Personal Development

Career Development

You may still be not sure about the career path that you want to take. The choice of an appropriate career is one of the many issues that an adolescent faces. The choice of career is a prelude to entering the workforce. This will contribute to the potential quality of life that you will have. This is a crucial decision since the courses that you will choose will allow you to have opportunities that will pave the way for you success and a satisfying way of life.

According to Sigelman and Rider, there are two factors that you consider when choosing a career. These are:

Environmental factors. The available opportunities and the demands of the market constitute this factor. The varying trends in the environment, which includes the natural changes in your surrounding areas, technological discoveries and advancement, and commercial demands, make you more practical in choosing the course that you will take. There are teenagers who do not only consider their interests alone when choosing a course. Rather, they also look at the viability and the potential earning that they will make once they graduate from college.
Personal factors. Young individuals also take into consideration their own strengths and limitations when mapping out their career plans; their skills, socio-economic status, their personal values and physical capabilities are strong indicators of what their potential career is.

Career: Its Definition and Elements

A career was described by Santos as having a job that suits the skills, the goals, and the personality traits that a person has. It could be a profession that the adolescent has always aspired for or it can be a means of earning an income. Thus, it is possible for an adolescent to pursue his lifelong ambition of becoming a lawyer while it is also possible that an education student will shift to information technology course because of the high salary it promises.

A Career Begins with a Plan

A successful career is built along several components. These components are:

Life goals. Life goals play a key role in determining the choice of career of an adolescent. Nair defined them as conditions or states that an individual wants to achieve, avoid or sustain. Life goals are created in a conscious manner, which means that they are easily remembered by a person. They serve as aspirations that prompt an individual to take proper steps in achieving them one by one. The attainment of life goals has a profound effect on the health and happiness of a person; the successful completion of a goal contributes to happiness while the failure to do so can lead to frustration.
Career planning. It entails the selection of appropriate steps necessary in meeting specific career goals. The interests, skills and potential possessed by a person are matched to the course that he or she would take. However, as Santos reiterated, factors like economic conditions, personal limitations, and other external factors can affect the career path of a young individual.
Career development. According to Garcia-Cox, graduating with a bachelor’s degree is not the ultimate goal of career development. It includes joining the professional world, meeting the demands of the work, enhancing the skills, and preparing for advancement or promotion. Hansen in 1976 defined career development as a lifelong process dedicated to finding out and processing information regarding one’s identity, the educational and occupational opportunities and alternatives that are available, and also, the roles and lifestyles that one can adapt.

Types of Goals

There are many types of goals and this lesson will focus on two basic kinds:

Short-term goals. These goals do not involve a long period of time to achieve. The time allotment for this type can range from several days to several months but will not take more than a year. These goals are very precise. They can also serve as the stepping stones in achieving the long-term goals.
Long-term goals. Goals that take a long period of time to accomplish belong under this type. These goals typically require more than twelve months for completion and need careful planning

Personal Factors Influencing Career Choices

Choosing a career is not just about going to college. Most of the time, there are many considerations to think about before you can finally enroll in your preferred, and sometimes not-so-preferred, course. In Lesson 1, the theories discussed the need to match the personal characteristics of individuals with their potential profession to ensure a satisfying career development. Let us try to explore more about these personal characteristics. Below are some of the personal factors that play significant roles in your career path:

Personality

Personality as defined by Gazzingan et. al is the unique combination of emotions, thought processes and patterns, and even the actions that people display across different situations over time. It is more than just having a certain appearance, mind and disposition. Personality is

the totality of an individual; it makes him or her distinct from other people who also have their own brand of identity

Motivation

Success is an alluring thought to anyone. It serves as an impetus to do more or adapt methodologies that would help them meet their goals. Motivation is defined as the force that pushes people to find or act in ways that would make them achieve their goals.

Types of Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is influenced by internal or intangible incentives like job satisfaction, happiness, or contentment.
Extrinsic motivation is influenced by external factors like earning a huge amount of money, buying an expensive car, or even simple pleasures like receiving a high grade.

Motivation gives a person a sense of direction. In the case of career planning, being motivated pushes the individual to use his or her energy in seeking out activities and manifesting behavior that would make his or her dream a reality.

III. Perceptions about the Ideal Job

Your idea of your ideal career helps you choose a profession that suits you. Perceptions are usually formed based on what you read, hear or experience, or even from what influential people in your life may have experienced. The impressions that are formed about the best job that would provide for your needs and would make you motivated to go to work every day adds to your career planning.

IV. Self-Perception

Self-perception. Is also known as self-concept. It is the belief that an individual makes about himself. This encompasses the person’s views about his overall capabilities including his competence, his physical appearance, and his unique qualities and other attributes. Life experiences play a major role in the formation of a self-concept.

Career Preferences and Personality

The Importance of Assessment

When you were still a child, you are not expected to have full understanding of your personality. But it is a different story when it comes to adolescents. At this stage, you must have knowledge of your nature, eccentricities, and other qualities that make you unique. The life goals that you make, including your potential career, are your extensions. They are reflections of who or what you are.

Measuring the Self: the Use of Psychological Tests

The advances in the field of Psychology have produced assessment tools that measure the different dimensions of human behavior. Levels of intelligence, personality traits, reflex actions, degree of aggression and even emotional states are just some of the variables that can be measured. In this lesson, you will describe some assessment tools.

Psychological Assessment

The American Psychological Association defines personality assessment as “the administration, scoring, and interpretation of empirically supported measures of personality traits.” Assessment has several purposes wherein one involves the accurate prediction of the behavior in different settings or situations, like in educational and organizational settings.

Psychometrics

It is a field in the study of human behavior that deals primarily with the creation of measurements for behavior or psychological tests. It relies on theories to explain different psychological concepts. These theories are used as guides in the actual development of a test. The behavioral dimensions to be measured can include knowledge, personality traits, attitudes, and abilities. The main concern of psychometrics is to find the individual differences among people.

Psychological Tests

Anastasi defined psychological tests as standardized instruments used to measure samples of behavior (or different dimensions of behavior). These tests are standardized because specific and uniform instructions are given which means that the procedures do not change. Also, psychological tests were tested to different groups of respondents in different areas or places so that a convincing comparison between the examinee and the previous respondents can be made.

Significance of Psychological Tests

Psychological tests have many uses. In the educational setting, they provide information about the impact of teaching methodologies - whether they are adequate or if they can still be improved. The specific people who handle and administer psychological tests are the school psychologists, guidance counselors and psychometricians. In business and organizational settings, psychological tests are used for the purposes of recruitment or the process of choosing the job candidates to be hired, advancement or the process of promoting individual employees, and evaluation of the overall status of the recruitment division of the company and the employees.

Self-Assessment

The process of choosing an appropriate career is part of one’s life goals. To reach this goal, imagine a flight of stairs that you have to climb in order to reach the top. Your interests may represent the bottom part of the stairs. The succeeding steps symbolize the process of how a career is developed.

The 16 Personality Types

Isabel Briggs Myers created the 16 personality types with the help of her mother. Katharine Briggs, and the theories of Carl Jung.
The Myers-Briggs Personality Types Indicator (MBTI) has been used in identifying which career to choose based on an individual’s personality.

Setting-up Goals and Career Planning

Every career begins with a plan. Determining your prospective profession takes several steps. An adolescent can begin career planning by setting up short-term and long-term goals:
·- Determine the activities that the adolescent enjoys. In doing so, the skills that are usually shown while doing these activities can also be determined.
·- Once he/she is aware of these activities and the skills, the adolescent must identify the kind of quality of living that he/she wants to achieve after graduating from college. He or she can consult his/her family and friends for insights.
-Researching about the pros and cons of the professions like salaries, work hours, and job expectations are also relevant things to consider. Reading the newspaper articles and books, watching significant television programs, and surfing the internet can be done to have a thorough understanding of what each profession requires. Interviewing professionals is
also a valuable help.
·- Find out his/her strengths and weaknesses by visiting the school’s counselor for a session regarding job placement or taking up a simple online selfassessment test/s. The guidance office can help the student by giving psychological tests, giving suggestions about the universities where the student can enroll and also listing down the requirements for college application. Last but not the least, discussing his qualities and how they match with the
profession in mind is one of the most important services that the counselor gives.
·- Practice or develop significant abilities/skills that are needed in the workplace like communication skills, punctuality, cooperation, risk-taking, problem-solving, analytical skills, proficiency, planning and organization. These workplace attitudes and skills are mandatory in all professions and must be cultivated even at a young age. Remember, practice makes perfect.
·- Once the specific course is determined, it is now time to make the next step which is the enrolment in the desired course. Once college begins, maintain a good set of grades and join school organizations that foster development or enhancement of the strengths that the student has.

Career planning can be a daunting task. However, one must just remember that the establishment of goals and the commitment in pursuing these goals are the key ingredients in attaining the dream profession aspired, and enjoying a high quality of living as well.

Career Pathways

As part of being an adolescent, you will be faced with a lot of situations when you need to make decisions and choices. This scenario has a great effect especially when you will choose which career to pursue. The decision to choose your career is one of the most crucial things to make that will have a lifetime effect in your life.

Factors Affecting Career Choices

Professional careers are personal choices driven by environmental, socio-emotional,behavioral, and cognitive factors. Oftentimes, people take career aptitude tests in order to discover career options that may suit them best, based on their thinking and adaptation styles, behaviors, and leadership and learning styles. In the Philippines, the National Career Aptitude Examination (NCAE) is annually administered to high school students in order to assess their competencies and appropriate professional career. Senior High School programs in the country are also offering students three study tracks to facilitate professional growth in the future.

Family, School, and Community Culture You primarily interact with your family as well as with the people from your school and community. Through your interactions, you learn to appreciate and view career options in relation to the perspectives of your social relationships.
Economic Factors - Practicability and good-paying jobs also drive students towards a specific career path. Not all students are well-off, thus a good education and a good career choice are used by many students in order to overcome financial hardships or poverty. Also, career choices are greatly affected by a practical mindset and the need for financial stability. Therefore, despite differing personal choices or career options, an adolescent may choose a career path that is more practical and better paying than what he originally intended to have.
Personality Factors - Personal qualities and interests also play a role in choosing your career. For instance, to assess your interest based on personality types, Personality tests are also helpful determinants of career preference. Being aware of your personality type, based on various personality tests, will enable you to understand your working style, leadership qualities, potential challenges, and strengths that will enable you to choose an appropriate career.
Socio-demographic Factor - Gender and location are also important factors in choosing a career. While no job is limited by gender, some people and companies would still stereotype people based on their genders. However, because adolescents are now being brought up in an era where gender equality is prioritized, some students would choose careers that will allow them to break stigmas and prove the stereotypes wrong.

The Four Stages in Choosing a Career

There are various factors that you should consider in selecting a career. These factors may have various impacts to you. In choosing a career there are four stages that should be considered. The four stages are as follows:

Self-Awareness. The first stage of choosing a career is self-awareness. Self-awareness here pertains to your ability and capacity to recognize and acknowledge your skills, values, interests, personality, strengths and areas for improvement. Being able to be aware of these facets of the self is important to your success.
Opportunity Awareness. This stage of choosing a career pertains to the process of accumulating information about the possible opportunities such as availability of jobs, information of the degree or subject, possible post-graduate opportunities, areas of specialization and job responsibilities that can be available for you in a selected field.
Decision Making. This stage of choosing a career pertains to the development of your decision. Decision making process in this stage refers to the consultation with family, peers, school counselors and others. One can also weigh down the pros and cons in pursuing other options.
Taking Action. The final process of choosing a career is taking action which is usually done at the latter stage of your study. This implies on finding available employers and job position possibilities. Another part of this stage is creating applications and attending interviews. Since this process implies that you are ready to enter the professional world, one possibility to improve and take action during earlier years in college is to volunteer in an organization where your field of interest is being practiced.

Setting Your Roadmap: The Importance of Planning the Career

Career planning is a method of ensuring that your career in on track. This helps in facilitating the career goals with definite actions. A career plan makes you identify the gaps that need to be filled in so the dream job is achieved.
A career plan is an always changing and improving. The constant modifications in lifestyles, career opportunities, social relationships and environmental demands make a person adapt to the nuances of daily living.

Family Structures and Legacies

The Family

It is traditionally known to be the basic unit of society and a primary agent of socialization . The family has always been influential in your development. Family in the primary setting where you learn how to communicate and relate with other people.

Basic Functions of Family

Successful families are functional families. The family performs functions in order for the society to survive.

The family exists to fulfill its function to reproduce which is necessary to maintain the population of the society.
It is also responsible for socialization and education of its members by transmitting the necessary knowledge, skills , values , traditions and beliefs among others from generation to another.
Each member of the family is provided with an identity and corresponding social roles.
The economic support function of the family is fulfilled through provision of basic need like food, shelter and protection to its members.
Since the family is the child’s first social environment, it is expected to provide a caring and nurturing interaction by giving emotional support.

Family Structure

When one mentions the word ‘family’, the picture of a father , a mother and child/children living together may be the first thing that comes to mind. This is the nuclear family which is the basic family structure. However, this scenario is less prevalent. Due to the different societal changes, diverse structures have emerged.

Kinds of Family Structure

Traditional Structure

Nuclear Family - is composed of a father, a mother and the child/children
Extended Family - includes the grandparents and/or relatives of the nuclear family.

Emerging Structure

Single Parent -this family structure can occur through a death, separation/divorce or adoption without marriage.
Blended Families - also referred to as step-families where both parents bring children from previous marriage
Homosexual Family - occur when two homosexuals living together raise child/children from previous relationships or through adoption.
Cohabitation- involves an unmarried male and female living together raising child/children of their own or through adoption

Changes in the Family and Its Consequences

Contemporary families are exposed to various changes in the society that challenges their ability to perform their basic functions.Majority of the parents now are both working to provide the basic needs and education of the children. The ability to accept and relate well with members of the other family members is another challenge for blended families. Emerging homosexual families pose another challenge in the rearing of the children especially when the children reach adolescence. They could become more concerned about their sexual orientation and identities as compared to their peers who grew up in traditional families. Children are the most affected by changes in the family structure. However, the ability to adapt to these changes by looking at the characteristics of healthy families will make a difference.

Healthy families exhibit the following key characteristics:

The family members display love and appreciation for one another.
They have open and honest communication
They have unity and respect for individual differences
They have clear and well-defined values and standards
They have effective stress-coping strategies

Strengthening Family Ties

The Family is the most basic unit of our society.Its strength as a group and its ability to provide the physical and emotional needs of an individual are crucial to the development of that individual are crucial to the development of that individual and to the bigger society of which he/she is part of.

Importance of Strong Family Ties

It has always been said that the family is very important when it comes to the development of an individual .Strongly established family ties provide necessary functions especially for a growing adolescent.

Physical Support

Families with strong ties are able to help out its members in times of need whether in the form of financial resources or other tangible means of support. One can easily find help from one’s family when healthy relationship exists. This is most especially true for children and minors who cannot afford to physically provide for themselves yet. Basic necessities such as food, clothing, education, medicine and housing are all part of the physical support that members of the family can provide to each other. Families with strong ties provide this most basic level of support and care without the heavy feeling of obligation.

Emotional Support

Strong family tie is important because they provide emotional support to an individual. Aside from love, guidance and protection; emotional support from the family also helps in developing confidence and self-esteem in its members. A sense of belongingness and security are instilled in a person when one is able to get affirmed and encouraged by one’s family during successes and most especially, during challenging times. If families show strong family ties during low moments, individuals who turn to their families for support are able to cope well with stress and thus, develop resiliency. Strong family ties allow individuals to feel accepted and good about themselves, therefore promoting a positive sense of self.

Development of Social Skills

As a primary agent of socialization, families teach its members how to relate with other people outside their own unit. In the family, one learns how to cooperate with others; how to solve conflicts together and how to behave in different situations. Strong family ties allow its members to model positive behavior to each other which thereby helps in the development of their skills. Respect for rules, responsibility for one’s own actions and effective communication skills are just a few of the necessary things that a family that has strong ties with each other can pass on to its members.

Filipino Family Challenges

All families from all over the world encounter trying times. In the Philippines however, there are certain challenges that Filipino families face more predominantly than other groups.

Abuse

Abuse is the act of inflicting pain towards someone purposely and repeatedly over time. In the Philippine household, abuse and violence come in many forms – physical, psychological, sexual and nowadays, online. This is now one of the challenges faced by families which definitely affect the quality of relationships and family ties. Not only women in the home are subjected to this kind of act but also the children. Most of the time, this is done by people they are supposed to trust. Abuse dissolves strong family ties because trust is taken away and there is no longer a sense of security and belongingness in each other’s presence.

Poverty and Parent Absenteeism

Recent surveys say that more and more Filipinos consider themselves poor as compared to the previous years. Poverty is on the rise. Because of this, families find themselves in a situation that leaves them no option but to do what it takes to survive. Children are subjected to work and parents are forced to leave the home to find work elsewhere, most often in other countries. Family ties are challenged due to the distance and time away spent from each other. While material needs may be met due to an increase in income, other needs require more attention now. Other relatives must now look after the children who are left behind and must attempt to fill in the emotional gaps caused by the absence of parents. Some are lucky to be under good supervision but others still need parental presence in order to meet their emotional needs. For those who are not able to find better opportunities somewhere else, there still exists a great pressure to escape poverty and provide for the family. This in effect puts the focus away from nurturing relationships and puts more emphasis on the financial and material needs instead.

Negative Influence of Media

Media, although many times a source of overflowing information, may also prove to cause difficulty and stress in family ties. When not supervised properly, children and families may focus on the negative values being promoted online (on television, movies and on print). Media becomes the parents of children and a gap between attitudes and beliefs begin to develop which challenges the relationships and family ties between them. Aside from this, materialism and consumerism is heightened through media. This also puts less importance on spending quality time and building relationships in the family and more emphasis on satisfying material wants and showing off material privileges to the public eye.

Tips to Strengthen Family Ties

With all the challenges and changes that families face today, there is a need to commit and prioritize family relationships. Here are a few ways to strengthen family ties.
Communicate effectively
Listening is a big part of communicating positively.
·- Give someone your full attention when it is someone’s turn to talk.
·- Talk to a family member with respect and avoid judging and criticizing harshly.
- Be open and honest with their feelings without insulting or putting another
person down.
·- Show love and affection, praise and apologies through meaningful words.
Fight fairly
Even the strongest of families fight which is a normal occurrence in any household.
The key though is to fight fairly.
·- Use “I” messages to address how you feel instead of putting the blame on
someone else.
·- Have the goal of attacking the issue and not each other.
·- Deal with the issue at hand or one issue at a time.
·- Clarify the meaning of statements said instead of assuming and building it up in
one’s head.
·- Empathize and understand one another when in an argument.
·- Remember that no matter how angry you are, the goal is to find a solution or to
compromise to the problem.
Spend time together
Make time for family. In today’s busy world, it is definitely a challenge to prioritize the family. However, quality time is needed to recharge, renew and build new memories together. It will be the foundation of a strong family in times of difficulty.
·- Try to stay away from social media and gadgets.
·- Learn to focus on each other.
·- Catch up on each other’s lives.
·- Listen to each other’s stories and enjoy each other’s company.

Share and cooperate

Sharing is not limited to material resources within the families. This process of sharing and cooperating makes everyone in the family involved and builds relationships as well.

· -Share responsibilities at home like chores and other tasks
·- Cooperate in coming up with rules at home
Connect to the bigger community
Strong families also get their strength from the bigger community outside their own unit.
· Being involved in activities in the village, church or school.

Personal Relationship

What is Personal Relationship? How do we give sense to the term relationship?

According to Oxford online dictionary it defines it as “ the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected. Taking from these definitions, we can say that a personal relationship is a connection between people involving the exchange of interactions leading to strong emotional ties. Relationships are not static; they are continually evolving, and to fully enjoy and benefit from them we need skills, information, inspiration, practice and social support. There are three kinds of personal relationships:

Family

The concept of “family” is an essential component in any discussion of relationships, but this varies greatly from person to person. The Bureau of Census defines family as “two or more persons who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption and who live together as one household.” But many people have family they do not live with or to whom they are bonded by love, and the role of family vary across cultures as well as throughout your own lifetime. Some typical characteristics of a family are support, mutual trust, regular interactions, shared beliefs and values, security and a sense of community.

Friends

A friendship can be thought of as a close tie between two people that is often built upon mutual experiences, shared interests, proximity, and emotional bonding. Friends are able to turn to each other in times of need. Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, social-network researchers and authors of the book CONNECTED, find that the average person has about six close ties-- though some have more, and many have only one or none.

Partnerships. Romantic partnerships, including marriage, are close relationships formed between two people that are built upon affection, trust, intimacy, and romantic love. We usually experience this kind of relationship with only one person at a time

Triangular Theory of Love

Robert Sternberg, an American psychologist and psychometrician born on December 8, 1949, presented three components of love namely: intimacy, passion and commitment. Out of these three, different types of love were generated having variations of one , two or three components.

Let us define the concepts first:

Intimacy

it is a state of extreme interpersonal emotional closeness such that each party’s personal space can be entered without causing discomfort, it is also an affectionate or loving personal relationship and deep understanding for each other; being intimate with another means being honest, sincere and open to that person encompassing an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect in the relationship.

Passion

is a strong inclination toward a self-defining activity that one likes (or even loves). “In a romantic sense, passion can be defined as a strong sexual desire for your object of interest.

Commitment

a committed relationship is a cooperative relationship based on covenant which involves exclusivity, love, faith, respect, trust and sincerity. A committed individual who is willing to stay in a relationship thru thick and thin.

Let us take a look at the illustration explaining each type:

Liking

it is at the top most area of the triangle since it involves intimacy alone. Liking is what we feel for our friends for the warmth and acceptance we receive whenever we are in their company, but this lacks the element of passion and long-term commitment which we find in other types of love.

Infatuation

locate at the leftmost side of the triangle which involves passion alone. Often characterized by physical attraction and sexual arousal. This usually happens in the initial stage of the relationship and commonly perceived as “love at first sight”. Since time element can serve as a great tool to build emotional understanding and commitment, infatuation may suddenly disappear.

Empty Love

is at the right side of the triangle which involves commitment alone. There comes a time when an intense love weakens and turns into an empty love where commitment is the only element left in the relationship.In early stages of relationship, empty love occurs during fix marriages where families of both parties agreed to pre-arrange the matrimony as part of their culture or belief.

Romantic Love

found at the left side joined by both passion and intimacy.This happens when relationship is budding; there is an intense physical and sexual attraction towards each other and strong intimacy or liking as they spend time and treat themselves as best of friends.

Companionate Love

placed at the right side of the triangle built by intimacy and commitment but lacks passion or sexual arousal. This happens in older relationships or long-term marriages where the passion has died but they still manage to stay together because of their commitment as a couple and emotional bonding brought by their deep affection for each other.

Fatuous Love

tied between passion and commitment. This can happen during whirlwind courtship and marriage where the intense passion or sexual attraction led to marriage in the absence of a deep emotional bond to stabilize the relationship.

Consummate Love

it is the complete form of love, where there is a presence of intimacy, passion and commitment. Couple have a deep emotional understanding shared with each other, the intense passion or sexual attraction for each other has not wavered in spite of staying together for many years and promise of commitment to stay together no matter how difficult the struggles are. Absence of one element can automatically change the type of love.

What makes a Good Relationship?

Learning how to give and receive

a good relationship is based on mutual affiliation. This means that both individuals should agree to give and take in the process. The relationship will be short-lived if it is primarily built on what one can get from the other.

The ability to reveal feelings

partners should be willing to disclose things about oneself which includes likes and dislikes, dreams for the future , weaknesses etc. In this way, both will have the opportunity to know his/her partner thoroughly which could strengthen intimacy between them leading to a deep emotional understanding.

The power to listen and support

it is understood that when two individuals care for each other, the last thing on their mind is to hurt his/her partner’s feelings. Both should learn how to listen and assist each other. Respect for the individual should be one primary concerns.