Personal Profile Introduction
Introduction
The role of this guide is to help you make a better career decision and to manage the available resources to reach this decision. It is designed as a working document that is adjusted regularly, not simply a one-time exercise. Begin using the guide now, as it will not only help to reduce confusion and frustration in setting your career goal, but will also assist in charting a path to reaching that goal.
Developing Your Personal Profile and Career Planning Guide
Step 1
Complete the Profile section under “Personal Inventory,” including the two-line self-description of who you are.
Step 2
List your abilities in the Skills/Strengths section – for example, strong debater, well organized, accomplished leader, good in mathematics, and so on.
Step 3
Under “Career Plan,” fill in the title of the Targeted Position that would be most appealing to you immediately after graduation.
TEST: How does your current list of skills and strengths generally match those you believe are needed for the job you've selected? If you see that critical skills are lacking or that the job doesn't call for your strongest assets, you might want to re-think the job you've selected. Don't underestimate what you already know about yourself and your ability to match that knowledge to a career.
Step 4
Under Activity/Work Experiences, complete the Accomplished section. This column should be a natural outgrowth of your skills and strengths. Reach back to earlier college, work experience, and even high school days to build this list. Work, school, church, and other experiences form the basis for this list. Clubs, sports, class projects, and part-time jobs could be included.
Step 5
Fill in the “Completed” column under Academic Courses. Here, list the courses that were most appealing to you and/or where you seem to have done your best work.
TEST: How did the two lists you completed in Steps 4 and 5 use or support your skills and strengths listed in Step 2? Have you tried to expand on your strongest skills and strengths through either outside activities or courses? Remember, the quality of your career decision will be directly related to how well you use your strengths. Make sure you give these strengths a chance to grow and develop, through either academic or extracurricular activities.
TEST: How did the two lists completed in Steps 4 and 5 support your choice for your first job in Step 3? If your Completed Academic Courses and Activity/Work Experiences have little in common with this job, you may want to strongly consider a different choice. Either you need to reevaluate your first job choice, or make plans to redirect your curricular and extracurricular activities to be more supportive of your choice.
Step 6
Under “Career Plan,” fill in the title of the targeted position that would be most appealing to you five years after graduation or five years from now; review the test that follows Step 3.
Step 7
Under “Career Plan,” fill in your goal, keeping in mind what you have been saying about yourself in Steps 1 through 6. Don't be concerned if what you write down doesn't match what others have told you. No one can know you as well as you know yourself; through this process you will learn about your career goals from you, not from someone else.
Step 8
Under “Academic Courses,” complete the Planned column. Look at the courses you have already taken and your accomplished Activities and Work Experience. Ask yourself what additional courses the university offers that would help you reach your career goal. Those choices, combined with this planning guide, should become the foundation of your next meeting (and all future meetings) with your academic advisor, as you begin to take greater ownership of your education.
Step 9
Under “Activities and Work Experiences,” complete the Planned column. Using all the information you entered under “Academic Courses” and “Activities and Work Experiences,” evaluate what extracurricular activities or jobs (for example, internships or summer jobs) might enhance this plan by filling in blank spots in your experience or simulating actual working conditions.
TEST: The final and most important test is how well this process fits you. Look at your career goal. Does the combination of academic courses and work experience logically lead to this goal? And, is your career plan a logical extension of the person you know yourself to be, as described in your personal inventory? If the answers are yes, congratulate yourself! Remember, though, this is a working document. To help it serve you best, you should update it regularly. If the answer to either of these questions is no, you should review the process because you probably didn't listen to yourself carefully.
Using Your Personal Profile and Career Planning Guide
With Yourself
The guide is designed to create a working plan to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. It should be updated as “Planned” items become “Completed” or “Accomplished.” Review it as you grow both personally and professionally. Use it to record what you are saying to yourself about your ambitions, achievements, and career goals.
With Advisors
Share it with your professors, academic advisors, and workplace supervisors. They can be a great source of ideas on how to enrich the process. Share it with friends you respect. Sometimes they can see things about you or changes in you that you have missed. Share it with your family to elicit their understanding and ideas. You will most likely find that they take great pride in how you are approaching your career decision.
Interviewers
This is really a living resume. For employment during college, it can reinforce your commitment to the position you are applying for. And for job interviews, it reflects your commitment to the opportunity and to the plan that got you there. It should be a great assist in completing your formal résumé.
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Source: Richard J. Huether, Marketing Consultant, 1131 Ruffner Road, Schenectady, NY12309. Reprinted here by permission.