The Ultimate Career Survey

By: Jenny Heath

Even though I have been enjoying my career as substitute school
counselor, I couldn’t resist purchasing Deborah Reber’s new book, In
Their Shoes: Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers. This
book is made up of detailed interviews will professional women in careers
ranging from a commercial airline pilot to a forensic scientist (CSI Fans,
anyone?) In the back of the book she matches jobs into interesting
categories such as liking parties or making your own schedule. I designed a
career survey inspired by her categories; see what you discover about
yourself and your future!

(If you haven’t had your first job, use your imagination.)

1. When you are getting a tour of your new job, you first ask to see:
a. the bathroom, what kind of supplies are in there (hairspray, nice soap
etc)
b. the kitchen (what kinds of treats are loaded in the fridge? where are the
take-out menus and where do they usually order from?)
c. your workspace (do you have your own office)

2. When you think about graduating high school, your first thoughts
include:
a. getting out of Dodge! (your mind travels to India, Mexico, Sweden,
anywhere new and far away from here!
b. summer plans with high school buddies (the idea of sleeping in and not
having to leave the house sounds indulgent)
c. how many volunteering jobs can I balance? (Should I continue helping
out at the soup kitchen and nursing home or should I put in longer hours
at just one place?)

3. When a long-term project gets assigned at school, I begin by:
a. highlighting the due date and texting all my friends to tell them to
count  me out that day because I know I will end up pulling an all-nighter
to get it done (good thing, I work best under pressure)
b. making an outline for the next two weeks, dividing the work into even
chunks (I live for to-do lists)
c. cancelling all my plans for the next two  week because this project is
going to take up all my energy

4. When I get my paper handed back  at school, I know I did a good job
because:
a. it focused on human rights issues that are never addressed in the news
(it feels good to bring a voice to this group of people)
b. I worked together with three other people and now we hang out together
after school
c. I locked myself in my room for three hours a night, inventing my own
unique theory on the topic

5. My job almost doesn’t feel like work because most of the time because:
a. I get to dress up and go to parties where I meet new interesting people
b. I am cooking up interesting recipes or dining at new restaurants   
c. I am constantly being applauded in the papers or praised at the
supermarket.