The Benefits of Career Planning to Maximize One's Potential

Abstract

Times are changing, especially when it comes to the working class and the newer generation. Common questions must be asked, for example, do you know the difference between a job and a career. Currently, are you employed at a job, or career? It is never too early to ask these questions, as a matter of fact, you should start fairly young. Career planning is years in the making, and should constantly be evolving as you do.

Keywords: career, job, planning, future

Of the number of topics there was to choose from, I decided to do my research paper on career planning. This essay discusses the importance of career planning and how it can impact one's future success. Based off of my own personal experience, this was the only thing that stood out to me, and made perfect sense. Not only to educate others, but educate me as well in the process of this assignment.

Introduction

Before I get into what career planning is, and why it is so important, I would like to introduce myself to my reader. To give you a better understanding of why this topic is very important to me. First off, I am considered “second generation”, meaning I have one foreign-born parent. That would be my mother, who was born in Jalisco, Mexico. This would make my son “third generation”, meaning both his parents were born here in the U.S. I am one of my parent’s three children. This makes me the middle child, and the only girl in the family. I got pregnant my first year in college, and I refused to become a statistic. I took some time off, and when my son was three months old I re enrolled full-time back into community college. I had no idea what I wanted to do so I focused on my general education. I was going on my second year and had many units under my belt, enough to be able to graduate soon. But then I realized I didn’t have a major, I honestly didn’t really know I needed one to graduate. So I looked up all my classes I had achieved and narrowed down what degree I fell into. I had taken quite a few child development, psych, and sociology classes, with my friends. Turned out I was close to a Social and Behavioral Associated Degree, so that’s what I put my focus on. Finally, I graduated and looked into Cal States. Turns out I couldn’t get a Bachelors in Social and Behavior, but I could in Sociology with all my transferable units. Finally, I graduated again and received my Bachelors in Sociology. I imagined I could easily get hired as a social worker with my degree. I was so proud, I was the first and only in my family to graduate college, despite getting pregnant so young. My family was extremely supportive of my focus in school, and allowed me to live rent-free as long as I stayed focused on my studies. My son was seven years old, and I felt that school had taken so much of my time from him; I took a year off before looking for work. 

I never worried about landing my career, because growing up, my dad always told me, “You can get a degree in knitting if you want, as long as you have a Degree, you can get a job anywhere!” Career planning obviously wasn’t familiar to my parents or myself. By the time I was ready to get out there looking for a job, I realized very fast that it was not that easy. A degree is great to have, but what jobs want are years of experience in a related field. Everything I worked so hard for came to a screeching halt. I may have been the only person in my family with a Degree, but I’m also the only person without a career, and it looked like it was going to take some years before I landed one.

According to Rue, statistics showed that college graduates had worked between 8-10 jobs and at least three careers in their lifetime. At this point in my life I had only had four jobs, mostly retail and a year working with children. No real experience where I can use my Degree. My experience has shown me how important it is for career planning as early as you can.

Career planning can be something you start by 8th or 9th grade. This will give you plenty of time to research your options, set up a timeline, and see what resources are available to you. This can also guide you in the type of part time jobs you can work at that would be great experience for your future career. During my research, I began looking up early career planning and the benefits from doing so. In an article I found online there are a number of reasons to start early, some being: Get to know yourself, research majors and careers, participate in job shadowing, and utilize career services in college. There are many resources available and counselor who is willing to help as well. In high school, every student is assigned a counselor, my advice is to create a trusting relationship with him or her, and they can be very helpful in pointing you in the right direction.

My fiancé has a very different experience than me, and he has known what he wanted to be since he was small. In high school, he met with his counselor who asked him those important questions. What do you want to be when you grow up? Originally he said, NBA player, which the counselor supported, but also recommended to have a plan B. His second choice was a police officer. His counselor set him up right away with ROTC, criminal justice electives, and the police explorers program; that was the turning point in his life. Today he is a Los Angeles County Deputy. All the jobs he had before his career were security, which gave him so much more experience for his future. He has mentioned many times before, that if his counselor had not done that, he may not be where he is today. 

The experience my fiancé had hit every key point I listed above on why it is wise to start early. He got to know himself in the police explorer program. The criminal justice courses were the stepping-stones to what major he went for in college. And he job shadowed and worked alongside Ontario Police Department as an explorer Rue also mentions in the text that career planning is not something that anybody else can do for you, it must come from within. And although every person is responsible for his or her own career planning, it has been shown that those who don’t receive encouragement make little progress. I believe this to be true based off my own experience as mentioned above, and based off the experience of my fiancé.

Career planning and development should be ongoing, and evolve as you do. I believe that starting early also gives you room to change your mind. As mentioned before, a study done in the 1990s showed that those who went to college worked between 8-10 jobs and at least three careers in their lifetime. I changed my mind a few times while I was in college. I thought about a nursing major and took a few anatomy classes. I am extremely interested in law, and signed up for criminal justice courses. But after deciding my major in sociology, and taking classes that dealt with family and abuse, I knew I wanted to help people. Which brings me to today, working with children as a behavioral therapist. I have found this to be great experience, and my foot in the door to social work.

Conclusion

In the end, I am grateful for the experience that I had. Not only is this a huge life lesson, but it is a parenting lesson as well. I feel that anybody who reads my story will understand the importance of career planning and see what a difference it makes in your future. Every setback in life is really a lesson, and it is up to you to make what you can of it. I will definitely not let this lesson go to waste. Every parent, parents based on their experience. My parents had to start working right away at a young age, and they did not get to go to school. From that experience, they gave their children every opportunity they could to get an education and not worry about working right away. Now my children have the best of both examples, and I can change the mistakes I had to deal with. My son knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up, and he has a back up plan, and he is now ten years old. Do we talk about the future? Yes, we do. Do we talk about future consequences of our actions? Of course. Am I worried at all that my children will make my same mistakes? Not for a second. I have learned from school, from myfiancés experience, and through research how to navigate these situations. I have always been supportive of what my children want to do, but now I have learned how crucial it us to have that support system and encouragement.

References

1. Career planning: start early. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2019, from http://www.ecampustours.com/careerexploration/choosingamajor/careerplanningstartearly#.XetDji2ZNok.
2. Rue, L.W., Ibrahim, N.A., & Byars, L.L. (2016). Human resource management. (11th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education. 
3. US Census Bureau. (2019, May 8). FAQ. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/topics/population/foreign-born/about/faq.html.