Self-Awareness Reflection

As I do all the activities and assignments for my Career Development course, I was made

aware of the skills, personality, values, and interests that I wasn’t able to notice in myself. The

hardest question that someone could ask me would probably be having me tell them about

myself. It may seem odd, but I don’t quite seem to know myself and I only learn qualities, skills,

personality, and values that I have though other people. It’s either they tell me who I am, or I see

a reflection of myself in them. Through this course, I was able to discover more of myself that

would be beneficial for me as I apply for jobs, and it wouldn’t be so hard for me to answer the

interview question: Tell me something about yourself.

I was able to learn the kind of work values that I have by doing the genogram and the

work values inventory. In my genogram, I discovered details about my family and extended

families which have influenced every generation. Since most in my family couldn’t get a better

education, they mastered the value of working hard and being family centered. We were a

generation of farmers in the family, but my parents no longer want to change that for us because

farming can no longer sustain the needs of a family as the expenses get higher. This influenced

me to pursue my passion and build a career from that.

The work values inventory served as a guide as I chose my career in the future. Time

freedom, stability, working alone, and creativity are the top work values for me because they

align with the career I want to pursue as well as my personality. My personality is an ISFJ which

means I am quiet and not very sociable. I don’t do well with groups because I feel easily drained.

Therefore, I feel I can function well in my job if I work alone and do things by myself. I feel like

being in groups doesn’t allow me to freely share my ideas because I tend to just agree with them.

I agree with what my 16-personality test says that I “tend to act with great thought and care, and
it can frustrate me when other people don’t recognize my good intentions, and as a result, even

constructive criticism may feel incredibly personal or hurtful to me.” And with this, time

freedom is necessary for my future career so that I have my own time to work by myself.

Creativity as my top work value also aligns with the result of my Holland Code Game

and the Strong Interest Inventory. Being creative and expressing my ideas through art and

writing is what I am passionate about and that is why I am taking my major in English with an

emphasis on Creative Writing. Writing is one of my top five interest areas and it goes along with

my result in the Holland Code Game of being on the artistic side. I enjoy creating original work

and dealing with ideas rather than things.

Also, as a student and a part-time worker in the PCC, I noticed skills I enjoy using like

being thorough, displaying artistic ideas, taking personal responsibility, and maintaining

emotional control under stress. It is also now that I realize that some of the skills I have are the

reason I always get burned out in my past job because I don’t enjoy doing them. Say when I

worked as a cashier, I always felt exhausted and tired, and that was because organizing files and

remembering information were skills that I have but I don’t really like. I also realize that I can

just replace these burnout skills with skills I can develop, like being actively involved and being

able to express my feelings orally to individuals and groups.

All in all, the activities made me understand myself more and learn who I am. The results

of the Strong Interests Inventory were all accurate and I agree with them. It is the same result as

my Holland Code Game with artistic, social, and conventional as my top three themes. It helped

me explore not just my artistic side, but also gave me other options to pursue careers in the fields

of social and conventional. It is always good to have a backup plan, and the results gave me

opportunities to develop other skills and interests that I have.