Vocational Assessment Report, Assessment Example

Background Career Information

It is through this vocational report that I seek to determine my direct career path, taking into consideration my recent reports regarding career development options. I am passionately interested in the line of counseling and artistic dancing. These choices are two among others that I would like to identify through an overview of my academic and professional profile. I pursued music while at the elementary learning stage. The reports produced have given me the will to pursue this to greater heights, and to include it as one of my possible career choices. In addition, I also had social science as one of my subjects at the same stages of learning. The margin between music and social science has left me in a dilemma on what option to go for.

At the earlier educational stages, I also studied health and languages. The social science option becomes one of my best areas of interest. This explains why one of my top career options is counseling. I have the spirit to socialize easily, and this makes me strongly believe that I have the ability to exploit my potential in counseling.

Still on the social part of life, I find it profound, working with other people and being in their company. My areas of interest still reflect the socialization aspect of my nature and tendencies. In addition, I also have an interest in creative works. I like coming up with new ideas and concepts to solve certain situational problems that come my way. This creativity aspect has also been reflected in my investigative skills and interests. I am comfortable and satisfied when I come up with something new and it becomes an implemented option in solving a given problem. Further findings about my areas of interest have shown that I also have a passion in professional variety. I like participating in a wide range of activities at the workplace and also involving different people in such activities.

My personal ability stands out clearly amidst the many odds that are not reflected in my professional and career programs. I have a social ability, and as reflected in my academic profile, counseling being one of my career paths, satisfactorily reveals this. I also have good clerical abilities, and some element of leadership skills. I am capable of influencing a group into coming up with an idea to conduct a particular issue, for example, coming up with a business project. My entrepreneurial skills, though not so much pronounced, are quite outstanding.

I am also good at manual operations that involve practical hand-on skills. This is in line with the artistic skills that I have. This is reflected in my average performance in the office operations section as indicated in my scores report. I believe that I can develop this further to make it better. I do not have a strong scientific background because I am mostly interested in the social and artistic career path.

From the scores obtained in the various areas of interest, skills and work values, I have been provided with a short list of possible options. This list includes social operations at the top. The other suggestions include arts and finally office operations. I find this coincidental with my future career ambitions of being involved in counseling activities.

Career Conceptualization Theory

Holland (2002) in his theory related to career choices suggests that birds of the same feather flock together. His theory is based on the assumption that people who have common career options interests will always find their way into similar career paths. Holland (2002) states that in the contemporary society, each person will have six personality types namely, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and realistic. As earlier stated, he also states that people who have common areas of interest will, in most find their way into the same career plans. For example, investigative people will be more attracted in making friends with those people that have investigative personality. This way, they will tend to develop their skills further and finally find their way into the same job market.

The theory also provides that those people with the same personality, working in the same environment, for example, those with common outstanding social skills. They will tend to create an environment around them—a social environment. In line with this, Holland (2002) comes up with six possible environments. These arise from the six available personality types; investigative environment, social environment, realistic environment, enterprising environment, artistic environment, and conventional environment.

The theory also affirms that people with common personality who find their way in the same working environment are most likely to be prosperous and satisfied with their career choices. Social people are most likely to be prosperous and convinced if they choose from among options, a job that has a social environment; for example, a counselor to work in an environment highly dominated with social persons would be very friendly to the counselor.

In addition, the theory also states that the manner in which an individual acts and feels at workplace highly relies on the kind of environment in which they operate. If an individual works with people with the same personality types, he would find it easy to participate in most of their activities skillfully. This simply means that one should choose from the options available, that career path that has the same requirement as one’s personality type.

Applying Holland’s theory, the best thing to do would be identify those close associates that have the same personality types. In this case, more attention would be focused on those persons with pronounced social personalities. Getting attached to these people would enable the creation of a comfortable social environment through which career choices can be made.

Having close links with people of the same personality eliminates dilemma, in this case, establishing strong relations with the social persons would help solve the dilemma that exists between the artistic and social aspect of life (Smart, Feldman & Ethington, 2000). The social tendencies appear to be more outstanding and thus would be given the top most priority.

Test Results

Having close relations with people with the same personality types becomes very instrumental in making vital career judgments. Instead of merely involving peers in the decision-making process, it would be more important to get close to those people who have the same interests as you do. The peers could be having totally different interests and would advise according to their own interests and ways of thinking.

Parental guidance would be recommended when making decisions relating to the choice of careers. They may seem to have been aware of a bit of the personality types of the person at hand. In most instances, however, their opinions may not be flexible to move in line with the child’s dynamic career options. They would simply advise according to what their top interests are. This still leaves Holland’s theory more realistic and stronger in making career choices.

From O*NET Results

From the results obtained in the O*NET tests, more interest seems to lie on the social profile, and this is closely subordinated by the artistic tendencies report. Similarly, the test conducted on the O*NET reveals that more interest lies on the social part of the person. This is also closely followed by the artistic interests. This implies that both the tests are realistic to the individual’s key characteristic tendencies. It would be prudent to compare these results with a few more relevant tests to confirm whether the same results would be obtained. The career choice between counseling and dancing would not be so easy to make based on only the tests.

From the Interest Area Scores

The test results on the areas of interests reflect nearly similar results as the O*NET results. The social aspect of the individual seems to be still more outstanding compared to the rest of other personality areas. It is clear that the person is a social character and also a bit artistic. The other personality traits are not clearly reflected from the results.

In analyzing both results, and in line with the career options, at institutions of higher learning, the person should reconsider matching his personality with that of other persons with the same interests. Having counseling as one of the career options is relevant to somebody with outstanding social personality. The arts option advised by the tests would be relevant too, but not as strongly as the counseling option. Taking into consideration the career clusters suggested by the career scores, the top option of social work would be very realistic to the individual, based on the scores found.

The tests are a benchmark in making career choices, despite the fact that they may sometimes not reflect what an individual expects. The educational history also reflects that social sciences had been one of the subjects pursued by the person. This gives more weight to the social direction. The counseling option still appears to have a stronger foundation, and not only based on personality background. This means that there are additional acquired skills that the individual possesses. It is recommended that one pursues what one feels that he or she can comfortably handle. The basic fundamental skill required to perform as given task in line with a career path are always very important. The basic skills set a starting point to the person who embarks on a specific career path.

 Summary and Recommendations

In this context, it is true that more passion lies on the social part of the individual. Therefore, from Holland’s theory, it would be recommended that the person gets in touch with associates with social personalities. This would create a social environment essential in coming up with a final decision. It eliminates doubts about the right choices to make. The ‘birds of the same feather’ would definitely be important.

References

Brezina, C. (2008). Great decision-making skills. New York: Rosen Pub.

Holland, J. (2002): Holland’s Theory and Career Choice. Holland. The Career Key. Retrieved from http://www.careerkey.org/English in March, 2002

Prince, J. P., & Heiser, L. J. (2000). Essentials of career interest assessment. New York: Wiley.

Smart, J. C., Feldman, K. A., & Ethington, C. A. (2000). Academic disciplines: Holland’s theory and the study of college students and faculty. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.