You also have a very warm relationship with your family, and it's one that you treasure.
Although you're actually quite surprised how much you've learned about yourself in this self-examination process, you still decide to keep the appointment you've made with the career counselor at your placement office. And that's a good decision.
It's obvious from the start that the counselor has a much broader perspective than you do. She is immediately able to discuss the positive aspects of your education. First of all, she tells you to stop apologizing for your liberal arts degree. It's an asset because it teaches you to think, to look at the big picture. Further, sociology is a discipline that gives you an understanding of how people behave in groups, and your minor, psychology, helps you understand what motivates people. This is the kind of knowledge managers need, and the counselor feels it's an important asset.
She feels the rest of your self-analysis is rather good. But she does suggest that you look more closely at the extracurricular activities you've engaged in. The skills you developed from coordinating hikes and writing articles are quite obvious, but she tells you to look deeper.
She discusses the importance of transferability of skills, those skills developed in school which can be transferred to a work environment. For instance, if you can write articles about ecology, you can also probably write about banking. The skill is that of writing; the specifics of banking can be learned quickly by a bright college graduate. This meeting has been most productive for you. Now that you know more about who you are, what your skills are, and what functions you wish to perform - researching, writing, analyzing, working with people, and organizing - you're feeling much better, although you're still a little worried because you're not sure how this relates to a specific job.
There is good news and there is bad news. The bad news is that it may not relate to a specific job. The good news is that this is alright. What we're really saying is it would be just terrific if you could take all the information you've learned about yourself, feed it into a computer, and learn what it is that you should "be". But that's just not the way things work. The process is not that simple. At best, what you have learned from all this self-assessment is a little bit more about yourself.
The value of this kind of information is that you are now armed with knowledge about some of the skills you have and enjoy using. That is something you should keep in mind as you enter the job search. As you learn about different occupations, organizations, and companies, keep in mind what you've learned about yourself. Use this information to screen out different areas that meet none of your needs, and utilize none of the skills you most enjoy using. That's the primary value of self-assessment. It provides you with a certain insight that will enable you to selectively pursue areas of interest, and eliminate others.
With that in mind, it's time to move on. But before we do, we would like to emphasize one point that we cannot emphasize enough. This self-assessment phase that you've just completed is, in fact, never complete. Rather, it's an ongoing process you will experience over and over again throughout your working career. What you think you want now may change tomorrow, a year from tomorrow, or ten years from tomorrow. That's not a problem, it's part of the process. The values you have at age 21 are generally different from the ones you have at age 30. The skills and abilities you've identified now may change once you're in a working environment and begin utilizing those skills. Al though this seems obvious and somewhat simplistic, it's still worth repeating because many people lose sight of it.
Now that you've made an initial stab at who you are and what you like doing, it's time to figure out how your needs will match the needs of the marketplace. In other words, how do your skills and abilities translate into an occupation? How do your interests relate to the work of a particular industry? How will the needs you've identified match a company's needs?
In order to find that out, you'll need to do some labor market research. The areas you'll be researching are occupations, industries, and companies. Your objective will be to figure out what you want to do, and where you want to do it.
When people ask, **What do you want to do?", what they mean is, "What occupation are you interested in pursuing?" Do you want to be a salesperson? A management trainee? A planning specialist? Or are you interested in a career in marketing, writing, or computer programming?
When they say, "Where do you want to do it?", what they mean is, ''What industry or organization do you want to work for?" Do you want to work in education or advertising or electronics? Are you interested in working for a large company or a small one? Would you feel more comfortable in a high-growth entrepreneurial environment, or in a more stable and secure workplace?
