Integrative Conclusion - Essay Example

Throughout this process I have been consistently surprised at how much my work has taught me, and how much my present and my past tie into each other. Prior to this portfolio I had never considered why I chose the path I did for my career. At the time, it felt like I was bouncing from one situation to another, and perhaps at first I was. Certainly, my very first job was more about finding a way to earn money than it was any conscious decision. However, looking back through the eyes of experience, I am beginning to understand where the passions that drive my interests have come from.

I have grown considerably from the time that I first started working to the present day, as I have worked my way through the store to my current role as the head of the Security and Loss Department. At first, my involvement in the store was relatively little. I worked on checkouts, and while I saw security doing their job, I had no involvement in them and little interest. I moved from this role because of an increasing interest in becoming more involved in the store. This eventually led me to the security department, where I felt both more comfortable.

I think that as I started to work in security I was fulfilling some of my deepest passions, ones that I hadn’t fully been aware of. As I have become more involved in security, I have continued to grow, and my role has moved from being an employee under someone else’s instruction to being management myself. In my introduction essay for this portfolio, I examined my own past and how it has shaped my life. I considered the way that my life had developed, what my passions are and where I thought they came from.

I chose loss prevention as a theme because it seemed the most logical. After all, loss prevention is the central focus of my job. However, it was not until I started to examine my past that I understood why I enjoyed my work so much, and where that interest and passion had sprang from. Two factors that strongly influenced me in my younger years were my uncles’ role in law enforcement and my father, a firefighter who risked his own life to save others. These influences strongly convinced me of the value of the law, of what was right and just.

I believe that these morals have resulted in me finding great satisfaction from helping others, and from working to preserve the law. I think now that it was this passion and interest that has meant I have immensely enjoyed my role in the Security and Loss department, and also driven me to become part of it in the first place. For example, I had always held a great deal of respect for my uncles and their work, and wanted to eventually become involved in something of a similar nature. This was part of the reason for wanting to do a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, but I didn’t feel that I was ready to give up my job in order to earn the degree.

Hence, I am balancing the two by working on the course online, while holding my job at Best Buy. It was also the reason that I took on an internship at the Bergen County Prosecutors Office. I hope that completing my degree will bring me a few steps closer to ultimately becoming involved in Law Enforcement, although for now I am content where I am. In my first