RUNNING HEAD: WHO AM I PAPER
Who Am I Paper
Chelsey Perkins
Liberty University
COUS 522
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Career Instrument Results
The O*NET Interest Profiler is an online self-assessment tool utilized by individuals to
help explore their career field options based off of their interests. After completing my own
assessments on the O*NET Interest Profiler, I was surprised by a few of my final results. My
score are as follows: Social (33), Artistic (16), Investigative (15), Enterprising (12), Realistic (4)
and lastly Conventional (1). Before taking this assessment I felt that I would score higher in
conventional than I inevitable did. The definition at the end of the O*NET assessment defined
people with conventional interests as valuing work that follows set procedures and routines.
Personally speaking, these are both components I look for in a long-term career field. I
personally enjoy structure and set rules and regulations which I can fall back on when in doubt or
in need of guidance. In the career field I am currently pursuing, school counseling, these set
procedures which I can refer to and fall back on would be the American Counseling Association
(ACA) and The American School Counselor Association (ASCA).
I was also pleasantly surprised by my second highest score of artistic because I do not
believe or did not believe that I was an artistic person at all. Considering I do not play any
musical instruments and I can only draw stick figures I believed that I wouldn't have scored any
points within the artistic category. The definition for artistic according to the assessments results
states that individualizes who score high within this category enjoy work that be done without
following a set of rules. This alone is what I originally considered as my top priority when
pursuing a career. I was not surprised by scoring high within the social category because as it
states, individuals who score high within this category like working with others to help them
learn and grow and are more interested in working with people rather than objects, machines or
information. Although some of the scores I received I do not completely agree with the ones that
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matters the most such as social helped solidify my years of commitment to the counseling and
human services field.
After reviewing John Holland's Theory of Types the top three Holland vocational
personality types for which I most identify with are: investigative, social and enterprising. I
thoroughly enjoy doing things to help others and value solving social problems. This is
inevitably why I consider Holland's definition of a social personality type as my main
trait/category. Holland speaks about how these social individuals see themselves as helpful,
friendly and trustworthy which are all values I pride myself on and incorporate within my
everyday life. Although Holland describes those with an investigative personality type with a
love for science and math I personally do not do well in either of those subjects. What I take
away from the investigative personality trait would be my ability to observe, learn, analyze and
solve problems in a more worldly sense. Lastly, I incorporated enterprising into my top three
vocational personality types due to its nature of individuals who enjoy working with others
through influencing, persuading and leading. All traits that I feel that I possess and excel well in.
When instructed to sort between a list of values It took me a considerable amount of time
and careful consideration when having to narrow down to my choice of only 10 which I
personally identified with. When later instructed to narrow my top 10 down to 5, then to 4 and
inevitably down to my number 1 value it made me question why I choose the ones I did and why
I cut the ones I did. Originally my top 5 values were: independence, affection, physical
challenge, loyalty and order. When instructed to break that down into my top 2 value I choose
affection (love and caring) and loyalty because these values are things I honor in myself and
those who I have close relationships with. I struggled with selecting these top two values because
the others that I choose within my top 5 are also very important and prominent in my life. I
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selected affection (love and caring) as my number one value because I believe in this world that
it is the most important and profound aspect we can possess and show to others. I selected
loyalty as my number two value because I believe that is coincides with affection (love and
caring) and in my world I believe you can not have true love without undeniable loyalty. While
narrowing down my top values I pondered on the fact and idea that the way I may describe and
define one of the values listed another individual may view and define that same value in a
whole new light.
Personal Reactions
After completing the assessment tools provided for this project I personally believe that
each instrument did a seemingly accurate job with providing results that fit my own personal
self-perception. I say seemingly because some of the results I did not previously identify with but
after reviewing, researching and learning about all of the characteristics, I cultivated why I
scored higher in categories I never considered identifying with. After reviewing the descriptive
words used in my personal top 3 Holland codes I can honestly say that many if not all of the
descriptors listed within investigative, social and artistic fit within my own self-perception
because as I grew into myself today and my professional career the descriptions listed are values
I have continued to install on a daily basis. Yet, as mentioned earlier I was surprised that I scored
so highly within the artistic category because I do not consider myself an artist. The influences I
do take away form the artistic category are that I can be creative in my work in terms of how I
approach situations and how I can work without following a set of rules if need be. In contrast,
after reviewing the descriptive words used for the bottom 3 Holland codes I can pinpoint how
they are polar opposites of my top 3. For example, I only scored 1 point within the conventional
category and the individuals who score high within this category are said to be able to work with
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clear rules. I believe and know I work well with clear rules yet in contrast the artistic category
that I scored the second highest in states again that my work can be done without following a set
of rules. Within the realistic category absolutely none of the descriptors fit within my self-
perception. Nothing about working with plants or animals, working outside or with real-world
material interest me in my personal life and especially not within my idea of a growing
profession I would want to pursue.
External Influences
In terms of my feelings and reactions while completing the assessments I did feel
conflicted at times especially when narrowing down my top personal values. As previously
mentioned, it was rather difficult when trying to decide what I would be “okay” with going
without. When completing the other assessment tools I was only indifferent towards my results
when scoring high within categories I did not previously consider relating to. When examining
whether intrinsic factors such as race, age, gender, or disabling conditions could have influenced
my assessment results, I do believe that not only mine but each individual's values and beliefs are
prepositioned based on their past influences and demographics. When completing such
assessment tools as the O*NET Interest Profiler I believe that if you have the background
knowledge regarding the overall intent of the test those completing it will select answers to better
fit their previous beliefs and overall wants for their final score. In my case there were not any
external factors such as feeling tired, being rushed or technology issues that could have
influenced my assessment results. Instead, I believe the environment in which I conducted the
assessments in was beneficial in the assessment process and can see how this would be different
for others. While taking the assessments, I did indeed think and consider about how my
responses to a specific statement would affect the final result but this did not deter me from
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changing my responses. As I mentioned, when completing such assessments where you are going
to be scored based on values and ideations individuals, as well as myself may consider or often
screw their responses to fit what they believe their outcome should be. I considered taking that
route but wanted to view what would be honest and insightful answers and this is why I scored
higher within categories I previously did not identify with. Now I have a bigger and better
picture of myself than before.
Conclusion
I believe that the results of each of the assessments I completed did coincide and relate to
one another. My top three vocational personality types and the values I selected go hand in hand
with the career path I have chosen and have been working towards. When reviewing the
categories under my dream job the values and interests that align within the counseling field are
all values and interests I already possess which only confirms that I am on the right path that will
hopefully lead to a happy and satisfying career. My knowledge, skills and abilities also closely if
not exactly align with the careers I explored within O*NET, all within the counseling and mental
health field. I am thankful for assessments and tools such as these because they help align
passions with realistic paths that one can take and pursue with enjoyment and not simply just for
the money. I have known I wanted to work within a field that focuses on psychology and this
idea was solidified after completing my undergraduate degree and obtaining my B.S in
Psychology and later working with children who have behavioral issues in the school setting . I
feel that this path I have chosen to take will leave me with fulfillment and enjoyment in the idea
that I am helping others all while doing something I love.
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Recourses
National Center for O*NET Development. Interest Profiler (IP). O*NET Resource Center.
Retrieved September 15, 2019, from https://www.onetcenter.org/IP.html
