Career Exploration

Part 1: Take a moment to review the O*NET website, which is a great repository of occupations and job fields.

1. Make a list of at least two career paths that interest you and/or two skills that you would like to employ in your career. For example, you could search for “university teaching” or “counseling” for career paths, or “writing” or “problem solving” for skills.
2. Search for those positions or skills by navigating to the O*NET website and either searching in the Occupation Search box for careers or clicking on Advanced Search and using the Browse by O*NET Data drop down menu to search by abilities, interests, knowledge, or skills.
3. Take note of at least two “related” occupations that intrigue you from your search results. Click on the hyperlinks for these positions and read the descriptions of these occupations.
4. Write 100-250 words about your findings and how they might have shaped your perspective on career possibilities.

Part 2: In this reflection journal, read through the below course learning outcomes for this class and think about how these concepts relate to the job information you explored. How do you expect to apply these outcomes in your current and future career? How could you use the knowledge you are learning to go beyond managing to leading in your career? As a leader, what strategies could you use at work to build more inclusive relationships among colleagues and teams? Write an additional 100-250 words relating the concepts in the course outcomes and leadership to your thoughts on your career and/or any relevant findings from O*NET.

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Explain the historical, philosophical, and empirical foundations of the field of organizational psychology and the psychology of leadership.
2. Summarize the major tenets of pre-modernism, modernism, and post-modernism as they apply to the field of psychology.
3. Evaluate how the history of organizational psychology has helped to shape important contemporary psychological theories and issues of leadership and leading organizations.
4. Discuss the relevance of issues of diversity as they are related to the history of the psychology of leadership, with particular emphasis on how diversity issues have been handled historically and how people from diverse backgrounds have struggled in gaining influence in the field.
5. Compare and contrast psychological theories of leadership in order to determine their foundational philosophical assumptions and values.
6. Develop critical comparative skills in order to determine important similarities and differences in the various approaches to the psychology of leadership.

Point Value: 2 Points