Week 2 Post

First of all, the class discussions we had last week were very thought provoking for me. When we discussed the different definitions of occupation, job, and career, it was really interesting to not only hear the differences in opinions and definitions of our class members, but also the varying definitions in our text; it would seem that even to people who make a career of, well, career development, it is still a relatively abstract concept to try to define. The main definition that Brown (2012) uses in our text (based on Sears, 1982) says that a career is, “the totality of work one does in a lifetime,” (p. 14). In my opinion, that definition doesn’t really encompass everything that the word “career” brings to my mind. But, as discussed in class and in the first chapter of our text, it’s a rather difficult term to define, so it makes sense that the definition the textbook author settled on wouldn’t necessarily jive fully with what I (or anyone in the class) had in mind.

Moving on to chapter two and the discussion of Trait-Factor Theories: although I don’t agree with the entirety of Holland’s theory of vocational choice, it is my opinion that he did get a few things right (Brown, 2012). While I don’t think that personality is the ONLY factor in vocational choice, I think it certainly has a large role to play. I would argue that while personality certainly affects which vocation(s) an individual ends up applying for/choosing, it doesn’t necessarily have as big of an impact on what types of jobs an individual is good at.

The third assumption of Holland’s (1997) theory is, “Individuals develop stereotypical views of occupations that have psychological relevance. These stereotypes play a major role in occupational choice” (as cited in Brown, p. 30). I definitely agree with this part of his theory. For example, I used to work at a daycare center and (at the time) I loved it because I got paid to play with kids all day, which was great for me. However, when I told other people that’s what I was doing and that I was enjoying it, several people would say things like, “Oh wow, kids are just too much a hassle for me to deal with all day, every day,” or, “You couldn’t pay me enough to deal with other people’s kids all day.” Statements like these illustrate the fact that some people have assumptions about what it’s like to work at a day care center, for example, and choose not to do that work based on those assumptions. Another example from my life was when I initially chose to be an elementary education major because I assumed that I would get to spend my time having fun with kids, which is what I loved to do. After learning the hard way that there was much, MUCH more to teaching than just spending time with kids and learning that I was not exactly cut out for all of the planning and prep work and being a liaison between parents & administrators, I left teaching...this time, my decision was an informed one, NOT based on just the stereotypical assumptions that I had about that particular job.

So far, I have found trait-and-factor theories to be very applicable to my own personal career development, and I look forward to learning more about other theories and applying them to my own life as well.  

Brown, D. (2012).  Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development.  New York: Pearson Education, Inc.