Who Are You?

What do you want to be when you grow up? This is something most people have heard over and over again their whole childhood...this mantra ramps up in college and becomes a frequently asked question as you approach graduation. 

It is completely, utterly, and absolutely normal to not have a good idea (or any idea) of what you want to "do".  It's also actually helpful to have an understanding of what you DON'T want to do, too. Part of what this class will do is help you come to some of those decisions, or at least narrow down some options.

As a psychology major you need to start thinking about at least two main categories of employment (because making this broad distinction early on can guide the whole rest of your thinking and planning). 

Clinical Careers---"Clinical" means to observe, and treat disorders, problems, or disease in people. Do you want to engage in some way in a 'helping' profession, working with clients or patients or clients in some way? Do you see yourself as a therapist or counselor, regardless of the setting (school, group home, clinic, hospital, prison, private practice, etc, etc). Then a clinically oriented career is what you want.

Non-Clinical Careers--pretty much everything else! This does not mean you don't work with people..as a professor, I am in a non-clinical career, and the people I interact with are students. As a legal consultant, I work with people (attorneys, defendants, judges, juries, police officers) but not in the capacity of treatment. A non-clinical career could still be very much psychological in orientation (like a psychology instructor at a community college, or a professor at a university; using psychological techniques and principles like in IO psychology, or in a research capacity); or it could seem completely outside of psychology (but where you are still using your degree (business/management, law, criminal justice, etc, etc).

First, I'd like you to fill out this questionnaire, located here.

Next, go to www.talentoday.com. You can login in by clicking on the facebook, twitter, or linkedin buttons (if you already have one of those accounts). Otherwise, you can create an account. Take the test..it's fairly long (about 20 minutes). Review your results (both your graphs and the narratives provided).

Next, email me at kimmaclin@gmail.com your completed questionnaire, and a summary of your experience taking the talent today test and reviewing your results (you do not need to send me your results from the talentoday site). Make sure your subject heading says "who are you."

Finally, make sure to post a question to the facebook discussion group.

The Buy Nothing Year, article      

Aren't you kind of killing us with all of these assignments right away? Yes. I'm sorry! But these assignments really aren't that time consuming, and to make sure that you have enough time to do more comprehensive assignments, we really need to stack up the easier ones up front.