Swinburne University CAR20001: Career Reflection Report

This report is a reflection on a student's current career target within the field of civil engineering, specifically aiming to become a geotechnical professional. It begins by applying the Happenstance Learning Theory to the student's career interests, emphasizing the importance of aligning career choices with personal satisfaction. The report identifies universal connectivity, smart technologies, and media as drivers reshaping future working skills and highlights the need for novel and adaptive thinking, as well as a design mindset. It also discusses the importance of problem-solving, teamwork, and cross-cultural competency. References to relevant academic sources support the analysis. The student reflects on how the acquired knowledge enhances self-management skills and aids in career planning.

Running Head: REFLECTION ON CURRENT CAREER TARGET
REFLECTION ON CURRENT CAREER TARGET
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note:

1REFLECTION ON CURRENT CAREER TARGET
Career Development theory
Entering into a field of career of my interest is important to shun my own talents and
serve any organization with complete efficiency. Being a student from the domain of civil
engineering, I should properly plan for a career that will help me to incorporate my gathered
knowledge within my profession. There are numerous career development theories and models
that will help me to pave the path for achieving the target of becoming a geotechnical
professional in near future. During the engineering course I have learned about the
Happenstance Learning Theory (Krumboltz, Foley and Cotter 2013). It taught me that we should
not plan for what we want to become in advance. Rather, the job of career counsellors should be
engaging a person in own interesting and beneficial area with proper assertion of their own
reactions. The goal should meet my own satisfaction while engaging in any job profiles in near
future.
Future Working Skill
For me, it is very important to identify the drivers that can reshape my ability to think in
near future. For instance, there are many drivers including the universal connectivity, smart
technologies, and the function of media can contribute to reshaping my working skills in near
future. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that analyzing the reports of the labor industry can
help me to improve my skills according to the job requirements (Fidler and Williams 2016).
However, it cannot predict the categories of job in near future. Hence, the report analyzing
method only focuses on the future skills rather than focusing on the types of job in near future.
During the course of study, I have learned about some future working skills that helps me
to become aware about the future. Novel and adapting thinking is also a way to enhance the

2REFLECTION ON CURRENT CAREER TARGET
working skills to adjust with the competency of the future (Jansari et al. 2013). Either becoming
an employee of reputed organization or becoming an entrepreneur, adaptive thinking can make
be able to think beyond the scheduled rules. The definition of adaptive thinking helped me to
learn the concept of proficiency to combine with work (Malaver, M., 2014). Another way to
enhance the working skill in future is the concept of design mindset. According to the study,
designing the mindset is not focused on problems, it is focused on the solutions. It combines the
two aspects of analysis and imagination to create a solution based design that will adjust in future
working area.
Methods and Learning
From the above discussion, it can be said that I became aware about various theories and
concepts that will allow me to plan for a career that will provide me the scope to exhibit my
knowledge on civil engineering. I have also acquired the knowledge that I have to work on the
abilities of problem solving, working within a team, and cross-cultural competency to become a
successful geotechnical professional in future. Along with this, the ability of adaptive thinking
and designing mindset enhanced my self-management skill during the course of my study.

3REFLECTION ON CURRENT CAREER TARGET
References
Fidler, D. and Williams, S., 2016. Future skills. Update and literature review. Hamilton: Institute
for the fu.
Jansari, A.S., Froggatt, D., Edginton, T. and Dawkins, L., 2013. Investigating the impact of
nicotine on executive functions using a novel virtual reality assessment. Addiction, 108(5),
pp.977-984.
Krumboltz, J.D., Foley, P.F. and Cotter, E.W., 2013. Applying the happenstance learning theory
to involuntary career transitions. The Career Development Quarterly, 61(1), pp.15-26.
Malaver, M., 2014. Strange quark star model with quadratic equation of state. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1407.0760.