those places made me realize that I want to choose a different career path where I am able to implement my passion for helping children.

According to Duane Brown (2016), career intervention is a good way to increase the aspect of a person’s career development. That can be done in different ways such as career counseling, career guidance, career education, and career coaching. As for me I work at an elementary school where students are not exposed to career education, and I believe that is something that should be changed. Educating children about different careers early on can give them a head start when having to choose a major for college, when deciding to go straight into the work field, or even when deciding to join the army. Career education provides people with occupational information by maybe taking field trips or having speakers who talk about their jobs.

Students tend to start thinking about careers when they’re about to graduate and are pressured into choosing a field that they would like to work in. There are students who have never had guidance regarding choosing a career. Even though there are guidance counselors within schools they don’t always do the best of job when having to “guide” their students. In conclusion career development is a life long journey that should begin in earlier in life instead of later.

Bibliography

Brown, D. (2016). Career information, career counseling, and career development. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.