Running head: CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER

Career Trajectory Paper Briana McNeil EDLD 7430 Georgia Southern University Dr. Barry Dotson

CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER Career Trajectory Paper To understand my career trajectory tract one must understand my college beginnings. One incident that influenced my career decision was my entire undergraduate experience. When I started my undergraduate career I had no idea what to expect or how to navigate around campus. I struggled in all of my classes my first semester and consequently did not return the following semester. I began this journey to higher education as a substitute teacher in middle and high schools. I soon came to realize that although I loved working with this age group I felt that my skills would most likely be better suited for the college level. After I moved to North Carolina I began looking into higher education programs that would equip me with the necessary skills to be successful in the field. I have always wondered if I had an advisor who took the time to meet with me and inform me or my rights and responsibilities as a student, would it have taken me as long as it did to graduate with my undergraduate degree. Since my first encounter with college I have wanted to learn how I can help other students be successful in college. What to do if you are not doing well is a class? Where to go to get tutoring? What happens if I drop a class? These among other questions are questions that I wanted someone to help me with during my undergraduate career. My short-term goals include completing this program and graduating with at least a 3.5 grade point average. Another short-term goal that I have requires that I find and obtain a position in higher education. Recently it has been difficult for me to find a job within higher education because I do not have much experience in the field up until now. I have regularly been applying for jobs in hopes that someone will give me a chance. I am looking forward to my practicum next year, as it will provide me with the first hand experience that I need in the higher education field. One of my long-term professional goals is to work at the collegiate level with the

CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER department of student affairs. I want to advise students on their degree programs, facilitate and guide students towards completion of their program of study, be involved with the development of grants, and ultimately work my way to a leadership position. Another goal that I have consists of developing and implementing a first-year student experience program as well as a mentoring program and working with high schools to create college readiness programs for students. My goals seem to be very ambitious but I truly want to make a difference in someones life. I have learned that it only takes one person to negatively or positively impact a persons outlook on life. I plan on being that positive influence and the one person who helps people make their dreams a reality by educating their mind I researched job descriptions for mentoring or first-year experience programs and was unable to find many job openings right now fitting that description. I thought it would be best to focus on the advising job because this position will help get my foot in the door as well as help me gain valuable experience that will assist in future employment opportunities. I did find job requirements for a career advisor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I looked at both the job responsibilities as well as qualifications for the job. The responsibilities for this job state: The Career Advisor will be expected to develop, direct, and administer educational experiences that are linked to the educational mission of the Bryan School as it relates to student preparation for internships and careers. This position is responsible for independently creating, delivering and evaluating services and programs as assigned. The Career Advisor will be responsible for the following: 1) Designing, managing, and delivering career related programming, including group presentations and workshops, to supplement academic experience; 2) Creating employment surveys to capture student employment data for all graduating classes; 3) Serving as the point of contact for companies interested in recruiting

CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER Bryan School students for jobs and internships, as well as consulting projects, and be involved in external company visits as needed; 4) Providing one-on-one and group career advising on topics such as the job search, professional communication with prospective employers, career research resources, resume critiques, interview preparation, the internship search, etc.; 5) Developing and managing the Bryan Career Services budget and student personnel; 6) Creating marketing materials to promote events to students and alumni. Plus other duties as assigned. Evening hours and occasional weekends required (Higher Ed Jobs, 2012). The required qualifications for this position are Bachelor's Degree, preferably in a business discipline. Must have excellent communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal and group skills. Proficiency in Excel and Word required. Publisher and Photoshop experience is helpful. Must be able to pick up on new technology quickly. Ability to manage large amounts of data and generate usable reports based on data. Preferred Qualifications: Master's Degree (completed or working towards) in student affairs, higher education, counseling, or business with experience in career development, higher education, HR, and/or recruitment, working with business school students, developing and presenting educational workshops or training seminars face-to-face and online (Higher Ed Jobs, 2012). At this time I do not meet all the requirements for the Career Advisor position. There are many areas that I need to work on and many things that I need to learn before I would even consider applying for this position. Considering the fact that I need to work on many areas in order to apply for certain higher education positions if not all brings me to the career trajectory. I have never had to complete a career trajectory and I am not sure if I have done it correctly. I researched what information should be included in a career trajectory and I would like to discuss them now. The first question that it told me to consider is where I want to be in the next three to ten years. This

CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER coincides with my short and long terms goals mentioned above. During the next three to ten years I would like to participate in my practicum, graduate, obtain a job in higher education and gain a mentor that I can follow and learn all that I can about the field. I am looking for this mentor to help me make the right decisions as it relates to the best way to advise students in college. I will look to gain this mentorship relationship during my practicum experience. I will seek a mentor who can meet with me one on one to discuss any issues or concerns that I may have. If I cannot help the student myself I want to be able to show or tell the student where to go to get the help that they need. I want the mentor to teach me how to properly help a student and be effective in my job. I also want to learn how to counsel students who have concerns or questions about their education or graduation plan. Additionally, I want someone to help guide me and help to grow me in the field of higher education. The skills that I would need to eventually gain include a Masters degree in the field, knowledge various report databases, familiarity with Microsoft programs, skills in interviewing and advising, excellent verbal and written communication skills. I can learn these skills necessary to perform this job mostly through my graduate education. I also will need to remain current with literature and published work within the higher education field. For example, websites such as American Council on Education, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and The American Association for Higher Education. Also I would need to read journal and magazines articles printed in Journal of Higher Education, Administrative Higher Quarterly, Change, Academe, and The Chronicle of higher Education. Staying abreast of the information and material such as scholarly journals, magazines and websites as these will help me to stay current with what is going on in higher education.

CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER In addition, I need to join one or more professional organizations that will help me increase my networking skills and participate in professional development classes. I will utilize conferences and professional development classes to help me strengthen programs at the institution where employed or create new programs based on what I learned. This networking hopefully will lead to me gaining building relationships that I can use to build collaborations between institutions. Some professional organizations that I can join include American Council on Education, National Council of Higher Education, National Association of Student Personnel and Association for the Study of Higher Education. I anticipate gaining experience from my practicum, on the job training, my mentor, and conferences and also with my involvement in various professional organizations. A few conferences that I am interested in attending either now or in the future are Academic Advising Administrators Institute, Conference on the FirstYear Experience, Promoting Student Success in College and Beyond Symposium and an American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Conference. I need these professional organizations and conferences primarily because at this time I have little to now knowledge about the field. I have so much to learn and becoming a member one or more organization as well as continuing my education by attending a conference will help me grow as a professional. One thing that I must do now to make my dream a reality is to build relationships with various staff members and institutions. A relationship or collaboration that I recently learned about and will help me is coteaching. Cotecahing involves two or more instructors teaching the same group of students. Coteaching will allow me to observe and learn first-hand from another faculty member how to teach and manage a classroom. I will be able to plan lessons, execute the lessons and assess the lessons with a faculty member who has more knowledge and experience in the field. In the future this will allow me to teach and run a classroom on my own if necessary.

CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER Another collaboration that I would like to participate in is with surrounding high schools near the institution where I will work. I would like to work and develop a college readiness program for high schools that would fully prepare students for college. The collaboration with the high school will benefit both parties as well as the students. Students and parents will be more aware of what is required of them their first year of college. A third collaboration that I would like to complete during my career in higher education is to host a conference on the campus of the institution where I work. The plan will be to work with another intuition in the surrounding area and discuss issues and concerns that both institutions may have at that time. This conference will bring awareness to current issues in higher education as well as bring in revenue for both organizations involved. This conference will increase my experience level and abilities as it relates to being a diverse professional in the field of education. Lastly, collaboration could involve working with another department on campus or students organization. This is a great opportunity to increase the sense of community on campus and show that the faculty do not mind working with their own. This collaborative relationship will bring awareness to the department in which I work and allow me to display the goals of the department to the students and other faculty and staff members. Overall, I need to increase my experience, join a professional organization, complete my degree and meet the goals that I have set out to meet in order to be successful in this field. I need to be dedicated and serious about my research, professional development, and finding a mentor that I can develop a lasting beneficial relationship with in higher education.

CAREER TRAJECTORY PAPER Works Cited Higher Ed Jobs. (2012). Job Detail: Career Advisor. Retrieved October 11, 2012, from Higher Ed Jobs: http://www.higheredjobs.com/state/details.cfm?JobCode=175685598&Title=Career%20 Advisor