Reflective Essay on Personality, Emotional Intelligence, and Critical Thinking

This reflective essay discusses the concepts of personality, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking. It talks about the author's strengths and weaknesses and their experience with community service. The essay also highlights the skills required by employers in fresh graduates.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Reflective Essay
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1REFLECTIVE ESSAY
In the opinion of Raymond Cattell articulated in his “Trait-based personality
theories”, a person’s personality is the “traits that predict a person's behavior” (Eysenck
2013). In other words, personality can be defined as the “set of habitual behaviors,
cognitions and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors”
(Eysenck 2013). Personality, therefore, is the response of an individual to the outside world
around him or her (Lasswell 2017). Therefore, the concept of personality is used by the
various individuals not only to respond to the outside world but also to portray an image of
themselves to the outside world (Josefsson et al. 2013).
I would like to comment here that in the present times I have become kind of an
extrovert person who does not likes to interact much with the other people. In addition to this,
I would also say that I am an intuitive person and often judge people on the basis of their
personality or the way they themselves. However, at the same time I would comment that I
am a very thinking person. Furthermore, instead of focusing on the short term goals I like to
focus on the long term goals and hate to make the same kind of mistakes.
Personal Value Inventory (PVI) is a tool which is used to measure the strengths as
well as the weaknesses of a person’s personality (Parks-Leduc et al. 2015). This particular
tool takes the help of questionnaires to find out the most important behavioral traits of a
person (Parks-Leduc et al. 2015). The tool of PVI is often used by the various individuals to
get an idea about their key strengths and weaknesses (Dobewall et al. 2014). In general, the
tool of PVI is used by the people to get an idea about their strengths and weakness and it also
helps them in their personal development process (Hutteman et al. 2014).
The concept of emotional intelligence has gained much popularity in the recent times
and is increasingly being used by the various individuals to develop their overall character as
well as personality (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). The concept of emotional

2REFLECTIVE ESSAY
intelligence can be defined as “the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's
emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically” (Zeidner,
Matthews and Roberts 2012). It is significant to note that this particular concept is
increasingly been seen as one of the most important traits of an effective leader in the present
times and therefore, I would like to cultivate this particular concept in my own character or
personality (Druskat, Mount and Sala 2013). The cultivation of this particular skill within my
personality is likely to act as one of key strengths.
The concept of leadership has gained much prominence in the recent times and it is a
reflection of this particular fact that the various individuals focus on the development of this
particular skills (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). The term is generally defined as the
“ability or the skill to lead other people or individuals towards the achievement of their
desired goals as well as objectives” (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). I would like to
add here that this particular skill is something which I would like to inculcate within my own
personality as that would help me in a significant manner in the later part of life when I will
start working.
I would like to say here that I like to kind of people who are self made and have
fought through all the odds of life to attain the success which they now hold. I admire the
never give-up spirit among the individuals. Bill Gates was a “National Merit Scholar” at the
“Lakeside School in 1973” and scored an impressive “1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic
Aptitude Tests (SAT)” in the year 1973 to gain admission at the Harvard College. It is
significant to note that his parents wanted to pursue him a career in law however he followed
his passion and studied mathematics and computer science. His changing moment in life
came with his association with Microsoft and he became one of the primary reasons for the
success attained by the company in the later years. Therefore, I admire the persona of Bill
Gates and consider him as my mentor as defied all odds and followed his passion. His life

3REFLECTIVE ESSAY
when thoroughly analyzed would provide an important lesson in the concept of perseverance.
These in short are some of the reasons why I admire Bill Gates and consider him to be my
mentor. The qualities of Gates like the way he followed his passion, his perseverance, hard
work and other skills would help me succeed in life like him.
I have applied for a human resource job as part of the class activity and I hope that
this is going to help me in my future prospects of gaining a better job in the HR industry. The
concerned job will provide me with various key skills like the process of effective
communication, the way to handle as well as tackle various diverse people, time management
skills, working in a team environment and others. I would like to say that working in a team
environment would be my strength when later on in my life I would apply for the HR job.
The results of my personality test show that I am an extrovert and therefore I would be able to
easily adapt to the team environment. It is significant to note that the HR job is a very diverse
job and needs the effective use of team work for a better performance of not only the
individual person but also of the entire team. Therefore, I would say that these are likely to
form my key areas of strength.
The employers look for various qualities as well as strengths among the fresh
graduates. The primary skills which the various employers look for in the fresh graduates are
effective communication skills, time management, adaptability to diverse critical situations
and others. It is significant to note that some of the employers also look for some kind of
work experience among the employees however in the case of the fresh employees this
particular aspect is not that important. The employers focus on the effective communication
skills as that would enable the fresh graduates to interact with the various diverse entities of
the business organization concerned in a much better manner. It is generally seen that the
most of the business organizations in the present times require the process of effective
communication as it forms one of the key aspects of their business process. Moreover, this

4REFLECTIVE ESSAY
particular skill becomes especially significant when the HR industry is taken into
consideration in which I hope to enter in the future times. Furthermore, the various business
organizations also focus on the various time management skills as that would help the
employees to complete the job roles assigned to them within the timeframe. These in short
are some of the key skills which the various employers look for in the fresh graduates. I
would like to add here that these were totally new concepts to me and therefore initially I
faced some difficulties with these concepts. Thus, I had to take the help of my teachers,
parents and also my friends to get to know about these concepts in a much better and also to
implement them in a much better manner in my life.
I would like to say here that finding the strengths as well as the weaknesses of mine
own self was a bit difficult for me. Initially I was a bit confused about the key strengths as
well as the weaknesses of mine own character. I would like to comment here the personality
test helped me a lot to determine the strength as well as the weaknesses of mine own-self.
Furthermore, the various recent activities and group activities in which I was recently
involved in helped a lot to find about my own personal strengths as well as weaknesses.
Furthermore, the tough situations in which I was involved throughout the course of my life
also gave me an idea about the key strengths as well as weaknesses of mine own character. In
addition to these, the suggestions given by my professors at various point of my educational
career also helped a lot in finding about my key strengths as well as weaknesses. The
viewpoints of my parents also helped me a lot in the process. I would also like to say that
finding about mine own strengths as well as weaknesses helped me to get an idea about the
activities which I would be able to do in a much better and the ones which I will not be able
to do. The knowledge of this particular aspect is very essential as it gives an idea about the
strengths as well as limitations of one’s own self.

5REFLECTIVE ESSAY
I would like to say here that hard work is a very relative concept and its definition
depends on the particular context in which it is being used. Therefore, a person who appears
to be working hard as per the perspective of one person might not be working hard as per the
perspective of another person. I would like to comment here that hard work forms an
important part of the various governmental jobs. In my personal opinion, a hard working
employee is not only the one who works towards the achievement of the personal work target
given to him or her by the management of the governmental organization but also the ones
work effortlessly towards the achievement of the entire team’s target and also the motivates
the other employees to achieve the job roles which is required of him or her. In addition to
these, a hard working employee also takes the onus on himself or herself to teach the other
employees of the organization who are new the required skills which will help them in the
process of the achievement of the target or job roles which have been ascribed to them by the
management of the organization. I would like to say that initially this particular concept
seemed a bit difficult to me and I had a hard time following this particular concept. As the
results of my personality test reveals I am extrovert person and not much used to hard ward.
Therefore, the idea seemed a bit difficult and I had to seek the guidance of others to
implement this particular idea in my life.
I would also like to add here that critical thinking forms an important part of the lives
of the various individuals and helps them in the achievement of the various goals or the
objectives not only set by them but also by the organization or the company in which they are
working. Critical thinking not only helps the various individuals to overcome the various
difficult situations in the life of an individual but also helps them to perform the tasks or the
job roles ascribed to them in a much better or innovative. Therefore, it is seen that the various
individuals as well as the business organizations insist that the individuals must use as well as
inculcate the concept of critical thinking in their every day to day activities. Furthermore, the

6REFLECTIVE ESSAY
concept of critical thinking also helps the various individuals to break out of the boredom of
their lives and also to do the same tasks which they are required to do every day in a much
innovative or better manner. therefore, it can also be said that the use of this particular
concepts adds to the feel good factor of the various individuals as it enables them not only to
do things in a much better manner and but also to think that they have something significant.
Furthermore, I would like to add here that at school and other place we had been taught to
just follow the books which have been provided to use and therefore we were not much
required to use our critical thinking skills. Thus, this particular concept seemed not only new
to me but also a bit difficult as in the earlier part of my life I had not used this particular
concept.
As the results of my personality tests show and as I already mentioned I am an
extrovert and like to think about the long term goals or benefits rather than short term ones.
Therefore, this will be a bit difficult for me as it would require me to channelize all my
thinking process towards the achievement of one particular goal or objective. I would like
comment here that this would be a bit difficult for me as I am an extrovert. Furthermore, the
development of this process will also require me to focus on various short term goals rather
than the long ones which is something that I do not like to indulge in. it is true that the
development of the faculty of critical thinking would help me in a significant manner not
only in the present times but would also enhance my future job prospects however this will
require me to do something which is totally contrary to my nature. Therefore, the activity was
a kind of a challenge to me as I had not faced similar kinds of situations in the earlier part of
our lives.
I would like to mention here that as part of the class activity I undertook a voluntary
community service and later on I was interviewed by our professor Mrs Shoba. I would like
to add here that the activity which I added recently had some positive as well as negative

7REFLECTIVE ESSAY
aspects. The positive aspect of it was that I was able to gain a valuable amount of information
as well as experiences. However, there were some negative aspects as well for example the
area in which we did the community service was an aboriginal one and not very developed.
Therefore, there was a shortage of food for us when we reached and on top of that when we
reached that particular and prepared our food, the food was stolen by the mothers of some of
the aboriginal children. This left us in a very helpless situation and we had to spend the whole
day without any food. I would like to add here that we did not take much of food with us as
we thought that we would get substantial amount of food from the locality however that was
not the case. I would like to add here that not only we had to depend on our very limited food
reserves but also the limited amount of food which we took with ourselves was stolen by the
natives. In addition to this, when I was distributing the toothbrush kits to the children I could
not find all of them at one place and therefore a lot of commotion was caused during the
process. I would also like to add here that the aboriginals were not only undedicated people
but very greedy at the same time and added to our miseries at the workshop in a significant
manner. These in short were some of the worst experiences which I had during the
community service. Therefore, I would like to say that the community service was kind of a
mixed experience for me.
To conclude, personality forms an important part of the lives of the individuals. It is
significant to note that knowing about the strengths as well as the weaknesses of one’s own
character or personality helps the various individuals in a significant manner. The individuals
can take the help of the various kinds of personality tests to not only find about the strengths
as well as the weaknesses of their own character but can also get to know themselves in a
much better manner.

8REFLECTIVE ESSAY
References
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of self-other agreement in personal values versus the Big Five personality traits. Journal of
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of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
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9REFLECTIVE ESSAY
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