Careers Research Study - Essay Example

?ESTP-- Personality and Career The present paper aims to portray a comprehensive scenario related to the career I look for adopting as a professionalafter the completion of my studies. The paper will throw light on divergent aspects and possibilities while keeping my aptitude, preferences, tendencies and inclination, along with the education I have received and the degree I have obtained from university. The study will also analyse my strengths and weaknesses in order to utilise the former in the best possible manner, and overcome the latter with an iron hand so that my journey towards the ultimate destination could turn out to be bright, exultant and wonderful. Hence, the paper will vehemently be supportive in respect of presenting a report while identifying my objectives in life on the foundations of my innate talent and ascribed command over different disciplines and areas. The paper will make assessment by applying the Personality Type from the Type Dynamics Indicator as well as the Edgar Schein’s typology. Consequently, the results would indicate my future career job by making assessment of all the areas relevant to my inclination, studies, experiences, proficiency and the opportunities available in the job market, and it will assure my sonorous entry in the job market as professional. Before embarking upon the topic under analysis, it would be quite apposite to explore the notion career. The term career simply states the occupation or profession that one chooses or adopts, generally for a long time, on the basis of nature and level of his education as well as the dexterity, experience and aptitude gained during student or professional life, which keeps him busy, active and productive on the one hand and earns financial gains, recognition, growth and advancements for him within a social establishments on the other. “Career has been”, Coupland argues, “described as being in relationship with identity and providing a residual trace of the individual’s relationship with work. Career as a strategic plan is denied, yet negotiated as a legitimate, even desirable, behaviour of the employing organisation.” (2002, p.1) Almost every individual is directly or indirectly attached with one occupation or more in the pursuit of fulfilling his personal, domestic and financial needs. Affiliation with a career is not only important for the individuals, but also it is extremely necessary for the collective development of society. Furthermore, leading a respectable, comfortable and luxurious life is the dream of every human that requires sincere efforts towards the right directions for achieving a large proportion of what man has planned and dreamed of in life. It is career that provides humans divergent chances in life to learn, grow and earn to give a practical form to his ideas and imagination. However, sometimes it so happens that individuals fail to gain the results against the hard work they have made and the efforts they have exercised for the fulfilment of their wishes and desires. Consequently, an overwhelming majority starts rebuking destiny and fate without taking their error of judgement as well as the mistakes they have committed during the course of the time they have invested in one task or the other. It is actually because of the struggle, though observed dedicatedly, towards the wrong direction, which earns mere disappointment and despair in its wake. It is therefore the psychologists and strategic analysts vehemently lay stress upon the personality exploration with the help of SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, TDI and several other personality assessments tests, which draw out the exact picture of the personality without keeping the individual in delusion about him. Furthermore, since it is career that bestows recognition and prestige upon the individuals, selection of accurate profession is the only way to succeed in life. It is fact that the professionals undergo identity problem during the very initial years of career life, as Erikson submits that persons in the initial stage, which he calls as Trust vs. Mistrust, have given little thought to resolving identity issues. At this time they are not questioning who they are, and they have not committed to a career. At this stage, the professional builds up trust with the personality fulfilling his needs. It is the case with a graduate, who, at his career infancy, seeks job without realisation of its structure and benefits. If he successfully meets all that he needs, trust will create. Otherwise, he will look for other organisations. Second stage of the model reveals child’s toddler hood that indicates need of confidence in personality. “If parents let the child exercise his capabilities freely”, Davis & Clifton, observe, his autonomy will increase.” (1995, p. 2) Young graduates, while climbing the ladder of career development, feel the need of exploration of new dimensions. An environment that offers him better chances, his performance improves. However, if the profession matches with the innate abilities and talent of the individual, it takes the professional to the height of glory in career; on the other hand, man has to combat with challenges of aptitude throughout in order to make sure headway to progress. Consequently, the achieving of the goal becomes easier and interesting provided man works with diligence, deep interest and dexterity over professional obligations. For instance, a professional having philosophical mind can present best theories out of his intellect and wisdom, but is unable to get through in the fields like marketing and sales. Similarly, managerial assignments require aptitude and skill for extracting excellent performance from the staff members, which is hard to attain for an academic scholar, professor or scientist at large. It is therefore counselling for opting of career is essential for the progress, prestige, growth and financial survival of the members of society. Keeping in view all the above-mentioned elements, I consulted my parents, teachers, classmates, peers and friends regarding the subjects I should elect during my undergraduate programme, which would determine my future career after graduation. Since almost all the people consulted endorsed my personality as most appropriate for the skilful execution of managerial tasks, I got admission in bachelors of management sciences and passed the examination with distinction. I also took the personality type tests of psychology, mostly articulated by the renowned twentieth century psychologist theorist Carl Jung, where the results almost all tests showed me as an ESTP personality, which simply means the doer or executor of the theories into practical form by developing ideas into reality within teamwork. The researches reveal the very fact that there appear multiple factors to influence upon the students regarding their career choices, exploration of which is very essential element for successfully climbing the career ladder for the future years to come. “Identifying these factors”, Borchert submits, “would give parents, educators, and industry an idea as to where students place most of their trust in the career selection process. It also allows the students to examine processes they use for career selection.” (2002, p. 3) The same is applied on me. Being an intelligent and hardworking student, I have always obtained excellent grades in my studies throughout my educational life. I have demonstrated brilliant performance in all disciplines, including literature, mathematics, social sciences and linguistics. However, I maintain special aptitude towards management and administrative sciences, both of which have always been my heart favourite topics since my school years. Not only this that the career market offers wide range of opportunities to the graduates of management sciences, but also it is my personality assessment that demonstrates my natural affiliations with management. The personalities carrying an ESTP type are reluctant to work in isolation. Rather, they prefer to exercise their capabilities in team, where all members can display their skill for the completion of different tasks and assignments in perfect order. They live in the here-and-now, and place little importance on introspection or theory. “Additionally they look at the facts of a situation, quickly decide what should be done, execute the action, and move on to the next thing.” (Portrait of an ESTP) I got acquainted with this ability of me while studying in groups as well as in playground; in all those occasions, I dexterously demonstrate my leadership qualities by achieving the goals as the most successful team both in studies and sports. The individuals with an ESTP personality are caring, sympathetic and down-to-earth and seldom live in dreams and imaginative world. On the contrary, they practical in thoughtfulness, and hence are determined to produce something concrete in order to prove their worth. Hence, they are neither philosophers, nor scientists, but are political or social leaders of nation. Consequently, people remember them and admire them as executors and implementers of policies and strategic schemes instead of those who articulate ideas, theories and hypotheses or the inventors of scientific inventions at large. By analysing the above-described realities, I am determined to enter a corporate firm related to strategic management, event management, sports and games and others. I would also like to join the managerial position of a financial institution or real estate in order to organise functions, events, strategic schemes, plans and customer care departments. Since management is a multi-dimensional subject, which captures several departments in its very vast fold, possessing graduate degree in the very subject would certainly wide open horizons of opportunities for me. Another imperative characteristic of the ESTP personalities includes their sharp sense of perceiving the persons and situations, which serve as guiding star for them to make quick and apposite decisions on the basis of their intuition. Being a manager, the same quality will serve as a great blessing for me, and I will be at a better position than others to assess the visitors, customers, partners and business associates. Thus, my perception will analyse and estimate the business scenario and will surely bring significant business for my company. Though sometimes caused delusion and error of judgement, self assessment is frequently regarded as the way tool to estimate one’s strengths and weaknesses. “Self-efficacy research”, Lindley observes, “has enjoyed a rich and varied life since Bandura’s (1977) seminal introduction of the concept. In vocational psychology alone, the theory of self-efficacy has been applied to the Holland (1997) interest themes, math and science academic pursuits, and career decision-making processes. ” By taking my personality traits into account, I have found that I am unable to show considerable performance in the subjects like chemistry, physics and environmental sciences. Similarly, I feel it very hard to show remarkable performance in individual tasks. However, discussion, debates and consulting the classmates and professionals make me highly brilliant and commanding person. It is therefore I did not elect biology and research for my career, though I have developed deep interest in both these subjects. Since I have been very cordial, friendly and helpful to my classmates during the preparations of assignments on the one hand, and in consulting books and other reading material on the other, the classmates aptly recommend my name for the assignments related to curriculum as well as for the extra curricular activities. It not only improved my skills to administer the functions and assure the participation of all classmates, but also helped me in determining my profession in life. I also applied the Types Dynamic Indicator (TDI) for my personality assessment. Attributed by Jung, the indicator wonderfully depicts the real picture of personality and reveals all traits it contains like an X-ray machine. It is therefore it has widely been applied by the psychologists, career developers, strategic analysts and recruiters all over the globe. Hence, “the TDI captures the essence of Jung’s thinking on personality preference in a way that makes it easier than ever before to access this essential resource for individual and team development.” (Quoted in Team Focus) Healthy and productive professional activities, being exercised according to the prevailing law and ethical values, are also helpful in respect of decreasing crime rate and for the maintenance of order in society as well. Somehow, the policy of right person at the right place is the most imperative thing that certainly matters for the smooth and continuous development of a society. Placement of square pegs in the round holes not only keeps the professionals dissatisfied and non-productive, but also it slows down the pace of the organisation’s progress in which the individual is rendering his services. “Career salience” according to Kiyani et al. “is about occupational choice, importance of career role concerned to the other affairs of life and career significance, whereas job involvement is morale, motivation and job satisfaction which enhanced the job interest, job commitment and performance.” (2010, p. 2) Karl Jung ENTP personalities are extrovert in nature and seldom conceal their feelings and emotions. Consequently, they express their inner-self through words and gestures, which is vehemently supportive in respect of making friendships and relations with others. Hence, they appear to be result-oriented in sales and marketing too. Somehow, since they have least care for the sentiments of others, they look at every relation with the coloured spectacles of commercial gains. Consequently, their relations are seldom long lasting in nature. However, I am not this type of person, which turns out to be fair weather friends in corporate sector. On the contrary, I strongly believe in long term relationships, where I keep in-touch with the people in my acquaintance and keep the ball of association rolling forever. Thus, sales and marketing are also attractive and alluring careers for me. Such type of people is most fit too in the fields including communications, correspondence, teamwork and interconnection relationships. Actually communication is the most powerful way to make progress in life; it is particularly the case with the contemporary era of technological advancements. “The most meaningful way” Gates submits, “to differentiate your company from your competitor, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or loose.” (1999, p.2) The people belonging to the personality type I follow are aptly considered very sharp and cunning. They are not only ready-witted and quick, but also have the ability to turn even the most unfavourable circumstances in their favour. Thus, they can lead small and large groups and communities on the way to progress. “ENTPs are”, Heiss states, “usually verbally as well as cerebrally quick, and generally love to argue--both for its own sake, and to show off their debating skills. ENTPs tend to have a perverse sense of humour as well, and enjoy playing devil's advocate.” (2011, p. 2) Somehow, I will positively utilise this strength and will not become intriguer or conspirator to my work place. On the other hand, I will display utmost loyalty and commitment to the firm I am affiliated with as a professional. Thus, it becomes crystal clear that my personality traits and qualification will lead me towards a career-oriented job sooner or later. One of the major negative qualities the ENTP personalities contain includes the feelings of envy and jealousy for the quick growth of others. Since ENTP personalities consider them as the leaders, they seldom agree to work under the command of others. It is particularly the case with the colleagues having same level of skills, qualification and experience. However, being a sportsman as well as a well groomed graduate, I will exclude this very negative quality from my personality; thus, instead of creating impediments and hurdles on the way of others, I will turn out to be supportive for my colleagues and staff members, and hence will never consider them as my rivals altogether. Hence, my positive attitude towards others will be blessing for me, and a will be highly beneficial in creating the cordial environment at organizational scale. “Positive thinking”, Borgatti states, “is making a conscious effort to think with an optimistic attitude and to anticipate positive outcomes. Positive behaviour means purposely acting with energy and enthusiasm. When you think and behave positively, you guide your mind toward your goals and generate matching mental and physical energy.” (2007, p. 3) Consequently, being positive and constructive leaves indelible impact upon the personal work performance as well as the performance of the fellow workers. Though the above discussion shows me as ambitious and dedicated youth, which is motivated to render valuable services for the future workplace in managerial fields; yet it is still to decide which type of management will be the most suitable for me. It also aims to explore whether I should work as a lending hand in some specific department or should work independently to display my leadership abilities. Personally, I am a highly thrilling person, which seeks pleasure and satisfaction in the activities that are creative, jubilant and exciting. Thus, even management is one of the most alluring and attractive professions for me to join as my career. Being a multi-dimensional, exuberant, colourful and vivacious occupation, it offers wide range of opportunity to show one’s worth as a creative professional. I will be in a position to render my services in customer care, advertisement plans, installation of the displaying stalls of various firms and companies and making sitting and staying arrangements for the guests. I can also show my worth while working at the banquet department, which is highly productive one in nature and scope. It will not only keep me in close contact with my staff members, but I will remain in communication with the customers. Such an activity will surely multiply my public relationship, and the consumers will enter into business contact with me for further parties and functions. The active participation in administering of various colourful events will infuse thrill and passion in me, and I will allocate best of my energies and skills for the successful launch of the events. Since the world has also changed in a global village, the pole-apart regions of the globe administer similar type of events, which provide frequent travelling opportunities to the management and one can develop overseas relations with the people belonging to divergent racial, ethnic, religious and cultural groups and communities. I am sure that my curiosity to administer events will boost up my morale, and will earn sound reputation for me. Consequently, my organisation and superiors will announce benefits and allowances for me on showing excellent performance, which will extremely be helpful for me to climb my career ladder very swiftly. BIBLIOGRAPHY Borchert, Michael (2002) Career Choice Factors of High School Students The Graduate College University of Wisconsin-Stout pp 2-4 Retrieved from http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2002/2002borchertm.pdf Borgatti, John C. (2007) Planning Your Career: Reach Your Full Career Potential Quoted in http://www.swlearning.com/swepstuff/previews/files/careerreadiness/053872708X/yc_ch01.pdf Clifton, Alan & Davis, Doug (1995) Psychosocial Theory: Erikson- the Epigenetic Psychosexual Stages p. 2 Retrieved from http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/erikson.stages.html Coupland, Christine. (2004) Career definition and denial: A discourse analysis of graduate trainees’ accounts of career Journal of Vocational Behaviour Volume 64, Issue 3, June 2004, pp 515-532 Gates, Bill. (1999) Business @ The Speed of Thought: Using a Digital Nervous System. Warner Books USA. Pp. 2-3 Heiss, Marina Margaret (2011) Extraverted intuitive Thinking Perceiving p. 3 Retrieved from http://typelogic.com/entp.html Kiyani, Asif., Haroon, Muhammad Haroon., Khattak, Mohammad Arif., Liaqat, Asim Sohail., Bukhari, Syed Junaid Ahmed and Asad, Rabia. (2010) Impact of career salience on universities teachers’ job involvement: A study on public and private universities in PakistanAfrican Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(5), pp. 1795-1803, 4 March, 2011 pp. 1-9 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBM ISSN 1993-8233 ©2011 Academic Journals Lindley, Lori D. (2008) The Paradox of Self-Efficacy: Research with Diverse Populations Journal of Career Assessment p. 143 Sage Publications. Accessed through http://www.sagepub.com/cac6study/articles/Lindley.pdf Portrait of an ESTP - Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving. The Doer Retrieved from http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ESTP.html Time Focus (2008) Type Dynamics Indicator (TDI®) Unlocking the power of the world’s most widely used personality model. Pp 1-2 Retrieved from http://www.teamfocus.co.uk/user_files/file/Type%20Dynamics%20Indicator%20_TDI_.pdf Read More