Introduction
This paper provides an individual career plan for a 24-year-old client. It presents his profile and the results of his personality assessment. It gives the interpretation of the findings and suggests career options based on the client’s education, goals, and individual traits. The paper proposes a detailed action plan and concludes by presenting a personal reflection.
Client Profile
The client is a 24-year-old White American male living in Richmond, Virginia. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Psychology and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education at Capella University. The client’s family lives in Austin, Texas; he rarely spends time with them. Currently, he works part-time as a sales manager for a small retailing company. The client is not satisfied with his position, as his income depends on the sales and is unstable, and the work is very time-consuming. The client wants to enhance his economic advantages, as it would allow him to improve his housing situation and provide him with the opportunity to see his family more often. He expresses the desire to pursue a career in the field of education but is not confident in his skills. He wants to use his knowledge of Spanish in his work, but it is not his priority. The client shows interest in working with people including leadership positions, teaching, and working in a team.
Assessment Results
The 16 Type Jungian Personality Test identified that the client has an extraverted preference of general attitude (E), his method of perception is sensing (S), and the preference of judging is thinking (T); the fourth dichotomy is judging (J). The client’s scores on the Big 5 Personality Theory are 1 for extroversion, 5 for openness, 3 for agreeableness, 1 for neuroticism, and 4 for conscientiousness. The client listed the following high values from the card sort: flexibility, influencing people, knowledge, moral values, and hard work. The highest categories of the interest inventory are enterprising (5), and social categories of jobs (5). The client shows no interest in realistic and investigative sections. The chosen zone job is three, which requires medium preparation. The positions of interest listed by the client are a preschool teacher and a teacher assistant.
Interpretation of Assessments
According to Sample (2017), Jung’s theory of psychological types is a trusted tool used for personality assessment, which means that the findings are reliable and can be used for counseling. The 16 Type Jungian Personality Test identified that the client’s preference is extraversion. This trait can help him to succeed in jobs that involve communication and interaction with people. The client prefers sensing over intuition, which means that he focuses his attention on details and prefers to live in the present day. He values objective information above personal preferences and uses logical assumptions while making decisions. The client prefers to plan his activities and to have a sense of control over a situation.
The ESTJ personality type reveals that the client can be a dedicated and organized worker (Jankowski, 2016). His other strengths are honesty, the ability to create order in his environment, and excellent leadership skills. It is clear that the job of a sales manager does not correspond to the client’s personality, as it does not give him an opportunity to use the individual traits to succeed. He cannot have control over his earnings, as they highly depend on the sales, which causes frustration.
The client’s scores on the Big 5 Personality show that he is an assertive and friendly person, which can also help him in working with people or as a part of a team. His level of agreeableness is in the middle of the spectrum, which means that he is not overly competitive but does not strive to please others as well. High conscientiousness reflects that the client is well organized and disciplined, which corresponds with the results of other tests.
The inventories and assessment are appropriate to the client’s developmental stage. He is a university graduate interested in the Spanish language, which matches with the chosen job categories from his interest inventory. The client has selected the third job zone even though he could be qualified for the fourth one having a Bachelor’s degree with additional training. However, as stated above, he is not fully confident in his skills and lacks professional experience. It is also essential that his degree is not in the field of education.
Professional Assets/Career Options
The client has a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Psychology and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. He speaks English and Spanish, which makes him a valuable candidate for diverse working environments. The client reports having competence in international interactions and a good understanding of cultural differences. These factors match the client’s career goals in the education field, as they are valuable traits of a teacher and teacher assistant.
The career options that match the client’s skills and the field of interest are an early childhood education specialist and an early childhood special education teacher. He can work as a director of educational programs. It is essential to underline that all of these options require a degree in Early Childhood Education. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018) reports that the employment of teachers is projected to grow by 7% in the next decade.
An early childhood education specialist is an instructional and counseling position; the client can work both as a teacher and as an upper-level administrator at an elementary school. According to Zhang (2017), the annual salary accounts for around $31,000. As an early childhood special education teacher, the client will be able to work on lesson plans for students, which will help him to implement his organizational skills. The starting annual salary for the position is around $21,000 (“The highest paying,” n.d.). If the client decides to work as a director of educational programs, he must have a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education and a teaching or supervisory experience. The starting annual salary is $60,000 (“The highest paying,” n.d.). This position can be the next step in the client’s career as an educational specialist or a teacher.
Individual Career Plan
There are several steps the client needs to make to pursue his career goals. Currently, he has a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, which does not fully correspond with the requirements of the educational field. However, with his Master’s degree, the client is eligible to work in all of the suggested positions. The client is advised to follow the action plan:
- Receive an Associate degree in Early Childhood Education. The client’s Bachelor’s degree in Spanish is not sufficient for working in the field of education. However, an additional specialization will ensure that the client can become an assistant or a preschool teacher while pursuing his Master’s degree.
- Learn more information about teaching, working, or interning at an elementary school. To become a professional educator, the client should consider becoming more familiar with the field. If it is possible, he should start gaining working experience as well.
- Obtain a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. It is the most significant step the client should make to start his career as an educational specialist. With this degree, he will have a broader range of options and can choose which one he prefers the most.
- With the degree and teaching experience, the client can start his career as a director of educational programs. This occupation seems to match his personality and career preferences the most.
Personal Reflection
This career plan and the assessment provide valuable insight into the client’s personality and the career goals he can attain. It is notable that his personality traits correspond with his desire to become a professional educator or work with people. The career plan shows that it is reasonable for the client to change his current job to have a more stable income, which he had not realized before the assessment. The professional limitations of a career counselor include the lack of knowledge in the current requirements for careers in education and the situation of the job market.
Conclusion
The client has a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Psychology and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Early Childhood Education. He is not satisfied with his current job as a sales manager and wants to start a career in the education field. His personality traits reveal that he is a well-organized and disciplined person. The proposed career plan suggests that the client should receive an additional degree in Early Childhood Education and gain the necessary experience in teaching before starting a new job.
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2018). Kindergarten and elementary school teachers. Web.
Jankowski, J. (2016). The administrator: Your guide to the ESTJ personality type. Warsaw, Poland: Logos Media.
Sample, J. (2017). A review of the Myers-Briggs type indicator in public affairs education. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 23(4), 979-992.
The highest paying early childhood education jobs. (n.d.). Web.
Zhang, W. (2017). Male teachers in early childhood education: Why more men? A review of the literature. Web.