To help you develop personal awareness such that you can determine a career path that best ‘fits’ you. Throughout the course, you complete various self-assessment tools that will help assess your values, interests, personality, and skills. Here, you reflect on the results from these tools and synthesise them with what you have learned about your two chosen careers/jobs in the Career Exploration Report into a meaningful report that will provide new insights and recommendations for your future.
Required Format:
The following five sections are required. Use the sub-headings in your report.
A. Demographic and background information (approx. 200 words)
This section establishes the focus of your case (you) and provides an orientation to the marker. It should be comprehensive but relevant and concise, written in narrative form, and include your:
Name, gender, age, and marital status (if you feel comfortable sharing).
Current work status and previous work history and feelings related to this.
Parents and siblings, their occupation/profession, nature of the relationship with them. Explain briefly how they have influenced your thoughts about your career.
School history (academic achievement; view of schooling, etc.). Explain briefly how this has influenced your thoughts about your career.
Hobbies and leisure activities.
B. Assessment procedures
List the 9 mandatory assessment tools, the date each one was completed, and where to find it in the Appendix (see template here). The assessment tools include: Structured Autobiography (SA)
Holland’s Vocational Choice (HVC)
Motivated Skills (MS)
Self-Evaluations Scale (SES)
Career Anchors (CA)
HEXACO
Goal Orientation (GO)
Interviews with Significant Others (ISO)
Time Perspectives (TP)
C. Theme elicitation (approx. 200 words/theme)
First, you are required to collate all of the results from the self-assessments and organise them into 3 key themes. Themes should be developed from and be supported by evidence (i.e., the results of your self-assessments). Themes, and their sources of evidence, must be clearly labelled.
For each theme, there must be at least 3 sources of evidence from your different self-assessments. For each self-assessment used as evidence, include your actual scores out of total scores and percentiles, where relevant. The debriefs in the lectures and tutorials will show you how to score and interpret your results. To show insight and understanding of your themes, provide personal examples or commentary to describe and explain the themes.
Note: ALL 9 assessment tools must be referred to in your report. We do not want you to rely solely on a small portion of the tools; the aim is to apply and compare multiple types of evidence. (For details on how to elicit themes, see Week 5 tutorial, Week 8 tutorial, and Harrington Hall (2007))
D. Career Fit Analysis (approx. 400 words)
You are required to complete a “career fit” excel worksheet. Details for this will be discussed in Week 7. In brief, you will be asked to enter your self-assessment data, themes, and the corresponding “fit percentage” for each of your chosen career/job based on what you have learned when producing your Career Exploration Report. This worksheet will help you identify which of your chosen careers/jobs better fit you.
Identify and analyse 1 key finding from this exercise. Draw on at least 1 course concept (with proper citation of course reading(s) and lecture/tutorial material(s)) when analysing your key finding. The application of course concept(s) to the key finding should help you answer the questions of “why” and “how” and thus deepen your reflection on this key finding.
Incorporating cognitive awareness (i.e., “what I have learned”), emotional awareness (i.e., “how do I feel about what I learned”), and giving personal examples or commentary, are some good ways to show insight and understanding. Remember, describing information is different to reflecting and analysing.
E. Recommendations (approx. 400 words)
Just as important as understanding what your results from the Career Fit Analysis mean is the demonstration that you understand their implications – the “so what?”. Based on your theme elicitation and career fit analysis, describe a range of solutions, goals, or recommendations that are appropriate and specific. These solutions should be related to your career choices and possibilities, in addition to any self-development you may require to progress in your career. You should use theories and research to guide and justify your recommendations. Make sure your recommendations are directly related to your 3 themes and your career fit analysis. F. References and Appendix
You must cite all work properly throughout your report (i.e., do not cite “Week 5 Lecture” or “Course Reading Week 2”) and provide a reference list. Use the Harvard Referencing Style. Please include results for each of the assessment tools (except SA and ISO) and a screenshot of your career fit analysis worksheet (See Appendix Template for instructions). You can refer to your Appendix throughout your report; however, it will not be directly marked. It is also not included in the word count.
Note: All information you provide in this assessment will be treated as confidential.
SELF-ASSESSMENT AND CAREER FIT REPORT MARKING CRITERIA
Key Criteria
Grade
1. Provides comprehensive and relevant background information about self.
3
2. 3 themes are:
Accurately labeled and defined
Described based on at least 3 self-assessment results
7
3. Career Fit analysis is completed in a comprehensive and thoughtful manner. Identifies 1 key finding and thoughtful application of course concept(s) when analysing this finding. High-quality analysis of and reflection on the key finding.
7
4. Generates recommendations based on the elicitation of the three themes and career fit analysis. Highlights specific points upon which to proceed for their career. Justifies why these recommendations are effective.
6
5. An appropriate range of theory (from course readings, journal articles) is used when analysing career fit, and discussing and justifying recommendations.
4
6. Written construction and presentation are clear, concise and logical (e.g. lists all the assessment tools and the date/s these assessments were completed; the referencing is accurate and in the Harvard format; no spelling errors; work is edited; written expression is clear; all student details are clearly presented, all sections of the assignment are present, paragraphs are well developed, content conveyed clearly).
3
7. Late penalty yes/no
– Total
/30