Running head: CAREER REFLECTION KOJIMA 1

Career Path Reflection:

Importance of Values in the Workplace
Kojima, Karin
University of California, Santa Barbara

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Upon starting the Vocational Guidance course ( CNCSP110) I had no idea what to expect.

At this point I was a lost senior pondering what my next step in my life would be after

graduating college. Prior to day one of class, I had some job experience— mainly in the

customer service field— and knew that I wanted to do something meaningful that would help

people. I was conflicted because many helping careers usually lack a large salary or an expensive

post-graduate degree. Careers are not all about the salary, I thought, but financial stability was

definitely a prerequisite for having a stable life in the future. Maybe I wanted to pursue teaching,

or maybe continue on into graduate school to become a psychologist or counselor. I also thought

about going on into business to do some marketing work, or advertising— which I already had

experience with. I was at a huge multiple pronged fork in the road. Through this class, however,

I had been able to learn about the current job market, the importance of aligning values with your

workplace, matching your interests and personality to better ensure job satisfaction, and

techniques for making yourself more marketable. And ultimately, it helped me choose a career

path that I believe to be strongly suited to my personality and interests.

This class was probably one of the most valuable learning experiences that I have gained

through my years in college. Being a Psychology and Sociology major, I was fascinated to see

emerging patterns from different research that showed statistics of what kind of person is most

likely to be hired, what unconscious barriers inhibit certain groups from succeeding in the job

market, and why gender and race might affect your probability of scoring that interview. From an

academic perspective, it was very interesting to learn all those facts.

When I wrote my first career chronology paper, I had been given the opportunity to

provide insight for myself on my future career trajectory. In my paper, I interpreted my Myers-

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 Running head: CAREER REFLECTION KOJIMA 3

Brigg test as an ENFP and high scores in the Social, Conventional, and Artistic areas to come to

the conclusion that I wanted to advance into the human resources field. Human resources was

perfect because it embodied many things I was looking for in a career. It helps companies

manage and organize people of the company, helps the people work in a better environment, and

most of all is vital to any growing company; also, it is still in high demand in the job market.

After the chronology paper I did some more researching and soul searching. I am now most

interested in becoming a recruiter or diversity manager, because I wanted to contribute to being

part of the hiring process. Hiring is a very special process, because you get to screen applicants

to see if their interests and experiences align with the company’s interests. It is a vital part of

helping any company grow. Learning about how people screen resumes and creating interview

worthy resumes in class really sparked my interest in the hiring aspect of the jobs too.

Now that I had narrowed my interests into more specific paths, I knew there were other

factors I needed to consider. Prior to taking this course my main concern, as with many other

college students, was the salary of the job. However, after learning how important alignment of

values and job satisfaction were, I had to take a good look into what I wanted. I did not want to

be just another one in a million, my work should be significant by contributing to something that

I believed in. Also, I wanted to be able to work in a social environment that has its own company

culture. I believe it is important for companies to have their own personality and own interests

that people of their company can join in on. Thus, I narrowed my sights into certain criteria of

the companies that I wanted to work for. I knew that the company that I would want to work for

would have to be a non-corporate company that values its people, because these companies

usually have a culture and belief that they are loyal to. When companies get largely corporate,

many of their processes become standardized and mechanical, rather than organic. I want to

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 Running head: CAREER REFLECTION KOJIMA 4

thrive in an environment that is organic, humane, exciting, and diverse. I want to contribute to a

growing company, and see my work help the people and the company. And, ultimately, I want to

contribute my knowledge and background to helping workspaces become more diverse. Yes,

those past researches that were mentioned in class really impacted me and sparked my passion

for gender and racial diversity. I truly believe that workplaces lose brilliant ideas when they

homogenize their workforce.

And now that I know what I want to do and work for, I am now on my next step to

develop marketable skills that will compliment and aid my future career path. Luckily, I’ve

gained various job experiences that highlight my customer service, social, and managing skills

through my restaurant experience. However, I know that to be more suited for the positions I

would need to gain even more managing experience, and even possibly a professional Human

Resources Management certification to be more adequately prepared. Using the critiques that I

received on my current resume in section and what I learned in lecture, I hope to make a better

tailored resume that will get me an interview.

Overall, these past ten weeks have been a priceless experience that has and will continue

to help me in my endeavors for moving forward into a professional career. Because of this class I

was able to narrow my sights into a career path that fits my personality, interests, and would

ultimately give me immense job satisfaction. It taught me that a job is much more than just its

salary and benefits, and also given me tips and techniques on how to stand out and be more

marketable in this competitive job market. Learning the importance of diversity and the

techniques behind screening applicants also has given me inspiration for choosing to become a

professional recruiter or human resources diversity manager. I hope that these valuable lessons

that I learned in this class will help me land my future dream job.

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