Self-Reflection and Career Management: A Personal Journey

This report discusses the importance of self-reflection in career management and highlights the results of eight self-reflection tools. The author shares their demographic and background information, assessment procedures, theme elicitation, and thematic analysis. The report concludes with recommendations for career development. The subject is career management, and the course code, name, and college/university are not mentioned.

Career
Management

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Demographic and background information.....................................................................................2
Assessment Procedures....................................................................................................................2
Theme elicitation.............................................................................................................................3
Thematic analysis............................................................................................................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Self-reflection is the process through which an individual can reflect upon his or her own
abilities, strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of self-reflection is to identify weaknesses and
improve upon them as well as identify strengths and understand their effective usage. Through
this course, I have taken several self-reflection modules and tools that have helped me in gaining
a deeper insight about my own personality. This report highlights upon eight self-reflection tools
and their results as well as their impact on my future.
Demographic and background information
I have spent a major part of my life in Asia. I was born in the late 1990s. Both my parents were
working before I was born. However, at the time of my birth, my mother decided to be a stay at
home mom in order to take care of me. Both my parents have always been fairly strict about my
education. They sent me to a private school despite not being very financially sound. During my
school days, I took keen interest in learning languages and other subjects like geography, history
and science. I always hated math as a child and somehow I continue to do so even today.
Throughout my school like, I participated in several co-curricular activities. I was the captain of
the football team and took active part in debates and declamation contests. After finishing
school, I joined a management course for my graduation. Throughout the course, I continued to
work part time in order to earn money. This also gave me industry exposure at a young age. I
have been working in the field of personal selling for several clients.
In my personal time, I like to travel and read books. Both my parents are avid readers and this
habit stems down from them. I also have a passion for writing and have active blogs. I often take
freelancing writing projects. I enjoy spending time with my family, girlfriend and other friends.
Assessment Procedures
Structured Autobiography 18 September 2018 Appendix 1
Interview with significant others 21 September 2018 Appendix 2

Holland’s vocational choice
(HVC)
25 September 2018 Appendix 3
Self-evaluation scales 29 September 2018 Appendix 4
Work values inventory 2 October 2018 Appendix 5
HEXACO 6 October 2018 Appendix 6
Goal Orientation 7 October 2018 Appendix 7
Career Anchors 11 October 2018 Appendix 8
Time perspective theory 14 October 2018 Appendix 9
Ambivalent sexism scale 14 October 2018 Appendix 10
Theme elicitation
I am open to learning and continue to work towards my growth
Since the time I was really young, I have always been open to learning. I tend to take up new
activities and learn them. The results of the goal orientation test also helped me understand this
ability of mine. I scored 4.6 on learning objective which reflects upon my desire to learn things.
In my structured autobiography (SA) too, I always expressed a desire to learn new things and
excel at them. I have learnt foreign languages. Even at my part time jobs, I have worked in HR as
well as sales because I wanted to experience new things. My score of 9 in adventure in the works
value inventory self-assessment tool also depicts my openness to new adventures.

I have a fairly low score in “Benevolent sexism score” in the ambivalent sexism scale. This
suggests that I am not bound to any traditional gender roles. I truly believe that learning is
limitless and can as well as must be gathered from every possible source.
I enjoy autonomy and a sense of independence
As an individual, I have always valued my independence, autonomy and the ability to take my
own decisions. In my structured autobiography, it is mentioned that every time someone asked
me about my future plan, I called myself a leader. I cherished the idea of having a certain
autonomy and decision making authority. In my interview with my significant others, I discussed
closely with my boss at my part time job as well as my dad and best friend. All three of them
depicted that I work best when I work independently. The high score of 4 out of 5 for autonomy
in the work values inventory also signifies my need for autonomy as well as the importance that
it holds in my life. I also got a high score of 4.2 for autonomy in the career anchors tool which
clearly suggests that autonomy in the workplace acts as my anchor for improved performance
and growth.
However, I agree that I am too young and my career has not entirely taken off yet. Therefore it
would be difficult for me to work in absolute independence. However, my need and desire for
autonomy will continue to motivate me to work harder and learn more so that I can eventually be
able and competent enough to take autonomous decisions. In the career anchors self-evaluation
tool as well, my scores clearly reflect upon this need for independence. I have got high score of
4.2 each on autonomy and entrepreneurial creativity.
I am an emotional person
Several results of my many self-evaluation tools reflect that I am an extremely emotional person.
Since the very beginning, I have been very attached to my mother. My parents have always
taught me to express my emotions. Unlike several Asian individuals who consider expressing
emotions as a sign of weakness, my family has always supported us and enabled us to accept and
confront our emotions in a better manner. In the Holland’s Vocational choice tool, I got a low
score of 6 in being realistic. In the HEXACO test, I got a very high score of 3.2 on emotionality
depicting that I am an emotional person (Ashton, Lee & De, 2014). In the work values inventory

tool also, I have got a high score of 12 for friendship at work. This suggests that my relationships
and friendship with people at work also plays a significant role in my life. I value relationships
more than results and friendships more than outcome. This emotional ability and inclination of
mine is one of my biggest strengths and helps me in being intuitive while taking decisions.
I am a very social person and work towards building long term relationship with others
I have had the opportunity to undertake several leadership roles throughout my school life. This
was probably because I had a large circle of friends and maintained cordial relationships with
almost all my classmates. The strength of my social circle positively reflects upon my people
management skills. In the work values inventory, I got a high score of 4 in “relationships with
others”. Most importantly, while taking the Holland’s vocational choice test (Holland, 2013), I
got the perfect score of 10 in being “Social”.
As an active sports member, I have learnt the importance of team work and establishing cordial
relationships with people. This is also because my father used to always say that an individual’s
network is the real net worth of the individual. Therefore I always put efforts in building and
fostering long term relationships with people. In the work values inventory tool, I have got high
score of 12 in “Friendships at work”, 11 in “Work environment” and 10 in “People contact”. All
of these scores combined is a clear depiction of my ability to be social with people (Cogin,
2012).
One thing that I have noticed is that establishing long term relationships with a large number of
people and being social has its own set of advantages. The room and scope for learning increases
a lot more. Similarly, the chances of growth also elevate. However, associating with a large
number of people also makes an individual prone to a lot of feedback and opinion. In my self-
evaluation scale, I have scored 4 out of 5 on “fear of negative evaluation”. This suggests that not
only do I wish to establish relationships with people, I also fear their negative evaluation
(Brown, 2014). It is my innate tendency to work towards being like by people. Sometimes this
need to make everyone happy backfires and then I miss out on important things.
I am innovative and creative

My interest in extracurricular activities throughout my school life clearly reflects upon my
creative side. I always try to think out of the box and come up with unique ideas. I try to keep my
room and environment creatively curated. In my interview with significant others, the first thing
that my best friend and my dad mentioned is that I am very creative. My score of 9 in my HVC
in “Enterprising” suggests that I am creative. The same analysis was confirmed by a score of 4.2
in “Entrepreneurial creativity” in the career anchors tools.
My openness to learning also perfectly complements by creative side. Several results from
various self-assessment tools reflect upon my ability to be enterprising. I would like to build
something from scratch and be autonomously responsible for that. Such tasks are only possible
with a large amount of innovation and creativity. I am certain that this skill of mine has stayed
with me since I was a little child. My creative side does not need to get turned on but rather it is
my most primary nature. In my workplace also, I try to take initiative for several creative roles
and this is why my manager also agrees that I am a highly innovative person.
Thematic analysis
I am fairly young and new to the professional world. My manager has always praised me for my
enthusiasm and energy but he also suggests that I lack clarity of goals. I have yet not been able to
identify my true passion and this would make it difficult for me to seek long term satisfaction in
a job. In my current role, I do a lot of personal selling and thereby interact with a large number of
people. I believe I possess good customer relationship management skills.
However, several times, I feel that I tend to get frustrated very soon and lack the patience that it
takes to close big deals. There is a severe conflict between my need to be autonomous as well as
my motivation to carry a task from scratch single handedly. In all of the tools, I have got a high
score in areas that reflect upon my entrepreneurial skills. I would surely like to start my own
business but I definitely lack the experience of industry exposure for the same.
At present, I feel unclear of my goals and have not been able to identify what I really wish to do
in my life. I am happy with my current role of sales but sometimes I feel there is a lot of pressure
especially during month ends. This demotivates me and I completely give up for the month. I
also receive little to no feedback for my work. Since I work on a part time basis and I work into

personal selling, my manager only gets to see the numbers at the end of the month. Therefore
there has been no contribution in my selling skills through transparent feedback.
The findings of these tests have helped me decide that I will continue to work in sales, but
instead of personal selling I would start working in a bigger organization that does B2B
(Business to business) sales. I would also like to work in the industry of Ecommerce because I
see a lot of growth and scope for learning in the industry. After a few years of experience, I
would like to start my own business which would also be on an Ecommerce platform. I do not
have the entire path chalked out to me. Even within my own business, I would continue to take
part in sales and relationship building with customers. I certainly hope that my creativity and
ability to be enterprising will assist me in establishing my own venture.
Recommendations
On the basis of the five themes that I have discovered, I have also developed an action plan that
would help me in entering the next phase of my career. By taking a reflective thinking approach
(Klien, 2008), I believe that I have been able to plan my career better.
I have discovered that I lack clarity of goals in my life. Upon seeking help from my friends, I
was able to get feedback that I would start by short term goals. I would start making a daily to-do
list and weekly goals so that I get used to sticking to a plan. Having clear goals in important for
chalking out a path towards a brighter future (Jung, 2012). I would also like to spend more time
in reading about different industries and following the career span of successful people from
different industries in order to gain some insight regarding the jobs that are offered in these
industries.
I would also work towards having a mentor and guide who can consistently help me out and
someone I can reach out to in case of a conflict. Having a mentor in the Ecommerce industry
would be beneficial for me. Leaders and mentors are bestowed upon with the responsibility of
being there for their followers and helping them out by enhancing their abilities (Eller, 2014). I
would also like to seek consistent feedback in order to identify my weaknesses better.
In my current work profile also, I would like to take more initiative and hence enhance upon my
leadership skills. A leader must be able to break the barriers of communication and guide the

team towards accomplishment of goals (Erdogan & Bauer, 2015). Since I work part time, I tend
to focus on other things than my work. I would work towards overcoming this tendency by
taking initiatives and more responsibilities in my current role.
Organizational culture plays a significant role in the success of a business (Alvesson, 2015).
Organizational culture stems from organizations leaders but employees also have a significant
role to play. As a part time employee, I would work to the best of my ability to improve the
organizational culture of my workplace. This is so that I would be able to take these learnings in
my next organization and eventually in my own venture.
I would also like to be more assertive in nature since I often tend to get swayed away by my
emotions. I would work towards having a stronger grasp on my emotions and be more assertive.
Assertiveness is a significant attribute of a good leader. I could practice assertiveness in my daily
life. The same can also be learnt by reading books on the subject or attending workshops. The
entire process of self-reflection has helped me in gaining a deeper insight about my own
personality. I hope my learnings from the process will assist me in my future endeavors.

References
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Agreeableness, and Emotionality factors: A review of research and theory. Personality and
Social Psychology Review, 18(2), pp.139-152.
Brown, J.D., 2014. Self-esteem and self-evaluation: Feeling is believing. In Psychological
Perspectives on the Self, Volume 4(pp. 39-70). Psychology Press.
Cogin, J., 2012. Are generational differences in work values fact or fiction? Multi-country
evidence and implications. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(11),
pp.2268-2294.
Eller K., 2014. Key components of an effective mentoring relationship: A qualitative
study. Nurse education today, 34(5), pp.815-820.
Erdogan, B. and Bauer, T.N., 2015. Leader–Member Exchange Theory. In The Oxford
Handbook of Leader-Member Exchange.
Holland, J.L., 2013. Self-directed search. Advances in Vocational Psychology: Volume 1: the
Assessment of interests, p.55.
Jung, C.S., 2012. Why are goals important in the public sector? Exploring the benefits of goal
clarity for reducing turnover intention. Journal of Public Administration Research and
Theory, 24(1), pp.209-234.
Klein, G., 2008. Naturalistic decision making. Human factors, 50(3), pp.456-460.