Bench mark

Career Self-Assessment and Exploration Name: Institutional affiliation: Course: Date: Abstract Discovering one’s career often comes with challenges, especially in today’s ever evolving job market. nonetheless, the whole process of career self-assessment is never just about picking a job; but remains a transformative journey that demands an individual to deeply understand his or her passions, interests, values, and aspirations to uncover his or her true goals and life calling. In this report, career assessment remains a guide through which I discover a rewarding career through assessment, self-reflection, and exploration of goals, strengths, and weaknesses to arrive at an informed decision about my future career. This paper is divided into three key parts namely career self-assessment section, occupational exploration, and practical application. O*Net Interest Profiler and Value sort, Decision-making survey (Horton, 2009), and career inventory value sort are critical in the completion of the three sections. Career self-assessment In my career self-assessment journey, I utilized some tools and surveys to gain a deep understanding of values, interests, and decision-making aspects. From the results obtained from step 1 to step 3 of my career inventory activity, I sought ways to understand my career journey. O* Net Interest Profiler According to the O*Net Interest profile career list, my Holland vocational types are ranked as follows (1) social; (2) artistic; (3) enterprising; (4) conventional; and (5) investigative. I have a strong inclination towards social interaction and significantly attain fulfillment by serving in careers that help others grow including teaching, providing assistance, and advising people. I prefer working with people to working with machines, information, or objects because it is always my desire to leave a positive impact on people's lives while making valuable contributions to society. I dislike practical hands-on experiences which is why I scored a zero in the realistic section. I somehow like the artistic side of things including art, acting, music, and design; but not more than I love being social (O*Net Interest Profiler, 2024). I have some enterprising and conventional interests and if combined with my social skills, it becomes easier to thrive in my profession as they can make me a better person in my area of interest. in addition, my value sort activity points to openness and universalism as my top values. O*net interest profiler perfectly aligns with my aspirations and confirms my interest in jobs or roles that give priority to interpersonal networks or service-related activities/roles. Based on the results it is clearer that the careers that best fit my interest and preparation levels include but are not limited to teaching assistant, patient representative, preschool teacher, self-enrichment teacher, and tour guide. Other jobs suit my interest profile but demand either high-level preparation or extensive preparation (O*Net Interest Profiler, 2024). Those demanding high preparation but fit my interest profile include adult basic education, technical education teaching, community health worker, or English as a second language instructor. Careers that suit my interest profile but demand extensive preparation include business teachers, criminal justice & law enforcement teachers, clergy, post-secondary business teachers, career counselors & advisors, clinical & counseling psychologists, sociology teachers for post-secondary, education administrators, nursing instructors, and law teachers, among others. Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: O*Net Interest Profiler Decision Making Factors survey The decision-making factor survey puts across key questions that someone seeking to make a career-related decision should answer. For example, how important is using common sense when making career-related decisions? Also, is considering personal desires and interests very important, important, or somewhat important when making career-related decisions? These questions among others tell a lot about one career choice. Personally, the survey reveals that I categorize personal desires and interests as very important when making career-related decisions. I also consider using common sense when making career-related decisions because it makes it possible to align one's career path with preferences or passions, thus recognizing an opportunity that resonates with my intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Common sense also reiterates the importance of critical thinking in decision-making, thus emphasizing the importance of rationality and practicality in navigating the ever-dynamic career field (Ebner et al., 2020). While I acknowledge the importance of consulting the bible, depending on inner peace from the Holy Spirit, praying for wisdom, praying for answers from God, and judging decisions consistently with the ethics of Jesus, they rank as IMPORTANT, but not as important as common sense and consideration of personal desires and interests. Reflection According to the outcome of these tools, I now understand the connection between interests, values, and decision-making. O*Net interest profiler has confirmed my passion for socially oriented careers, whereas the Decision-Making Survey reaffirmed my preference for self-direct decision-making processes as guided by interests, personal desires, and practical related decisions. Going into the future, these findings inform my career development as I will only venture into careers that align with my values, giving priority to interests to leverage my key strengths and passions in advising people, teaching, and service provision. More so, practical reaso...