Career Planning Assessment Report

Jennifer White

AHS 8100 Guided Practicum in Administration of Human Services

My motivation to pursue a human service career stems from the experience I had with my

maternal grandmother. She was in a nursing home for 18 years because she suffered from
multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is an immune-mediated disease that targets the central nervous

system of the body. In my grandmothers case, she was unable to walk and needed care that

could not be provided at home. In her 18 years in a nursing home she was in three different

facilities because the care in the first two began to decline. In the second, I remember that the

staff had attitudes and were not in any rush to care for their residents. During my undergrad, I

enrolled in a long-term care course and a lot of what was taught I understand perfectly because

of visiting my grandmother in a nursing home and because both of my parents being in the long-

term care industry. I have spent a lot of time in long-term care facilities for my internships

during my undergraduate program. It is my belief that the aging population age with dignity,

respect and quality care.

After completing the Strengths Finder Assessment, it was revealed that my top five

themes were consistency, realtor, responsibility, discipline and focus. Consistency was described

as the need to treat individuals the same by setting up clear rules. I believe this to be true of

myself because regardless of a persons status or situation I treat everyone the same. This is very

true of myself at work. Whenever corporate individuals visit our facility, management panics

and tries to make sure the building is in tip-top shape. On the other hand, I go about my day and

worry about my work. In my opinion these people put their pants on the same way I do and just

because they have Senior VP in their title does not make them better than me as everyone gets

their start somewhere. I was surprised to learn that I am a relator as it was described as

enjoyment when working with others and satisfaction in working hard with friends. While I

would prefer to work with individuals instead of just myself, I have found that I can only rely on

myself. The other three themes of responsibility, discipline and focus are all extremely true of

my personality. I find that I am extremely responsible and disciplined for being 25 years old. I
make sure all of my responsibilities are taken care of before I enjoy downtime or plans with my

friends and family. I often work late at work not because I have to but because I want to in order

to make sure certain tasks are completed. Once I am involved and consumed by a project it is

hard for me to break my focus. Sometimes at home or at work I have to be told or reminded to

step away for a few minutes to take a bathroom break or a snack and water break.

The Strengths Finder Assessment and MAPP Assessment seemed quite similar. However,

the strengths finder assessment focused on the traits of the individuals whereas the MAPP

assessment provides traits for individuals in regard to the job they are wanting to perform. This

assessment provides interests in job contents, temperament for the job, aptitude for the job, how

one relates to people, how one relates to things, data, reasoning, applied usage of math and lastly,

language. In regard to reasoning my top trait was listed as being motivated and being mentally

equipped for troubleshooting. This made sense as I often feel like the problem solver of my

family. Im the one who tries figure out our problems and make things better. The MAPP

assessment was definitely an interesting assessment that provided a wide variety of information

and in a sense supplemented and enhanced the strengths finder assessment.

Based on my MAPP Assessment, I chose to look at educator on the United States Bureau

of Labor Statistics. Out of the list of education selections I selected Instructional Coordinators as

that seemed the most interesting. Instructional coordinators oversee school curriculums and

teaching standards. They develop instructional material, coordinate its implementation with

teachers and principals, and assess its effectiveness. (Instructional Coordinators: Occupational

Outlook Handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.) This career could also be

implemented into healthcare and more specifically long-term care as the industry is ever-

changing. There is a need for continued education in healthcare and both state and federal
standards change regularly or there are additional changes and standards. I think my traits of

discipline and responsibility are great leadership skills for this chosen career. Strengths that

make me a qualified candidate for my chosen career are my interest in teaching others about

changes that affect the industry. In addition, it provides a support to the rest of the staff when

learning about regulatory updates. In order to be successful in my chosen career, I would need to

work on my presentation skills and communication skills. In order to educate others, that can

require public speaking depending on the size of the group. It would also require patience,

which would be something I would need to work on within myself as I get frustrated trying to

explain things to people when they dont understand it as I do.

References
Instructional Coordinators : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/instructional-

coordinators.htm