Decision-making Models and Career Guidance | Report

Read the Chapter titled, “Career ICU (I Couldn’t Understand): Recovering from Self-Inflicted Career Wounds” in the book Be Your Best Career Architect: Here are the Blueprints. Students should: Select TWO of the specific career wounds that are mentioned in the chapter. You must name them. 1 Explain how you have committed those wounds in the past (or could be doing now). Give details about the circumstances, why you did it, the outcome, who was involved, who was affected (besides just you), etc. This must be explained clearly for EACH career wound. 2 Explain what you learned from committing EACH of those wounds. How would you (or have you) enact the suggestions in the chapter regarding how to overcome/avoid those wounds? 3 What advice would you give to others regarding how to avoid committing EACH wound? Explain this clearly with details.

Running head: RECOVERING FROM SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
Making better career choices
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1RECOVERING FROM SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
With ever-increasing career options in recent years, making decisions on the same
has become extremely confusing. A variety of factors influence such decisions and
prioritising the most useful ones is essential (Gati, Levin, and Landman-Tal). It is of utmost
importance to make the most appropriate choice as it will continue to affect the person
throughout their life. Thus, it is imperative to beware of career wounds for correct decisions.
Two of such career wounds are inadequate research on the aspired career option and poor
selection of the board of directors (Parks-Yancy and Cooley). My experience with each of
these wounds is discussed in the paper.
Inadequate research on the aspired career option
Proper research and knowledge of the choice desired are important to reach the goal
successfully (Parks-Yancy and Cooley). In my personal experience, one such incident took
place in which a lack of adequate homework on the choice on my part caused trouble. I did
not opt for the subject biochemistry in my curriculum. I want to pursue medical or a
pharmaceutical course if I do not get through a good medical college. Due to insufficient
homework on my part, I did not realize that biochemistry is an essential criterion for
admission in most colleges for medical and pharmaceuticals. I just studied the scope of a
medical career and that it interests me without doing comprehensive research on the route to
get into a good medical college. The primary reason for this was negligence on my part and
lack of an understanding of the importance of adequate knowledge before taking such
decisions. As I did not study which subjects should be chosen and how to proceed towards a
medical career, I am facing trouble in understanding many concepts of biological courses.
This event led me to realise the importance of studying the background before taking
major decisions, specially career-related choices. After identifying your interest, it is vital to
accurately study the route to progress towards a career in it. The scope of the career and the

2RECOVERING FROM SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
requirements to get into that job is crucial to study. I realised my mistake after talking to my
seniors about the difficulty I was facing in understanding it. Then, they suggested me to do an
online course on biochemistry which will provide me with the basic concepts to understand
the other subjects well. A certified course will also be an added value to my resume. This
trouble could be avoided if my background research was strong enough or if I had consulted
people in the field previously. Seniors or people already in a particular field can give proper
assistance based on their experience and suggest ways to pursue a career in a better way.
Also, their mistakes might be a guiding light towards making decisions such that they are not
repeated.
As discussed in the provided chapter, making a major decision without a background
check on that subject can be very harmful to the future. Such decisions must be made with
proper research on the topic and how to reach the ultimate career goals. The Internet can be
an excellent means to collect an idea. There are various search engines and websites that
given extensive knowledge on different topics. Also, there are various student forums which
can be used to discuss queries and seek advice from professionals or senior students. Social
media may also be used to connect to people from different places and talk about the matter.
Another important way is to discuss the aspired career choice with seniors and other
significant people in the field face to face. This will help to get clarity on the way to proceed
towards the goal. Discussing the matter with seniors and taking their advice is helpful in the
long term (Vertsberger and Gati). Discussing with students and professionals already
pursuing the course gives a ground reality of the career, its scope and the difficulties that
might come along. Having a thorough knowledge of what we are going into helps to achieve
those goals better. A pre-requisite knowledge of the obstacles in the way keeps us mentally
prepared to overcome those challenges.
Poor selection of the board of directors

3RECOVERING FROM SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
My family, particularly parents, have a significant influence on all my decisions, big
or small. My parents substantially influence an important decision as to career path. I have
always taken decisions after consulting my family, which also includes my elder sister. My
parents wanted me to pursue a career in science despite my liking towards art and painting as
they believe my capability is beyond just painting. It was a very confusing phase as I could
not think and decide the option for myself. Also, I was not that mature then. Hence, I took
the advice and believed them. I was assured that they would suggest the best option.
However, I immature enough to realize that their best may not match with what suits me the
best. After taking up science, I did not regret my decision so much as I was quite good at it
and gradually started developing interest. I also joined an art group to keep in touch with
painting. It made me so happy that I would often have to reconsider my career decision and
have second thoughts about science. There was a phase in which I did not feel like studying
at all and would spend hours painting. This affected not only me but also my parents as they
were anxious about my failing grades in school. They tried talking and convincing me to
focus on studies as science is a competitive discipline.
Soon, I realised that science has a bright future, and since I have already made the
decision, it would be best to focus on developing interest in it. It made me realise how
important it is to make one’s own decisions and not by the influence of others, including
parents. Though parents are our well-wishers, their decisions may not necessarily keep us
happy. More importantly, it is essential to choose a career which keeps us happy and not just
form decisions based on its scope. It is crucial to make a career choice depending on what
interests us. This wound can be avoided by taking decisions based on without being drifted
by others’ opinions. It is good to listen to everyone’s opinions but only the ones that seem
suitable should be taken into consideration. One should not get affected so much by everyone
around.

4RECOVERING FROM SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
It is a common thing to get influenced by people around us, particularly those very
close to us, such as family. It is also good to consider these opinions as they often might be
the best in the long term. However, these opinions should not be the sole basis of our
decisions (McMahon and Patton). We must realise our potential, strengths and weaknesses
and make a career choice accordingly. It is also essential to refrain from getting over-
influenced by others’ remarks and opinions. Every individual must evaluate what interests
them and makes them happy while doing it before opting any primary choice (Di Fabio and
Saklofske). As explained in the chapter, we are the CEO of our choices and must choose our
board of directors wisely. Taking the suggestions from the board of directors is fine but the
final decision must be of the CEO.similarly, our final decisions, mainly, career choices must
not be based on others’ views and mindsets but our own (Parks-Yancy and Cooley).

5RECOVERING FROM SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
Works Cited
Di Fabio, Annamaria, and Donald H. Saklofske. "Comparing ability and self-report trait
emotional intelligence, fluid intelligence, and personality traits in career
decision." Personality and Individual Differences 64 (2014): 174-178.
Gati, Itamar, Nimrod Levin, and Shiri Landman-Tal. "Decision-making models and career
guidance." International handbook of career guidance. Springer, Cham, 2019. 115-
145.
McMahon, Mary, and Wendy Patton. "Influences on career decisions." Ideas for Career
Practitioners: Celebrating Excellence in Career Practice (2015): 199.
Parks-Yancy, Rochelle, and Delonia Cooley. Be Your Best Career Architect: Here Are The
Blueprints. Sentiapublishing.Com, 2018.
Vertsberger, Dana, and Itamar Gati. "The effectiveness of sources of support in career
decision-making: A two-year follow-up." Journal of Vocational Behavior 89 (2015):
151-161.