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#327 - career assessment
06.18.03 @ 5:47 pm
Sex update: well, I guess there is hope: my loins were stirring earlier today, and especially this afternoon just because of a song. I need to remember that if there is ever a looming darkness over my ability to perform, all I need do is read and/or expand on my own fiction or listen to something by Toni Braxton, particularly "You're Makin' Me High". My husband looks at me weird when I put on an mp3 by her, but there's something about her music that makes me feel sexy. Something about the combo of the beat, her sexy voice, memories of those videos, and the following lyrics: "All I really want now, is you inside me, all night, doin' it again, and again, and again". I still think it's bizarre that a woman can sing about having someone inside her, and the radio doesn't censor it. Cool.
~ * ~
OMG,
Assessment.com is such fun! My therapist suggested a few sessions ago that I look into finding some free career assessment opportunities, like maybe from a campus Women's Center. I tried looking for such things on line at local colleges, and came up blank. So imagine my surprise when a pop-up ad said I could complete a FREE Career Assessment!
Well, I answered my 71 questions, and let the entertainment begin! Of course, I expected the results not to be very satisfying, since they would obviously try to sell me more comprehensive results. What I did not expect was a list of 20 jobs I was most suited to, the first 10 blank, the next 10 readable. I am just dying to know what the top 10 are! However, it costs $19.95 to find out. Grr.
Anyway, the true amusement began when I learned that of the jobs listed I *could* read, I would be happiest being in SWITCHBOARD SERVICE! Yes, yours truly, A MOTHER FUCKING RECEPTIONIST!!!
For our shared amusement together, here are all the jobs listed for me, #11-20:
11. Switchboard Service: relay incoming office calls
12. Translating/Editing: language, format, composition
13. Kindergarten, Elementary Education: teach, nurture
14. Musical, Vocal: singing, choral, solo; public
15. Information Processing: gather, verify, send, file
16. Research, Social Science, Psychological
17. Instructive, Fine Arts: drama, art, music
18. Beautician/Barber: cosmetic services, styling
19. Health Physics: safety engineering, occupational
20. Dramatics: interpret, portray roles
Also humorous, are the "narrative" sections describing your aptitude, language capacity, reasoning, etc. Why humorous? Because there are whole sections that lead off with 1 or 1/2 of a sentence, and then an entire blanked-out paragraph continues. Humorous, because you are left to make up things in your head about what could possibly be blanked out. Like this:
XXX is not motivated to persuade and is probably ill-equipped to do so; instead, XXX can most likely be intimidated by p------ --- --- ------ -----------
My guess? Strawburygrl can most likely be intimidated by people who can use persuasion. Wow. How informative.
However, alot of what was presented *was* informative, if not obvious. Like this example explaning my motivations, surprisingly, a WHOLE SENTENCE (almost) not blanked out:
Not is compulsively motivated to personally help others, to voluntarily, perhaps even sacrificially, give of self -
See? That's pretty dead-on.
And what's even more helpful, you get 5 chances to select a job you find interesting, and see how it matches up with your aptitude. This is one way of trying to "guess" what your top 10 career matches are. Here are the items I selected to match, and how I scored:
Anthropologist - Level 1 Match 66%
Photographer, professional - Level 2 Match 59%
Elementary School Teacher - Level 2 Match 64%
Hairdresser - Level 1 Match 65%
Child, Family & School Social Worker - Level 1 Match 68%
See, this is where this thing actually proved helpful. I was not surprised at all to get a Level 1 match to Anthropologist, since I've dreamed of that since high school. However, it was a good reminder of why I'm not currently an anthropologist: because it requires a PhD to get to any level of competency required to do anything I would actually want to do in the field. Yikes!
I have also been wondering about Photography for a while now, and it's good to know that it's not necessarily one of the most brilliant career matches for me, but also not a horrible one.
Hairdresser? Yes, I have been long interested in cutting hair. Every time I get a haircut, I quiz the stylest on their education, how much they like their job, why they do it, and what they had to invest to get there. The prospects of having to "rent" space in a salon are not very exciting, esp. after paying for cosmetology school, so I've never pursued it.
It's frustrating to see that I'm not a Level 1 Match with teaching Elementary School. I think I would really enjoy that. However, I don't really like the idea of going back to school for a long period of time, and in this state, it's a requirement.
The MOST rewarding thing about this experience was the Level 1 Match, and highest percentage at 68% (whatever that % represents, god only knows), to Social Work.
I've considered Social Work for awhile, and it was nearly a flip-a-coin thing to decide to pursue Day Care teaching over Social Work. Now that in one sitting I am presented by this assessment with the half of me that likes to be analytical and do day-to-day, mundane, repetitive things, and the other half that wants to help people, it seems damned obvious that I should have decided to pursue Social Work.
I think I need to think about this further. In this state, it's pretty much the same education investment as elementary school education, so that's a negative, but I may actually be better suited to it than to teaching. Huh.
Oh! One last thing. Here I was, filling out this damned thing at work, because I'm frustrated with my life and it's lack of direction and never going anywhere with my career that I
enjoy, when along comes Preference #38:
Work as an accountant or statistician
Work as a writer, artist or musician
Work at a day-care center for children
It just made this whole process and how annoying it's been so damned obvious: I want to be a writer, but I don't think I'm talented enough; I think I might enjoy working with children, especially young children, but recent experiences seem to prove that might be too difficult on my health; and finally, although I have an aptitiude for math and repition and data-entry, I don't find working with numbers in any way rewarding.
I want to be a writer but won't, I could work in daycare but can't, I would be willing to work in accounting to survive, but would rather not. So, that leaves us with... frustrations galore! Yee-haw!!!
Also, while I know that none of you have been interested enough to read all of this, I thought this "narrative summary" interesting, and pretty correct:
XXX is conscious of existence, meaning, purpose, potential and destiny of humankind, people, and self. XXX is motivated by a self-felt, self-accepted calling to the cause of good, growth, and gain in the lives of others. Influential communication of ideas is a primary way of achieving those objectives. Perception and thinking tend to be holistic and conceptual; i.e., seeing the big picture. It is important to see which of the other traits are interactive with this trait because there can be many interesting combinations. This is a major trait in cultural, intellectual, academic, and creative activities. It includes ideas, concepts, theory, ethics, and values.
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