Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Princeton Review Career Quiz Results

Recently, I took the Princeton Review Career Quiz out of curiosity. The career assessment quiz is based on the Birkman Model, an advanced psychometric tool that measures human characteristics and behavior. More specifically, it measures what motivates you, how you deal with stress, and how well you work with others. It identifies a person's career interests and work style using four colors: Red (expediting; production-centered), Green (communicating; people-centered), Yellow (administrating; procedure-centered), and Blue (planning; idea-centered). It is NOT a personality test. It is also closely related to the Keirsey assessment (which I will post in the near future).
People with blue Interests like job responsibilities and occupations that involve creative, humanistic, thoughtful, and quiet types of activities. Blue Interests include abstracting, theorizing, designing, writing, reflecting, and originating, which often lead to work in editing, teaching, composing, inventing, mediating, clergy, and writing.

People with yellow styles perform their job responsibilities in a manner that is orderly and planned to meet a known schedule. They prefer to work where things get done with a minimum of interpretation and unexpected change. People with a yellow style tend to be orderly, cautious, structured, loyal, systematic, solitary, methodical, and organized, and usually thrive in a research-oriented, predictable, established, controlled, measurable, orderly environment. You will want to choose a work environment or career path in which your style is welcomed and produces results.

Careers Linked to 'Blue' Interests: Anthropologist, Book Publishing Professional, Career Counselor, College Administrator, City Planner, Consultant, Curator, Editor, Human Resources Manager, Journalist, Librarian, Mediator, Paralegal, Political Scientist, Product Designer, Professor, Psychologist, Public Health Administrator, Public Relations, Researcher, School Administrator, Secretary, Small Business Owner, Social Worker, Sociologist, Teacher, Travel Agent, Website Designer, Web Editor, Writer.

It sounds like I am heading down the right path!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Review: Careers for Good Samaritans and Other Humanitarian Types (2006)

Careers for Good Samaritans and Other Humanitarian Types (2006) by Marjorie Eberts and Margaret Gisler, is a comprehensive vocational book about social change careers. It defines what is a Good Samaritan(someone concerned about the homeless, illiterate, drug addicts, working poor, hungry, refugees, pollution, or endangered species) and an overview of careers based on social value and altruism. It contains seven seven chapters plus three appendices on agencies, organizations and state offices of volunteerism and community service.

Occupations listed in this book include social service and community organizations, local and federal government, the health professions, religious groups, and volunteerism. Each chapter covers the history, educational options, job qualifications, and working conditions in each field. The authors also include numerous real-life career profiles of people working in these organizations. Good Samaritans and humanitarians can also find valuable work at foundations or work as teachers, doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs. The authors also explain how you can find a humanitarian job through your college placement office, United Way office, Internet classifieds, and nonprofit-oriented periodicals. Most importantly, many jobs are never advertised so networking is key.

Overall, the authors provide good advice in four ways: 1) which specific profession is best for you; 2) how to make the right choices the first time around; 3) how to begin your job search focused and confident; and 4) how to present yourself as a knowledgeable, serious job candidate. I thought this book did an excellent job providing information about humanitarian and social service careers in different sectors (public, non-profit, and NGOs). There is also an equal balance of career profiles in domestic and international organizations. I recommend this book to college students and recent graduates who want to make a difference in the world but are not sure where to begin.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Happy New Year -- Over 8,500 Hits!

Welcome to a new year (2012)! Michigan Girl's Cafe reached over 8,500 hits. This is fantastic news because my blog is becoming more popular. As I stated previously, this blog will cover topics in social work, higher education, and sociology. I also hope to return to graduate school in the fall. Stay tuned for more academic coverage and reviews soon.