Patricia has almost 30 years of experience helping individuals pursue, advance and change careers. As well as a Masters degree in counseling from Catholic University, Patricia has completed numerous post-graduate classes in counseling and career development at Johns Hopkins University.

Patricia previously worked as the Career Development Manager for the Montgomery County Government and as a career counselor for the Montgomery County Commission for Women.

She continues to be a featured speaker with recent presentations topics that include: Secrets to Predicting Career Success That Only You Know, Get Out of Your Own Way To Get What You Want in Your Career and Enhancing Your Promotability at Work.

- Gain a clear understanding
  of your core strengths
- Make a career change
- Do a thorough career
   exploration
- Execute an effective
   job hunt
- Examine educational
   opportunities
- Improve your current
   work situation
- Advance within your
   organization

SCENARIO 1: I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO

"Know thyself"...and "To Thine Own Self Be True" - famous words from history certainly still ring true today. Happiness in a career comes from satisfying the Real You. Becoming more self aware is the first step toward knowing what you want to do.

According to Rebecca Shambaugh, author of It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor, "Self knowledge is the starting point for absolutely everything; the successes you want and equally important, the setbacks you're bound to encounter." Shambaugh further states that...coming out ahead...is to have a steady, reliable self image to fall back on."¹

Further, finding your passion doesn't just occur to you, there's work involved in this endeavor. A positive way to begin is to do a non-conventional self assessment. Analyzing and utilizing your own past experiences can be a key to understanding your core strengths, your intentions, your values and much more. According to Mark Savickas, Ph.D., contributor to The Career Development Quarterly, "Analysis of [one's] natural history of striving stirs intuition, reveals intention and creates interests."² In other words, revisiting your early experiences can be a key to discovering more about yourself that may lead to new career options.

To begin your analysis, try to remember what you enjoyed when you were an adolescent or even earlier. Go back in your memory as far as you can. What activities energized you and made you feel good about yourself?

For example, were you drawn to reading historical novels? Did you find yourself more interested in athletics? Did the environment and nature intrigue you? Did you gravitate towards finding meaning through connecting with friends? Did you come alive taking on leadership or management roles in school or leisure activities? Were you active in debate? Or did you enjoy drama and performance? What purposeful activities commanded your attention?

Now take a few minutes to try the following exercise. Divide a piece of paper into three columns. In the first column write down five activities, subjects or interests that you particularly enjoyed in primary school. Repeat this exercise in the next two columns for secondary and possibly post-secondary education. Look carefully at these three columns. Do you see similarities, patterns or themes emerging? This information may reveal a guide to your successful career choices.

This self assessment exercise is also an effective first step to career exploration and career change. There are numerous other self assessment strategies, techniques and inventories available, which I utilize in the career counseling process. I will address other approaches in subsequent articles.

¹ Shambaugh, Rebecca. It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2008: p.6-7.

² Savickas, Mark, Ph.D. (2008, March) David V. Tiedeman: Engineer of Career Construction. The Career Development Quarterly. p.223.