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Career Planning Assessment Report

Kayla Zahide Fuller

Wilmington University
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Career Planning Assessment Report

Step 1: Influential Experiences

I once attended a meeting that opened with the question; Why is human service

important? Although such a simple question was presented, many struggled to come up with an

answer that really captured the picture of the pure meaning of human services. Practicing human

service is essential within this world to enable fellow human beings to be able to succeed and

function to their highest capacities possible. Human services is about empowering others and

coming together to create a positive impact as well as encouraging others to overcome adversity

to achieve their goals.

My younger brother has suffered from a mood disorder since we were younger. Often I

was always thinking of ways that I could help him understand himself. I often drew out plans to

present to him that would enable him to succeed better. I remember one time I had made a chart

for him describing actions and consequences so that he could avoid getting into any trouble at

school. In trying to help him along his journey through mood disorders, I had realized that

helping others in that type of capacity was something that I was very interested in.

When I went to undergraduate school I knew that I wanted to study psychology so that I

could understand the human mind better. What I neglected to realize was that there were many

directions that I could steer within psychology. I completed my undergraduate internship at a

psychiatric hospital, which is where my foundation for the love of human services formed. From

that point on I geared more towards the clinical aspect of human services rather than the research

aspect of psychology.

When I graduated from undergraduate, I applied for a position at the hospital that I

interned for. Unfortunately, they hired internally so my next step was applying for a similar type
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of job. I got hired shortly after at a community mental health day program where I served as a

case manager. I continue to work for the same agency but in a one on one case management

department. I have loved the case management setting within the field of mental health and it has

created even more of a passion within the general field of human services. Although human

services may be draining and at times a struggle, going home everyday knowing that I have

made a slight difference in another persons life is what provides me a sense of fulfillment.

A human service professional has to have the skillset and knowledge in order to have the

ability to maintain various roles in their profession. In my eyes an effective human service

professional serves as a leader, a role model, an advocate, a resource, and a helper. Human

service workers are effective communicators who enjoy a profession in providing helpful

services to the public as well as the specific served populations. There are many roles that I

believe I already play as a human service professional; ones that I have naturally mastered, and

ones who will take years and years of work to consistently improve on.

Step 2: Strength Finder Assessment

The strength finder assessment was able to identify my top five skill themes based on a

series of questions that I had answered. My top five skill themes are as follows: includer,

achiever, relator, responsibility, and discipline. An includer specializes in the acceptance of

others and making sure that people feel involved at all times. Being an achiever is an individual

that is known for having great work ethic as well as being goal oriented. Relator is a theme that

describes a person who enjoys close relationships with others and is able to make others feel

naturally comfortable. Responsibility and discipline are two skills themes that are self-

explanatory.
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In reflecting on my strength finders skills themes, I am able to focus on my strengths and

purposely interject them into my professional workplace. I believe that the more that I am aware

of my strengths the better I can apply them positively within a leadership position. This

information allows me to understand my ability to make others feel important and appreciated

while maintaining structure and organization. I can also be aware of the areas that I am not

strong in so that I dont let those areas negatively affect my leadership abilities. By learning more

about my strengths, I am able to more conscious from this point forward in how I lead a team.

Step 3: MAPP Assessment

The MAPP assessment is more of a narrative assessment that identifies my personal

preferences and motivations rather than my skills. The first section identifies the tasks that I

prefer to preform such as being motivated to manager other people and their activities. The

MAPP also described how I prefer to actually preform the job such as needing change and

variety within a set of work tasks.

The second section of the assessment describes different areas that are rated within

preference such as how I relate to people, how I relate to things, how I relate to data and

reasoning, and how I relate to mathematics and language. Looking at these different aspects also

reminded me of the areas that I excelled in school. The assessment showed similarities of my

strengths to the areas in school that I excelled in.

In my opinion, I thought that the strength finders and the MAPP assessments were very

different. I believe that their results were conclusions of a similar aspect, but the focus of the

assessment varied. I think that the strength finder assessment focused more on what I excel in

naturally where as the MAPP assessment focused more on what I prefer despite my natural

abilities to excel.
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Step 4: Career Selection

In the future, I see myself growing to become an administrative service manager of a

program in a human service agency. For example, I can see myself being the director of a type of

department that I currently work for. I am a firm believer that in order to be an administrator, that

you must have experience in starting at the bottom. I have seen many managers who went

straight through undergraduate and graduate school and attained a manager position after having

very little experience in the field. I do not believe that you can reach the middle or the top of the

ladder without starting at the bottom. I believe it is very beneficial that I am well rounded in

experience at such a young age not only for personal reasoning, but also for professional

reasonings.

I was able to have the opportunity to serve in this career position short term while my

manager was out on medical leave. I was able to experience the job duties and responsibilities

hands on. I had several meetings with the clinical director in which I was being praised for a job

well done. Although I was very intimidated by the expectations from the CEO and the clinical

director, I was able to conquer adversity and gained confidence in my abilities. I excelled in

being organized and disciplined in the way that I managed the team. My team who I had worked

along side with for several years had stated that they wanted me to serve as their permanent boss,

not because of who I am, but the work that I had done and the positive impact that I had left

behind.

As an administrative leader as a manager, I would like to see myself as being in essence a

role model. I would want to be the type of leader that I would want to follow. I would be

knowledgeable, experienced, understanding, and supportive in all the supervision that I would
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offer to my workers. I would like to be an efficient leader who is reliable and respected. I would

want to create an environment that would create a productive and enjoyable workplace.

I have high hopes for my future and expect that one day I am able to turn all of my

experiences into a longer-term profession of a college professor. I never originally intended to be

a teacher but I have come across many instructors at Wilmington University that have inspired

me to share the love of human services through the world of academics. Engaging others in the

shared love for helping others is an inspiration for me to achieve. I am confident that with the

educational training of Wilmington University and the guidance of their professors combined

with the experience type training that I am receiving from my workplace will prepare me to be

an effective and successful leader within human services no matter what human service position

I may be fulfilling.