Career Planning Assignment

Rebecca Flem
Wilmington University

Personal and Professional Experiences

I must admit that I began my college career with the intentions on becoming a teacher
with my major in early childhood education. After having been on academic probation for a
semester after the death of my father, I couldnt wait to feel proud of myself and be able to say I
actually finished college. I pushed myself to work harder and applied myself the best I could, and
I obtained my associates degree in Liberal Arts soon after.
Along with going to school full time I was also working full time in a daycare as the 2
year old room teacher. I loved to help others and being around child every day teaching and
helping them grow was something I enjoyed doing. I worked at this school for 5 years,
unfortunately because of financial issues the daycare closed down and I was now collecting
unemployment. While actively seeking employment as well as raising our son, I also began my
undergrad at Rutgers University with my major in Psychology.

Looking into several different majors I came to the realization that every psychology
course I took seemed to be my favorite ones. I figured if I enjoyed them so much maybe this
would be the right path to take instead of childhood education.
While an ungraduated student I had the privilege in completing an internship with Center
for Family Services with the Head Start program. Head Start is a preschool program for children
ages three to five in Camden City and Camden County. This program provides stimulating
activities and learning experiences that help prepare children for success in kindergarten and
beyond. Head Start provides comprehensive early childhood education and support services in
the areas of health and dental care, nutrition, special education, parent skill workshops, mental
health, and social services (Centerffs.org). At Head Start my title was a Mental Health
Specialist, one of my roles was to complete assessments to help determine strength and needs of
the individuals within the program, and evaluate patient care plans with a team.
Days before graduating Rutgers University with my Bachelors Degree in Psychology I
applied for a job through Center for Family Services. The program was Services Empowering the
Rights of Victims (SERV) and the position was a Residential Advocate. Proud enough I
graduated and was offered and accepted the job within days of each other. I have been in this
position for over two years and have taken on several different responsibilities.
Choosing Wilmington to continue my education is a huge accomplishment of mine. I am
honored to say that once again I am interning with Center for Family Services yet this time in the
Family First program, and it has been an experience I cherish.
Strengths Finder 2.0 report
My top 5 themes are; Relator, Belief, Restorative, Focus, and Achiever. After reading my
results I was surprised yet agreed with them. Realtor stated that I enjoyed working with friends
to achieve a goal which is exactly correct. I love working as a team with others to reach a

specific goal, I believe the more ideas the better the outcome. Belief was one that I completely
agreed with. I beliefs are strong when it comes to knowing that I helped or encouraged
something or someone. What stuck out to me was the last line which stated, Perhaps adding
value to the lives of others enriches your own life. The next strength was restorative which I
had to dig a little deeper into to see if I agreed with this result or not. Stating that with this
characteristic most individuals like to see what they could have done better for next time and
seek out how to go about it. Even though I believe that at times I do try and better what I have
done, I dont always take as much time as I should to make sure I follow through with it.
Focus and achiever were my last two themes. Focus was one that I felt comfortable with
when reading the results. I felt as though that described me pretty well, agreeing that I sense that
maybe my greatest accomplishments lie ahead and so I must remained focused. Last was
achiever which who wouldnt want to be ranked as that? Constantly being busy and occupied is
pretty much a quick description of my daily life. I juggle two jobs, two young children, and full
time school. Although I may have several different tasks going on at the same time, I try and give
my undivided attention to certain matters when discussing it with an individual. Three traits that
fell under achiever were; Diligence, persistence, and concentration which I can proudly agree to.
MAPP Assessment
When reading under the Interest in Content section, it mentions is that I am motivated to
assertively or aggressively gain personal recognition, status, prestige, and worth in the process of
social, organizational, and/or vocational interaction with others which I somewhat agree with. It
continues to state that I look for opportunity, challenge, and risk if and when odds are strongly
favorable. It was interesting that when I read that part of the results I could agree that I do look
for different opportunities but did not agree with the risk part of it and as I continued on it stated,

i do not prefer challenge or risk if they might result in loss of status, role, or ownership. One
quote that I was given within my results was that I probably understood what Mark Twain meant
when he said, "I can write for two weeks on one compliment." which I absolutely love.
Talking about the temperament of a job described me as strongly motivated to be
organizationally active with others. I agree with that simply because their description that I
accept a certain degree of self-assumed responsibility for the good, growth, and gain of others is
something I sometimes struggle with.
One of the jobs that came up for my top career areas was guidance/counseling
which I learned I actually love. This could consist of; Psychologist, Psychiatrist, School
Counselor, Social Worker, Minister, Special Education Teacher, Professional counseling,
guidance, advising for people. I actually thought about becoming a school counselor and still
could with the degree that I have, its something I have always kept in the back of my mind.
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
The field that caught my attention was the Outpatient Care Centers which included
Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers. Two specific occupation titles that I
focused on were; Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors, and Probation Officers
and Correctional Treatment Specialists. The reason I focused on these two were because I can
see myself successfully being in either one of these fields. My strength finder results stated that
belief was one strong quality I possessed which I agreed that knowing I helped or encouraged
something or someone was something I strive for.
The website showed that for Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists their
median wage was $15.29, the mean hourly wage was $15.57 and the annual mean wage was
$32,380 which was a bit shocking to me, considering having so many responsibilities. In the
Substance abuse and Behavioral disorder counselors stated that their median hourly wage was

$18.54, the mean hourly wage was $19.48 and the annual mean wage was $40.510 and also that
New Jersey was one of the top paying states for this occupation.

References
United States Bureau of Labor (2014). Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers.
Retrieved from: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics5_621420.htm