Amanda Alberti-Week 4-Career Center

Activities:

·       Attended the Career Center staff meeting

·       Assisted with a dinner etiquette session for incoming freshmen on the football team

·       Observed several of Cassandra’s sessions reviewing STRONG assessment results with students

o   Two with incoming transfer students with differing GPAs

o   One with a biology major who seemed to have a strong passion for the arts but felt that these majors were impractical

o   One with an incoming freshman

·       Reviewed the syllabus and assignments for the career planning course

Reflections on Practice:

1.     One lesson that I learned during my time at practicum over the past week was how complicated relationships within and between campus offices can be. During the Career Center staff meeting Cassandra mentioned that there were three class slots which needed to be filled for the fall. I thought it was odd that nobody volunteered but then I began to relate this to the way that I have seen people interact within my assistantship. One thing that I really appreciated when I first started working with the Career Center was how close everyone seemed to be. There was a very relaxing and positive vibe within the office and it appeared that there were never any waves amongst the employees. However, I have realized over the past week or so that perhaps I was being a bit too idealistic in my observations. Let me clarify that I by no means have ANY sort of negative feelings toward the Career Center and its employees. I absolutely love my practicum and each of the people that I have had the opportunity to get to know during my time there. However, I believe that I have been looking only for the good in the office as a means of escape from my external stress. While I love my job and my courses, the past few months have been incredibly overwhelming and difficult. Looking back, I think I was looking at a career track within the Career Center as a sort of escape from the stress of other areas of student affairs. I am trying to remind myself of a couple of critical points: firstly, the office with which I am working is currently in its quiet season and secondly, issues and stress can and will arise in any job.

 

This lesson correlated in my mind to the section in chapter two of our textbook about issues that new professionals commonly face regarding dissonance. For example, it seems to me that the administration of the career planning course is a source of role conflict for the employees within the office (both new and veteran) (Amey, Jessup-Anger, & Tingson-Gatuz, 2009). I found out through further conversations with Cassandra that there are several people within the department who are not comfortable teaching the course. They feel as though they are not qualified for this task and that it is unfair for them to be expected to take on the role of an instructor. I could easily see how a new employee in the office could feel intimidated by this expectation.

 

2.     Another important lesson that I learned over the past week was one that I discussed with Cassandra during my midterm evaluation meeting. When Cassandra asked me how I was feeling about the work that I have completed for practicum so far, I mentioned that I have taken a particular interest in reading a student’s personality when they come in to review the results of their STRONG inventory. Coming from an undergraduate institution which had a strong focus on helping professions and the arts, it has been really interesting to listen to students talk about how it is impossible to have a successful career outside of the STEM track. It has led me to wonder how strongly this belief is influenced by the geographic history of these students. It seems that there are more “realistic” and “conventional” jobs available in the Southeastern region which I believe has a strong impact on the way these students feel about the “artistic” and “social” realms of career. Another interesting factor that I took note of was that each of the students that came through Cassandra’s office for a STRONG interpretation over the past week seemed to have strong interest in the “artistic” area based on their assessment results. While reflecting, I’m starting to wonder if more of these students come in for assessments because they feel that their interests are not practical routes for a future career.

Reflections on Theory:

According to Erikson’s Identity Development Theory, the students coming through Cassandra’s office for STRONG assessment reviews are in the fifth stage of identity, identity versus identity diffusion (Erikson, Paul, Heider & Gardner, 1959). I have easily observed each aspect of this stage within each of the students who have come through the office this past week. Although many of the students were encouraged by their parent(s) to come into the career center, each of them has mentioned a desire to figure out who they are as an individual (Erikson, Paul, Heider & Gardner, 1959) and hope to find a career path which matches their personality and interests. As a result of the incongruence between their desires and societal expectations, several of the students have experienced a tension with their parent(s) which correlates with the insecurity of relationships with others that Erikson described as a part of this stage (Erikson, Paul, Heider & Gardner, 1959). Each of the students that I observed this week seemed to be facing what Erikson referred to as identity diffusion meaning that they do not have a clear path for their future or the purpose of their life (Erikson, Paul, Heider & Gardner, 1959). It was clear for me that the struggle that each of these students is facing in regards to selecting a major and a future career path relates easily to the things that Erikson expected individuals to experience during the fifth stage of development (Erikson, Paul, Heider & Gardner, 1959).

Amey, M. J., Jessup-Anger, E. & Tingson-Gatuz, C. R. (2009). Unwritten rules: Organizational and political realities of the job. In M. J. Amey & L. M. Reesor (Eds.), Beginning Your Journey (3^rd ed.) (17-23). Washington, DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

Erikson, E. H., Paul, I. H., Heider, F. & Gardner, R. W. (1959). Psychological issues (Vol. 1). International Universities Press.