Before we dive into the career exploration process, it is important to differentiate between a job and a career. These two terms are often used interchangeably however, they have different meanings.
A job is something you would like to have, especially if you want to pay your bills. A job lets you enjoy a minimal level of financial security. A job requires you to show up and do what is required of you; in exchange, you get paid. A job can lead to a career.
A career involves an occupation or profession requiring special skills or training; a progression of jobs followed as one’s life pursuit. A career involves holding jobs, but it is more a means of achieving personal fulfillment. In a career, your jobs follow a sequence that leads to increasing mastery, professional development, and personal and financial satisfaction. A career requires planning, knowledge, and skills. If it is to be a fulfilling career, it requires that you utilize your full set of analytical, critical, and creative thinking skills to make informed decisions that will affect your life in both the short-term and the long-term.
A career allows you to express your self-concept. Self-Concept is how you see yourself, your own self-awareness of who you are. Donald Super, a psychologist who made great contributions to the field of career counseling, influenced the idea that developing a sense of self and realizing that you change over time is important when planning your career. Self-concept changes over time and develops as a result of experiences. Super’s five stages of developmental Self Concept will be discussed in class in greater detail.
Understanding Super’s theory helps provide a framework for your career planning journey. Identify where you are in terms of Super’s five life and career development stages and keep this in mind as we continue with self-exploration in unit 2 and answer the question “Who Am I?”
Activity - My Job Experience
Think of your current and past work experience and all the jobs you have held thus far. Consider both paid and unpaid experiences including part-time jobs, volunteer work, and internship experience. Include any leadership roles you may have held as a club officer or part of a sports team.
In your job(s), describe your role(s). What tasks and responsibilities were you accountable for? What skills did you practice in this job? What did you enjoy about this job? What did you not enjoy about this job?
In some cases, a job can help guide you towards your career. Understanding what you like and don’t like is a very important part of career and life planning. You may come to find you love one aspect of your job such as helping people and may wish to incorporate that into your future career. Or you may come to learn you did not particularly like trying to persuade clients to purchase a particular item and may learn sales is not your passion. Your past work experience can help you learn a lot about yourself and your future career desires.
Your response to these questions sets the stage for PHASE 1 of the Career Exploration Process and unraveling the question “WHO AM I?” Get ready to engage in self-exploration in the next unit!
Regardless of your major, you will embark on a job and a career that will change many times over the course of your life. You’ll likely change responsibilities, roles, companies, and even industries. Even if you join a company one week after graduation and stay with it until you retire, the job and the company won’t remain the same. The world moves far too quickly for that, which is a good thing. All of those changes are opportunities to improve yourself and get closer to the “why” of your work: your purpose.
Your purpose is the answer to all types of questions that people may ask you. “Do you like your job?” “How did you get into that?” “Is it worth it?” But more importantly, your purpose is the answer to all types of questions that you should ask yourself. If you keep asking yourself those questions and give yourself time to answer, you’ll have the best understanding of not only what you want to do, but why.
You may find out that no single job or career is going to fulfill your purpose. If your foremost goal—your ideal—is being a good parent, your job might simply be the financial means to help accomplish that. If you want to eradicate poverty, you may do that through a job plus volunteer work plus a management position at a foundation.
In psychology, advertising, education, and other disciplines, researchers and professionals use a concept called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In essence, it’s a progression that starts with satisfying our most basic, physical needs (food, shelter) and moves through our more social and societal needs (cooperation, belonging) to our highest needs—feeling fulfilled and complete. (This brief description oversimplifies a rather detailed theory.)
Given this base introduction, consider how Maslow’s theory applies to your future. At the bottom, your most basic needs are fulfilled by a job. It pays the bills, keeps you secure, and puts food on your table. At the next level is your career. Your career is more consistent; you invest more in it and probably are more heavily rewarded. In your career, you’ll likely build up relationships over time, both professional and personal, creating a sense of community and belonging. Some people will come to associate you with your career, and you may feel partly defined by it. But it likely won’t fulfill you all on its own.
At the highest level, the level that allows you to become more fulfilled and complete is your purpose. That’s the piece you strive for, the piece that helps you navigate your path. It’s what you may see yourself still moving toward in a later part of your life. It’s what you most want or even need to accomplish.
Figure \(\PageIndex{13}\): This adapted version of Maslow’s hierarchy aligns different aspects of your pathway with the different levels and types of needs we have as humans.
Just as you’ll likely have more than one job and even more than one career, you will have more than one purpose. You will even have them at the same time. You can be 100 percent driven to be the best possible therapist and 100 percent driven to be the best possible older sibling, all while being 100 percent driven to continually deepen your knowledge of yoga. Your time and your focus will be split between them, but they will still each fulfill you. College offers you the opportunity to keep asking yourself the best, most challenging questions, all while you have many people dedicated to helping you find the answers. Those answers may surprise you, but the important thing is to keep asking and keep learning.
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express your self-concept. Self-Concept is how you see yourself, your own self-awareness of who you are. Donald Super, a psychologist who made great contributions to the field of career counseling, influenced the idea that developing a sense of self and realizing that you change over time is important when planning your career. Self-concept changes over time and develops as a result of experiences. Super’s five stages of developmental Self Concept will be discussed in class in greater detail. 