Career Autobiography

Task/Requirements
Students will submit a paper that examines their career development to this point. Students will
use one or two of the seven major career development theories discussed in our Lock textbook to
explain their development, and will use three career-based assessments to compile information
about their personality, interests, and values (SDS from O*NET, assessments from Chapter 7 of the
Lock book, etc.) and describe themselves as well as produce career options that fit their profile.
Students will discuss what they found in their research on these options using the Occupations
Outlook Handbook (online database) and the O*NET database (online database),(both in Lock,
see chapter 4 and appendices B & E) and how that research has affected their options.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT (4 POINTS):
How did you get to this point in your life? Provide information on your family tree in terms of the
career paths of your parents, grandparents, siblings, and significant others. What were your
earliest career daydreams and fantasies? How have important people in your life influenced your
career interests? Describe one or two significant accomplishments that have influenced your
career interests. Trace the career interests you have had up until now, e en though you may
have discarded some of them. Describe one or two major events, experiences, and/or people
who have influenced your choices leading to your present major and career interests.

ASSESSMENTS (4 POINTS):
How do the results from the career assessments (the SDS you took for our discussion, the
assessments from chapters in Lock, etc.) fit with your self-understanding? What do you now
know about yourself that you didn’t know before? How are they inconsistent with how you see
yourself? Do you agree with the use of assessments for career and personal development? Why
or why not?
Now think back to the Future Day Fantasy we did. That was actually an assessment! What did
you learn about your future career?

What did you learn from the OOH and O*NET that you didn’t know before about the occupations
you looked up?

APPLICATION OF THEORIES TO YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCE (4
POINTS):
View your life experiences through the lens of at least two of the theories discussed in Chapter
One of the Lock text. How might these theories explain your career development from birth
through the present? Cite one or more examples to illustrate how each theory helps you
understand your career development.