Running head: CAREER PLANNING ASSESSMENT 1

Career Planning Assessment

Rota L. Knott

Wilmington University
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Career Planning Assessment

Prior to transitioning to a career in the human services, I worked for more than two

decades as a journalist on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I acquired my undergraduate degrees

in visual and media communications, and worked for a trio of newspapers as a reporter,

managing editor, and art director. My first real foray into the human services came because of my

work as a journalist; I was asked to serve on the public relations committee for a local affiliate of

Habitat for Humanity. As a volunteer with that organization, and then with other nonprofits, I

was able to expand my knowledge of the human services and realized it was a field in which I

wanted to work, not journalism. "It is easy to fall into the trap of meeting expectations that others

have set for you or of following a script that you wrote for yourself at an earlier time but that no

longer holds the same value or interest" (Kiser, 2016, p. 319).

My volunteer activities gradually morphed into my current career with the Somerset

County Local Management Board, Inc., which serves as the coordinating agency for a variety of

programs for children, youth, and families in the community. "Through volunteering, you can

continue to learn about human service roles, services, and populations while expanding your

skills" (Kiser, 2016, p. 321). The SCLMB receives its annual base funding through and reports to

the Maryland Governor’s Office for Children, which has been instrumental in providing training

and offering a plethora of opportunities for me to learn more about working in the human

services. Some of the trainings in which I have participated focused on the impact of

incarceration on children, families, and communities, supporting disconnected youths who are

not in school or working, addressing childhood hunger, and combatting youth homelessness.

I am a firm believer in continuing education of all types and try to take advantage of as

many opportunities to do so as possible. The Maryland Association of Nonprofits and the

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Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore both provide workshops on topics related to

nonprofit management. I also recently attended a regional conference of the Mid-Atlantic

Consortium for Human Services. In order to further my formal knowledge of the field and

expand my opportunities for career advancement, I am pursing a graduate degree in the

Administration of Human Services and will graduate in May with a Master of Science.

Strengths Finder Assessment

The Strengths Finders Assessment validated my career choices, both my first as a

journalist, and my second in the administration of human services. I don’t feel the assessment

revealed any new information to me, but it did confirm my beliefs about my personal talents and

strengths and how they influenced by career decisions, particularly my choice to serve in an

administrative capacity to support the mission of nonprofit organizations. As Kiser (2016, p. 315)

points out, a match may occur in several areas between an individual’s strengths and interests

and the needs of human service employers. Individuals who are able to focus on using their

strengths are six times more likely to be engaged at their jobs, and three times more likely to

have an overall excellent quality of life (Rath, 2007, p. 12).

The Strengths Finder Assessment actually measures talent, not strengths (Rath, 2007, p.

12). However, the ultimate goal is to build those talents into strengths. “Building your talents

into real strengths also requires practice and hard work, much like it does to build physical

strengths” (Rath, 2007, p. 19). My top five identified signature themes on the Strengths Finder

Assessment are input, achiever, learner, analytical, and strategic.

Input

The input theme relates to being inquisitive and collecting items of interest. For me that

“collecting” is in the form of information. “Whatever you collect, you collect it because it
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interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting”

(CliftonStrengths, 2018). Input is about acquiring interesting information that may someday be

of value and storing it away in my archives. “It’s interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And

perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable” (CliftonStrengths, 2018).

I find the input theme to be appropriate for me, as I am constantly “gathering”

information on a variety of topics, both for work and personal interest. For example, I bookmark

for future reference odd bits of information that I find online, tear articles out of newspapers and

magazines, and read books on an array of subjects. At work, I have folders of “inputs” that I have

collected on different topics related to issues, programs, or grant opportunities.

Achiever

The achiever theme is defined be a drive to constantly add to my list of accomplishments.

“You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something

tangible in order to feel good about yourself” (CliftonStrengths, 2018). The achiever feels

dissatisfied if they are not actively working toward an achievement – no matter how small – and

is not comfortable taking a day of rest. Soon after each successful endeavor, the achiever is ready

to move on toward their next accomplishment. “It is the jolt you can always count on to get you

started on new tasks, new challenges” (CliftonStrengths, 2018).

The theme definitely fits me. I am not the type of person who can sit still and enjoy

simply doing nothing. While others may find that relaxing, I actually become agitated if I have

downtime because I feel like I am wasting time that could be directed toward an

accomplishment. I maintain a running list of projects that I have in various stages of completion,

as well as a list of pending projects that move on to the active list as I check off other

achievements.
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Learner

The learner theme focuses largely on the process of learning instead of the actual content

of the information being learned, which is determined by the other talents and strength themes.

“You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence”

(CliftonStrengths, 2018). As a learner, I am excited by the prospect of gaining knowledge,

whatever the subject matter, and the process of mastering a new skill. Learners thrive in jobs

where they are constantly moving from one project to another and need to learn related subject

matter quickly.

I clearly see the learner theme in myself as well. I love to learn a little about a lot of

topics. This theme has been a benefit to me in my human services work as I spend a significant

amount of time writing grants, both for our organization and for community partners. I have to

quickly learn as much as possible about a topic in order to write each grant application. The

learner theme is also what spurred me to regularly participate in continuing education courses

and to finally purse by graduate degree.

Analytical

Individuals with the analytical theme question assumptions and seek to uncover truths.

“You see yourself as objective and dispassionate. You like data because they are value free. They

have no agenda” (CliftonStrengths, 2018). As someone with the analytical theme, I will sift

through available data to find patterns, connections, or inconsistencies and try to determine the

effect of each one on the other. “You peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause or

causes are revealed” (CliftonStrengths, 2018). Other people view someone with the analytical

theme as logical and rigorous in their evaluation of situations and data.

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My first career as a journalist was largely build based on my analytical theme, and it has

carried into my human services work. Data, be it quantitative or qualitative, doesn’t lie. For me,

that is much of the appeal of resulted-based program development. I can analyze the data

presented for a program and clearly see whether or not it is meeting its performance measures.

Strategic

The strategic theme supports analytical thought processes. It enables those with the theme

to sift through a plethora of information, evaluate obstacles, analyze different paths to resolution,

and ultimately determine how to best proceed to address a challenge. “It is a distinct way of

thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allows you to see patterns

where others simply see complexity” (CliftonStrengths, 2018).

Those with a strategic theme ponder the “what ifs” of a situation and methodically

eliminate alternatives to find the most appropriate way to accomplish a task or address a

challenge. I use my strategic theme every day in my job as I evaluate available data in order to

develop programs that best address the needs of children, youths, and families in our community.

Using a strategic process, I make selections that ultimately lead to a specific path of action.

“Armed with your strategy, you strike forward” (CliftonStrengths, 2018).

MAPP Assessment

The Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential (MAPP, 2018) Assessment was very

different from the Strengths Finder Assessment because it focused on specifically what types of

work an individual prefers to perform rather than personal qualities. It is crafted in such a way

that it forces the assessment taker to choose between three specific options. In many of those

instances, I was not interested in any of the three options presented, but still had to make a

selection. However, I believe the MAPP Assessment provided an accurate depiction of my

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interests and motivations, and the results were complementary to those of the Strengths Finder

Assessment.

I do not feel like I garnered any new information about myself from the MAPP

Assessment, but it too reinforced many of my perceptions about my strengths and motivations.

The MAPP Assessment noted that I prefer and seek out organizational management

responsibility, and place an emphasis on “firm, take charge management to get things done

through utilizing the talents and abilities of others” (MAPP, 2018). While I am motivated to work

on projects that have specific plans, schedules, and completion times, I also have a curiosity and

awareness about the nature and utility of things. In both work and home life, it something isn’t

useful, I don’t want it.

The MAPP Assessment also found that I have a motivation “to describe, explain, teach,

illustrate and interpret,” something that I can trace back to my first career as a journalist (MAPP,

2018). That trait has carried over into my human services career, as I regularly investigate,

identify, classify, store, and retrieve data for use in our program planning processes. The

assessment indicated that I have analytical, research and innovative preferences, and I am

“naturally motivated to use and apply rational formulas, rules, systems and/or procedures to deal

with concrete variables where only limited instructions or guidelines exist” (MAPP, 2018).

Social and Community Service Managers

Based on the results of my Strengths Finder and MAPP assessments, I selected the career

field of social and community service managers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Occupational Outlook Handbook (2018) because I believe it is an area that closely matches my

talents, strengths, and experience. "Finding the right balance between clarity of purpose and

openness to unexpected but promising possibilities is critical as you move forward in planning
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your future" (Kiser, 2016, p. 315). I currently work in the human services career field with a

focus on child and family services and hope to continue to do so.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (2018) states social and

community service managers coordinate and supervise social service programs and community

organizations and manage workers who provide those services. Individuals in this field may

work for nonprofit organizations, private for-profit entities, or government agencies, and in many

different settings like offices, shelters, or schools. They assess community needs, develop social

and human services programs, manage both clinical and non-clinical staff, oversee administrative

operations, conduct community outreach, and secure funding for organizational programs. Social

and community service managers may work with a specific populations, such as children,

veterans, the elderly or homeless individuals, or may focus on addressing certain issues like food

insecurity, substance abuse, mental health, or education.

Personal strengths that make me well suited to be a social and community service

manager include my analytical, communication, managerial, problem-solving, and time-

management skills. I have a broad base of expertise in data collection and management, strategic

and program planning for nonprofits, and evaluating programs outcomes. I have excellent

communication skills that enable me to present information clearly so that others can understand

it. Additionally, I am skilled at administering budgets, addressing client, human resources, and

agency-related challenges; and handling a variety of tasks in a short timeframe.

A personal challenge that I will need to overcome in order to be successful in the career

field of social and community service managers is learning more about direct clinical services.

While I am not interested in performing direct clinical services with clients, but rather being the
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strategic and administrative leader, I feel I need a broader understanding of the challenges

experience by human services workers who do provide direct services.

Both the Strengths Finder and MAPP assessments provided a fair analysis of my talents

and skills as they relate to a career in the human services field. I believe it will be helpful to refer

to the results of those assessments as I prepare for graduation and look toward advancing in my

career.
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References

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2018). Social and community service managers. In Occupational

Outlook Handbook. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/social-and-

community-service-managers.htm

CliftonStrengths. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us

Kiser, P.M. (2016). Planning your career. In The human services internship: Getting the most

from your experience (4th ed., pp. 313-340). Boston, MA: Cenage Learning.

Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential Assessment. (2018). Retrieved from

http://www.assessment.com/

Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. New York, NY: Gallup Press.