Career Essay

Graduating From Never Land: Psychologist as a Career
Sarah Choi
Ms. Johnson
Writing 1B
07/05/2007
1,064

High school is a crucial time for teenagers to decide what they want to be when they grow up. For this reason, each of the students in my class started to research for their appropriate jobs. Finding the right job is very important for teenagers because everything of our life depend on the decisions we make. As for me to make the right decisions, I took several tests and researched on the jobs I was interested in. I was a little bit scared that the result would be a job which I have had never thought of before. But it was a relief the results were about science and medication because I was already thinking about being a doctor when I grow up. The results told me that a psychologist would fit me (Holland 4). In this essay, I’m going to talk about my characteristics and characteristics of a psychologist. I think the job, psychologist, would fit me because I like to hear people’s story and I have always wanted to be a doctor to cure and heal my patients.

It is important to know exactly about the career I want to be because if I don’t, I might have to change it later because of the things I didn’t expect. During the class time, I had a time to take a simple test which was called Self-Directed Search (SDS). This test was to see where I am most interested in and most feel confident about. While taking this test, I noticed myself that I liked scientific activities than others, so I think it is obvious for me to have a job related to science. For SDS, my codes were ISA and ISE (Holland 10). These are the meanings of my codes: "Investigative Occupations (I) include scientific occupations and some technical occupations. Social occupations (S) include educational and social service occupations. Artistic occupations (A) include artistic, musical, and literary occupations. Enterprising occupations (E) include managerial and sales occupations,"(Holland 2). The codes tell, since it both start with (I), that I am profoundly attracted to science. And fortunately, I wanted to be a doctor. I first dreamed about being a doctor because the subject I am most confident about was science and I never feel bored when learning it. There is a medical drama broadcasting recently and when I was watching it, I thought it would be wonderful being a doctor. Even though it would be hard to study, I would feel good about myself, which is my top priority, helping sick people and saving them.

I researched about my personality on a book called Please Understand ME II. ENFJ and ENFP are the codes for my Please Understand Me II book (Keirsey 5). The following quotes describe the best about characteristics of the two codes which are related to psychologist: "ENFJs consider people their highest priority and they naturally communicate caring, concern, and a willingness to become involved with others. As a result, people often turn to them for nurture and support, which they usually manage to deliver, showing sincere interest in the problems of those around them, employees, colleagues, students, and so on,”(Keirsey 3). A psychologist’s highest priority should be patients, which is really important because when a doctor’s highest priority is not about their patients, he/she cannot be a good doctor. “At the same time, ENFPs have outstanding intuitive powers and often find themselves trying to read what is going on inside of others, interpreting events in terms of another's hidden motives, and giving special meaning to words or actions,” (Keirsey 7). Also psychologist should be good and know how to analyze people’s thoughts, which the second quote is telling that I am capable of doing it.

I interviewed our school’s counselor Mrs. Gunther about being a counselor since a school counselor is a kind of a psychologist. When I asked her why she became a school counselor, she said that working with students and teachers are more positive than being a clinical psychologist or a working at a mental hospital because if she does, she would have to face mentally ill person which would be really hard to deal with (Gunther). Mrs. Gunther said the advantage of being a school counselor is that she has more time off like in weekends, but sometimes she has to stay late after school or the school calls her late at night (Gunther). I believe that free time is highly important for me because there will be things which I want to do for myself. So when choosing my job, I would deeply consider the spare time of the job. When I asked Mrs. Gunther about her motive, she said her motive was to help people which I think made her a great school counselor (Gunther). I felt that Mrs. Gunther enjoyed her job as a counselor while I was talking to her.

Psychologists are people who study the human mind and behavior. There are many varieties of psychologists which are: “clinical psychologist, counseling psychologist, school psychologist, industrial-organizational psychologist, development psychologist, social psychologist, and experimental or research psychologist,” (Psychologist). Each of these psychologists have pros and cons: “the subfields of the psychologist decide the working conditions. Clinical, school, and counseling psychologists in private practice have their own offices and set their own hours. Those employed in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities may work shifts that include evenings and weekends, while those who work in schools and clinics generally work regular hours,” (Psychologists). I could see that my life will be totally different on what kind of psychologist I choose to be, so I thought I have to be especially careful when I choose the subfield of my career.

I was very pleased with the job I got, psychologist, for my Self-Directed Search. Since I was little, I’ve always wanted to have a super power to read people’s mind when I wanted to, and being a psychologist would be similar to that. Until now, I tried to avoid thinking about my future. I have always thought that everything would turn out great when the time comes to decide for myself. I thought this was a good chance to make a guideline for my future career. With this as a momentum, I would keep on seeking for my prospect and harden both physical and mental part of my body as to be a doctor.














Works Cited:

Gunther, Charmaine. Personal interview. 9 March 2007.
Holland, John L. Assessment Booklet 4th Edition. Lutz: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., 1994.
Holland, John L.. The Occupations Finder 4th Edition. U.S.A.: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., 2000.
Keirsey, David. Please Understand Me II. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company, 1998.
"Psychologist." Occupational Outlook Handbook 2006-07 Edition. 4 August 2006. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. 13 Mar 2007 .