Personal Career Profile - Essay Example

Personal Career Profile In order to become a great photographer, an individual requires to develop certain basic skills that will enable him capture quality and captivating photos. In this STAR exercise, I tested whether I had developed the required levels of patience that will enable me to capture perfect shots even when the situations seem unfavourable. In a recent visit to a national park in Kenya where there are often scenes of wild predators running after their prey, I was required to capture a photo of the leopard just when it was about to intercept a gazelle. In this situation, I had to wait patiently as the leopard chased the gazelle in the savannas of Tsavo national park, as I zoomed the camera depending on their movements until the leopard almost caught up with the gazelle. When I was certain that it was the right moment for the shot, I took the shot, it was the most fascinating shot that I had taken in my entire course in photography. According to the Happenstance theory of career development, careers happen as a result of luck and chances, I grew up I happened to live in a neighbourhood that was so prone to storms1. I liked watching the lightening as it flashed across the sky and my fellow children whom we grew together with would tease me during the summer that I should create my own lightening instead of waiting for the stormy seasons in order to see the lightening. During one Christmas, a photographer came to our neighbourhood to take Christmas photos, when I saw the flashlight from the camera; I made a resolve to become a photographer. In addition, ma decision to join the photography club cemented my decision to pursue photography in my higher education. According to Parson’s theory where an individual analyses his interests, skills, personality and values, the appendices on my personal CMS skills assessment shows that I am strong in information handling, information technology, and business awareness. This is true as I enjoy dealing with a lot of information especially business information in trying to predict future business trends, my good ranks in information technology skills is also to some extent true, as I love keeping up with the current trends in technology however sometimes I also prefer the manual way of doing things. John Holland theory propose six character traits that makes an individual better placed to perform better in a certain work situation and not on another profession. These personality traits include realistic who like working outdoor work situations, investigative traits who like concepts and using logic. The third form is the artistic personality where individuals in this category tend to use their imagination a lot, the social personality type enjoy other people’s company a lot especially when helping them. Enterprising traits are in those people who also enjoy other peoples company but in a sense that they exploit them, and the sixth trait is the convention type who like following regulations and order. My CMS strengths assessment shows that my strong points are communicating verbally, enjoy leading others and organising them, therefore I would fit best in the enterprising category best and would perform better in the jobs that require a dominating personality. The lowest scores that I got were from creative writing and time management, therefore I would not perform well in the careers that required an individual to be artistic. Creative job hunting is where an individual gains knowledge about a job by talking to experts and doing the job practically. my trip to Kenya was such a an eye opener where I gained more knowledge on the career of photography that I wanted to pursue since I had a chance to mix with professional photographers who gave me invaluable knowledge on photography. Donald super used various stages in life in career development; the first stage is the growth stage that includes fantasy period, interest period and the capacity period. Fantasy period lasts between the ages of four and 10 years, in this period a child normally fantasises with what he would like to grow up or how he would wish to see himself. In my case at this stage I used to like flashes that appeared in the skies when there was lightening, therefore I usually fantasised with having the powers to create those flashes, I would also use torches where I would switch it on and off quickly in order for it to produce the flash light or lighting match boxes. However, the speed at which I would switch the torch on or light the matchbox was slow and did not produce the desired effect that I expected, ma fantasies were taken to another level when I first encountered a photographer during one of my childhood Christmas whose camera was able to produce the flash light. In the interest period lasting between the age of 11 and 12 years, I started developing a liking for cameras and I wished to know how they were operated. I approached my Dad to buy me one, which he declined; I therefore would visit the photographer’s shop in the neighbourhood where I volunteered to help him do some menial chores in exchange for him sparing some of his time to teach me on how to operate a camera. With time, I was able to operate a camera and I would help the photographer with some of his photography work when he could not finish it himself. In the third period of the growth stage, which is the capacity period, lasts between the ages of 13 and 14 years the local photographer would assign me more complex photography tasks. I would even go from home to home taking photographs without the supervision of the photographer; this increased my confidence and interest to pursue photography at a professional level. In Donald Super’s theory, the second stage is the explorative stage, which is divided into three periods of tentative, transition and trial. In the tentative period, which runs from the age of 15 to 17, is where cautious choices are made and experimented with. At this stage while still in high school, I had developed a liking for painting and drawing which were my other passions, this involved a period where I joined several clubs that participated in activities that I had passion for, it involved a period in which I was so much undecided about the career path that I wanted to pursue. In the transition period, which runs between the ages of 18 and 21 and where an individual considers his options realistically, I started discovering I was not gifted in drawing and painting as I had earlier thought. My chance to learn to do them perfectly would take a long time, in addition, there was no professionally trained individual who could help me develop my painting and drawing skills, this made me to reconsider my choices of becoming a professional painter. In the trial phase which would run between 21 years and 24 years and where suitable choice are tried is the phase that I am in currently where am I studying photography as a part of my course with the hope to join a suitable job that will make use of my photography skills. According to Belbin, there are several roles that matched with people’s contribution and the weakness they are allowed to have, the first was plant role where the contributions include creativity, imaginative, unorthodox and ability to solve difficult problems, this role was much involved in ensuring effective communication. The second role is that of resource investigator where the roles corresponding contributions include extrovert, enthusiasm, exploring opportunities and developing contacts, the weaknesses that are allowed in this role include over optimism and loss of interest when the enthusiasm has been lost. The third role is the coordinator role, which has contributions such as mature, confident, promotes decision-making, clarifying goals and delegation, the weaknesses involved include being seen as manipulative, and offloading of personal work. The next role is the shaper, the contribution include challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure, and is motivated to overcome obstacles, the weaknesses involved include they are prone to provocation and offending peoples’ feelings. Monitor evaluator is the next role where the contributions involve sober, strategic and discerning. He sees all options and judges accurately; the weaknesses involved include lack of drive and ability to inspire people. The team worker is cooperative, mild, perspective and diplomatic, he listens, builds and averts friction, the weaknesses include indecisiveness in situations, which one is under pressure. The implementer is regimented, dependable, conformist and professional, he shapes ideas into realistic activities, the weaknesses involved include inflexibility and slow to responding to new opportunities. The complete finisher contributions are that he is conscientious, anxious and is inclined to search for errors and omissions. He polishes and perfects, the weaknesses involved in this role include the individual gets worried very fast and is reluctant to delegate responsibilities to his subordinates. The specialist is single minded, self-starting and dedicated, he rarely provides skills and knowledge, his weaknesses involved include is that he contributes on a narrow front and dwells on technicalities only. In view of my CMS strengths, I am more suitable for the plant role since I consider myself good at problem solving although my creativity score was relatively poor. A resource investigator is the other position that I would fit since my CMS career profile shows I am an extrovert as I scored highly in organising and leading the people and in motivating and inspiring others. According to Belbin classification, I would do fairly poor in the implementer role as I scored poorly in skills such as planning events, although I scored fairly well in applying theory, I have never been much interested in careers that require individuals to be conformists. The Myer Briggs Type indicator dictates the choice of career depending on; where an individual prefers to get his focus and energy from (Extraversion and Introversion). What kind of information he prefers to collect and believe (Sensing and Intuition), what processes an individual uses in deciding (thinking and Feeling) and how a person prefers to deal with the environment around him. Depending on where individuals get energy from, I am more extraverted since my CMS personal profile assessment shows that I scored highly in skills that required me to be in a group such as leading and organising others, communicating verbally, however sometimes I also prefer to working alone especially in situations where there are specific deadlines to be met. My listening skills, which I scored poorly in shows I prefer using intuition and emotions in decision making, this is further supported by my ability to keep the big picture in view skill which I scored a good rating. In dealing with the environment around me I am more inclined to adopt a perceiving attitude since I prefer being flexible and spontaneous, and I like being curious. My high score in the ability to be keen to details well supports my curiosity in dealing with my surroundings. In determining career choices, various scholars have come up with theories to help individuals choose careers that they would excel. Such theories as we have discussed above include Parson’s theory that I have used to analyse my skills, values and personality, the Holland theory which classify people into 6 personality traits which then are used to determine an individual’s career, the MBTI which helps one to discover his personality type and therefore base his career selection on. The Happenstance theory, postulates that fate, environmental situations and opportunity, are significant factors that influence a person’s career choice. The ‘river of life’ Indentify the key turning points, positive and negative, in your career journey, place each turning point on a bend of the river. Can you see any pattern emerging? Bibliographies Marlowe, Bruce A., and. Canestrari, Alan S. Educational Psychology in Context: Readings for Future Teachers. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 2006. Read More