career counselling
Jul. 5th, 2004 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iamomIt has been so long since I've checked in regularly with LJ that my paid account lapsed a month ago without my noticing. I've kept so busy that I've only really had a few days off since I stopped working full-time in April.
I've had a number of constructive and helpful sessions with a counsellor since going on stress leave from my last job. The most interesting sessions involved a personality typing test (Myers-Briggs -- I'm ENTP) and a comprehensive survey of my personal interests. When taken together, the results from these two tests indicated an array of occupations that should be suitable for me.
The methodology behind the tests is interesting: they've administrated the personal interest inventory test to people in hundreds of occupations who are very satisfied with their jobs. Then they take your personal interest inventory and find out which occupations it matches with best (i.e. they identify the professions of those with whom you share the most interests). Your Myers-Briggs personality profile is then used to shed further light on which of those occupations would be most appropriate for you personally. The final report indicated the following rank-ordered shortlist:
After some initial reflection, my early favourites taken from this list are as follows, also in no particular order: psychologist, technical writer, writer, journalist, musician, computer programmer, and marketing executive.
More specifically, I've been thinking about blends of different careers, such as:
-- marketing for technical, musical, spiritual or health-related products or services;
-- writing documentation and/or overseeing usability testing for software programs or websites;
-- career counselling services and job re-training facilitation;
-- third-party mediation in the personal (i.e. relationship counselling) or corporate (e.g. employer/employee relations) realms;
-- education/teaching on specific issues (e.g. effective use of computers and databases in a small office setting; effective résumé-building and job search techniques; defensive driving; health and wellness; and music); and
-- producing or managing a band, but not necessarily my own.
These are all things that I have special interests in that I believe also match my skills profile and which incorporate some of the occupations distilled from my test results. There are certain things I would love to do right away, like writing full-time and such, but I think that might come later in life. I also think that since I'm sort of a generalist who enjoys doing a variety of things at the same time, that I should consider doing two or three things part-time instead of just one thing full-time.
And then of course, to assess the full picture, I need to take into account my wife, who begins her first real gig as a staff physician at the hospital today, and who, first of all, will be making more money than she did before, but who will also likely be working harder and for longer hours than she did as a resident. At least part of my time needs to be allocated to the administrative and menial household tasks that I'd rather she needn't concern herself with when she comes home every night. Those include the standard things, like cooking and cleaning, managing our finances, taking care of Z, etc.
I have lots more to think about, but it helps to get some of it written down like this. Is anyone else going through a period of transition right now?
I've had a number of constructive and helpful sessions with a counsellor since going on stress leave from my last job. The most interesting sessions involved a personality typing test (Myers-Briggs -- I'm ENTP) and a comprehensive survey of my personal interests. When taken together, the results from these two tests indicated an array of occupations that should be suitable for me.
The methodology behind the tests is interesting: they've administrated the personal interest inventory test to people in hundreds of occupations who are very satisfied with their jobs. Then they take your personal interest inventory and find out which occupations it matches with best (i.e. they identify the professions of those with whom you share the most interests). Your Myers-Briggs personality profile is then used to shed further light on which of those occupations would be most appropriate for you personally. The final report indicated the following rank-ordered shortlist:
1. College ProfessorA secondary list of options also came out of the combination between my interests and personality type. In no particular order, they included: actor, broadcaster, corporate executive, psychiatrist, reporter, sociologist, translator, audiologist, corporate trainer, management consultant, public relations consultant, social science teacher, technical writer, writer, and journalist.
2. Psychologist
3. Marketing Executive
4. Computer Programmer/Analyst
5. Lawyer
6. Photographer
7. Musician
After some initial reflection, my early favourites taken from this list are as follows, also in no particular order: psychologist, technical writer, writer, journalist, musician, computer programmer, and marketing executive.
More specifically, I've been thinking about blends of different careers, such as:
-- marketing for technical, musical, spiritual or health-related products or services;
-- writing documentation and/or overseeing usability testing for software programs or websites;
-- career counselling services and job re-training facilitation;
-- third-party mediation in the personal (i.e. relationship counselling) or corporate (e.g. employer/employee relations) realms;
-- education/teaching on specific issues (e.g. effective use of computers and databases in a small office setting; effective résumé-building and job search techniques; defensive driving; health and wellness; and music); and
-- producing or managing a band, but not necessarily my own.
These are all things that I have special interests in that I believe also match my skills profile and which incorporate some of the occupations distilled from my test results. There are certain things I would love to do right away, like writing full-time and such, but I think that might come later in life. I also think that since I'm sort of a generalist who enjoys doing a variety of things at the same time, that I should consider doing two or three things part-time instead of just one thing full-time.
And then of course, to assess the full picture, I need to take into account my wife, who begins her first real gig as a staff physician at the hospital today, and who, first of all, will be making more money than she did before, but who will also likely be working harder and for longer hours than she did as a resident. At least part of my time needs to be allocated to the administrative and menial household tasks that I'd rather she needn't concern herself with when she comes home every night. Those include the standard things, like cooking and cleaning, managing our finances, taking care of Z, etc.
I have lots more to think about, but it helps to get some of it written down like this. Is anyone else going through a period of transition right now?
