reflection essay about career guidance

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Roelle Ann Santa Maria

May 10th, 2021, reflecting and reimagining your career plan in a challenging context.

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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

What comes to mind when you’re starting to think about your career? Linear? Uncertainty? Time-bound? A ladder? It’s important to understand that you have to be flexible and adaptable whilst planning for your career. 

Just like life itself, your career journey is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Great things take time to come to fruition! Instead, when it comes to career planning: start early, prepare, have a strategy, and persevere.  There are usually three stages of job hunting:

• Pre-searching/preparation i.e., career planning
• Active searching.
• Preparing to apply.

In this two-part blog series, we cover the first stage by helping you to: (1) understand yourself and list out your options before finally bringing it all together to (2) create a strategy in order for you to transition into the next stages as seamlessly as possible. 

Reflecting on yourself and career path

Underlying any career decision and building a good strategy requires an understanding of yourself . Consider the following: 

Values –  What is important to me? “I value being respected and working alongside others.” In a career, what motives and drives you to align with an organisation? How visible do you want to be? How quickly do you want to make an impact? There will be no definitive or stable list of what you value in a career, but it’s always good to think about it! 

Interests –   What do I like to do? “I enjoy meeting new people and travelling.” In your career, can you bring your interests into the career plan? For instance, if you have a masters, how can you combine this with other experiences in your career plan? *link*

Skills and abilities –  What am I good at? “I know how to read and write fluently in two languages.” For a career, what qualities or skills do you have that make you stand out? Ask yourself what you can bring to the organisation. 

Strengths –  What comes easily to me? “I’m good at linguistics and learning languages.” In your portfolio of skills, hobbies, and talents, which ones do you enjoy and what comes easily to you? 

Motivators –  What am I passionate about? “I care about sustainability and people.” For a career, what values and passions do you have that align with an organisation? 

Assets –  What experiences do I have? “I was the president of my club and worked in customer service.” List out your experiences and what you can offer, or perhaps a unique selling point that helps differentiate you from other candidates. 

Reflecting on your motivations, hobbies, skill set, the factors that drive you to pursue this path, and seeing whether you align with an organisation’s values are important in order to develop a healthy and positive mindset! 

Re-imagining your career options

Think of the unthinkable, expect the unexpected 

In times of uncertainty, our vision can narrow and we might lose sight of our of opportunities and chances that are available to us. Therefore. . .

Diversify and invest in your many future selves. 

The breadth of possibilities and outcomes — positive or negative — are endless in a challenging context. Some of your existing career plans and labour markets you were looking into could have spiralled out of control. 

Don’t put your eggs in one basket, and don’t presume there’s only one basket available . In this context, the fewer jobs and opportunities you apply for that you are capable of results in greater risks or scarcity. 

That being said, none of us know what the future holds, thus envisioning a career ladder or a single road isn’t always the most helpful or accurate thing to do. Instead, think of your career journey as a series of twists and turns — crossroads. 

The crossroads model

It may seem that going up a single career ladder is the norm. In reality, there’s a lot of lateral movement (across sectors and industries), changing locations, or even shifting career paths. In this kind of environment, being flexible and adaptable — constantly redeveloping or reinventing yourself — is the healthiest way to plan your career. 

• The road that beckons : what have you always wanted to try?
• The road that I imagine in my wildest dreams : what do you dream of? 
• The road that seems most sensible to me : the one that people whose opinion I value would suggest to me. 
• The road not travelled : one you have never considered before.
• The road I have already been down.
• The road back : going back to a place you felt safe.

In other words, when we head to a particular destination, we don’t always take the main road. Oftentimes, we find ourselves taking the road less travelled, taking shortcuts by meandering through smaller streets. In other words, don’t be afraid to walk the off-beaten path, after all it may bring you to your goals faster. 

If you find yourself needing additional support thinking about your options or navigating your career, you can always speak to a careers consultant here at LSE Careers. Book a confidential one-to-one appointment on CareerHub .

Note: This blog is the first blog of a two-part blog series from our Career planning in a challenging context event.  

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Introduction

Learning how to capture , reflect on and evidence your experiences and skills will support you in your ongoing development, prepare you for future applications for employment or further study and help you manage your career over your entire working life. This guide provides information and tools to assist you in this.

Reflecting on an experience is a way of evaluating your own reactions and capabilities. It can help you to learn from your experiences, improve your approaches in the future and evidence your skills and strengths to others. It can also boost your confidence and make you feel good about your achievements! Plus it's a great way to impress employers, as Iain Menneer, Chief Executive Officer of Animalcare Group PLC tells us, "Employers are looking for something quite special in a graduate, someone who has gone beyond their studies, is very proactive and can reflect on their experiences."

These resources are aimed at everyone, but will be particularly useful for students who want to do some or all of the following:

• capture their transferable skill learning from work experience, extra curricular activities and academic course content
• prepare for a job or further study application
• apply for the York Award .  

Why reflect?

Employability skills

"Employability skills" is a term you will hear and see often at university. These are the skills that many employers look for when recruiting and a student exhibiting many of these qualities will have an advantage over those who do not. 

You can find out more about the skills, strengths and capabilities sought by employers using the following resources. 

How to reflect

Reflection goes beyond just a description of an event or situation. Simple description doesn’t pose any questions or offer any thoughts on what happened or why.

To reflect on an activity or experience you need to ‘stand back from the event’, ask questions about what happened and offer your thoughts, answers and conclusions. A reflective approach is useful as it will help you to analyse your behaviour (how you approached the task), consider the positives and also the areas to address for improvement in the future.

It is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost. It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations or concepts can be generated. And it is generalisations that allow new situations to be tackled effectively. ”

( Gibbs, 1988 )

Many different models and approaches have been suggested for reflection. One approach that can help you structure your reflection is the Gibbs model below:

Reflect on an experience

Reflective writing exercises

Improve your reflective writing skills by having a go at the two exercises below - click on a blue box to start an exercise:

In simple terms, writing can be either descriptive or reflective . Description will not contain any emotional reactions, thoughts on how the presentation went or plans for future improvement. Reflection may fall into one of two categories:

• Conclusion and action plan What did you learn about yourself? What general conclusions did you draw from the experience? Are there any actions you can take right now?

Over the next three screens of this exercise, we'll show you three paragraphs from a piece of reflective writing written by a second year student about their experience of delivering a presentation as part of their course.

It is helpful to reflect on your past behaviours, evaluate your approach and plan positive actions for the future.

• You worked hard to achieve
• Was a challenge (out of your comfort zone)
• Helped to increase your confidence
• What happened?
• How did you feel?
• What did you learn about yourself?
• What might you do differently in a similar situation?

Describing and evidencing your skills, strengths and capabilities

Being able to describe your skills, strengths and capabilities to others, and evidence them with examples, is a really critical skill to develop as it will support you in making applications for work experience or employment, or further study.

You can use the well known 'CAR' model to help you do this. This encourages you to talk about your experiences in a way that is valued by employers. C-A-R stands for Context, Action, Result:

• Context - explain the situation/context briefly 
• Action - describe what you did, how did you go about the task/solve the problem/challenge
• Result - what was the outcome of your actions? How did you or others (e.g. society/group) benefit?

The video below explains this further.

Choose one of your skills, strengths or capabilities, and have a go at answering the questions below. 

You can draw on any example. This could include an example from your academic studies, college life, sports clubs and societies, volunteering, campus events, internships and work experience. Think about examples you might use with an employer as this is good preparation for future job applications/interviews. 

• What was the situation where you demonstrated this strength? (suggest 30-50 words)
• What did you do? What action did you take? How did you use your strength? (suggest  60-80 words)
• What were the results of your actions? How did you feel when using your strengths? What was the impact on you or others? Could you have used your strengths to improve the outcome? What did you learn about yourself and your strengths? (suggest 120-150 words)

Further support

Reflective writing for academic purposes.

You may be also be asked to use reflective writing in your academic studies and assignments. The guide linked below provides a range of guidance and resources to support you. The guide also contains additional resources that you may find useful in preparing for job/further study applications. 

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Career Assessment

Qualitative Approaches – A Reflection

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• Hazel Reid 4  

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We live in challenging and uncertain times, change is constant and rapid, and for many, life appears chaotic and work can be difficult to find. Beyond livelihood, the getting of our daily bread, meaningful work that is sustaining for both body and soul may seem like a luxury and career counsellors are not immune to these constraints in the context of their own lives and work.

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Reid, H. (2015). Career Assessment. In: McMahon, M., Watson, M. (eds) Career Assessment. Career Development Series. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-034-5_30

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Following My Own Advice: A Career Counseling Reflection

New professionals and graduate students, september 18, 2017 alexa lindahl.

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Self-reflection: a practical guide from career coaches.

In career coaching, we talk a lot about self-reflection.  To know where to take your career, it’s critical to have a strong sense of your goals, strengths, passions, and values.  So:  how can we self-reflect? How can we learn about ourselves? What are some techniques we can use?  What are some questions we can ask ourselves?  What are some resources we can take advantage of?  What can we read?  In this blog, our career coaches offer a range of answers:

Adrienne Howell, Career Coach:

Turn off the “noise” in order to self-reflect.

I think back to when I was in high school and college, when I was truly getting to know myself.  I ask myself if I would have a shallower sense of who I was if I had algorithms that dictated what music I listened to, or if I had to compare myself to others via social media, or if my ADHD would have worsened if I had to constantly text and answer phone calls.  The answer is “yes”.  Therefore, I’ve come up with my own solution called “the back in the day method.”  Start by leaving your phone at home or turning it off once a week, and only answer texts and messages when you get home, like we did back in the day.  You can slowly add days or times.  This way, you aren’t bogged with nonsense and you truly get an understanding for your needs and who you are.

Sean McKelvie, Career Coach:

I think it is crucial to take time to self-reflect in order to understand the path we are on. Students can be elated with the satisfaction of receiving good grades, securing a position with a summer internship and beyond, or simply making new friends or relationships. On the other hand, students might be overwhelmed with their workload or frustrated with classes, lack of opportunities, or not securing a job or internship. I think always asking yourself, “what can I gain from this experience?” is a simple but direct question that can help frame our current circumstance. It is easy to answer this questions when everything is going well, but I would argue that through struggling, and sometimes failing, we are presented with opportunities to learn and grow if we take time to self-reflect.

Alex Barilec, Career Coach: 

Self-reflection is a critical skill to grow, change and adapt. It helps us to become more emotionally intelligent, a better leader and find roles that are a good personal fit so we can be highly effective. The foundation for self-reflection for me was understanding the basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, particularly learning about cognitive distortions. This helped me better understand the lens through which I was seeing the world, how it might not be the whole picture or the truth, and then what to do about it. A few of my favorite books on reflection is When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron, The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Finally, when you are ready consider working with a professional therapist or coach who is trained in conversational and behavioral techniques to reflectively inquire into how it is you are being in comparison to how you desire to be. This can one of the most powerful and supportive relationships to help you change positively. Here’s a link to some helpful exercises: https://positivepsychology.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets/

Nyman Brooks, Career Coach:

I am offering three provocative quotes and one question each that might generate some self-reflection or self-evaluation:

“But yield who will to their separation,

My object in living is to unite

My avocation [what I do for joy] and my vocation [calling, career]

As my two eyes make one in sight.

For only where love and need are one,

And the work is play for mortal stakes,

Is the deed ever really done

For Heaven and the future’s sakes.”   –Robert Frost

Q: To what degree does my calling or career align with what brings me joy? 

“Of actions some aim at what is necessary and useful, and some at what is honorable. And the preference given to one or the other class of actions must necessarily be like the preference given to one or other part of the soul and its actions over the other…”     –Aristotle

Q: Which parts of my soul am I giving to which of my actions and preferences?

“Looking back on my life since I left home, I count myself unusually fortunate that, during more than fifty years of earning a living, almost all the work I have elected to do has consisted of tasks that I would gladly have taken on even if I had had an independent income. If leisure work, as opposed to drudgery, comprises all those activities in which one would engage for reasons of intrinsic reward and without need of extrinsic compensation, then most of my paid employments have been largely leisure pursuits…. In between the extremes of subsistence work that is drudgery and leisure work for which one is paid, there lies a spectrum of occupations in which both aspects of work are found in varying degrees of admixture. My good fortune has been that I have had the opportunity to choose the occupations of my life so that they would be predominantly filled with leisure.”    –Mortimer Adler

Q: Adler uses the word “leisure” to describe activities that enlarge the soul rather than merely as “play” or “relaxation,” as the term is commonly used.  Most of us have jobs that lie somewhere between the extremes of drudgery one hand and leisure on the other. Where does my career fall on that spectrum?

Dan Moseson, Career Coach:

My take on self-reflection is a little bit different.  I typically need to get out of my head and into at least a bit of a “flow” state to reach new insights about myself and my life.  According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who first constructed the concept, flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”  I typically reach these states through exercise and creative expression.  Techniques like journaling and meditation have never done nearly as much for me as an intense mountain hike, a whirlwind afternoon photographing lightning, or cranking up my electric guitar for an enthusiastic audience.  As Csikszentmihalyi wrote , “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”  It’s an odd paradox, but I typically do my best thinking when I’m  not aware of thinking .  This is how I’ve made life-changing discoveries about my need to be creative, physically active, and immersed in nature.  As a side note, I agree strongly with Alex that a good career coach and (a good therapist) can also be extremely helpful in understanding your needs, desires, goals, and skills.

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Reflective essays

Guidance and information on using reflective essays.

The reflective essay is one of the most common reflective assignments and is very frequently used for both formative and especially summative assessments. Reflective essays are about presenting reflections to an audience in a systematic and formal way.

Generally, all good academic practice for assignments applies when posing reflective essays.

Typical reflective essay questions

Reflective essays tend to deal with a reflective prompt that the essay needs to address. This also often means that the essay will have to draw on a range of experiences and theories to fully and satisfactorily answer the question.

The questions/prompts should not be too vague, for example ‘reflect on your learning’, but should define an area or an aspect relevant to your learning outcomes. This is most easily ensured with thorough guidelines, highlighting elements expected in the essay.

Questions could be something like (not exhaustive):

• reflect on learning in the course with regards to [choose an aspect]
• reflect on personal development across an experience with regards to certain skills
• reflect on development towards subject benchmarks statements and the extent to which these are achieved
• reflect on the progression towards the course’s defined learning outcomes or the school’s or the University’s Graduate Attributes
• reflect on some theory relevant to the course. (Remember that for this to be a reflective essay and not an academic/critical essay, the student must use that theory to explain/inform their own experiences, and use their own experiences to criticise and put the theory into context – that is, how theory and experience inform one another.)

Typical structure and language

Reflective essays will often require theoretical literature, but this is not always essential.  Reflective essays can be built around a single individual experience, but will often draw on a series of individual experiences – or one long experience, for example an internship, that is broken into individual experiences.

The typical language and structure is formal – for thorough descriptions on this, see ‘Academic reflections: tips, language and structure’ in the Reflectors’ Toolkit, which can be valuable to highlight to students.

Academic reflections: tips, language and structure (within the Reflectors’ Toolkit)

Length and assignment weight if assessed

There is no one length that a reflective essay must take. As with all written assignments, the main consideration is that the length is appropriate for evidencing learning, answering the question and meeting the criteria.

Similarly, there is no clear answer for what percentage of the overall mark is attached to the assignment. However, the choice should mirror the required workload for the reflector to complete it, how that fits into your initiative, and the amount of preparation the reflector has had.

For instance, if the student has received formative feedback on multiple pieces of work, a larger proportion of the course mark may be appropriate, compared to if the student had not had a chance to practice. It is important to keep in mind that many students will not have had many chances to practice reflective essays before university.

Back to ‘Components of reflective tasks’

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Unlocking Your Career Potential: 7 Self-Reflection Questions to Ask Yourself

Think you can achieve more career-wise it’s time to do some self-reflection to gain clarity in your professional journey..

In the fast-paced and ever-evolving landscape of the professional world, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind without taking a moment to reflect on your career path. Even if you’re currently comfortable at work, or not looking to switch careers any time soon, self-reflection can be a transformative tool, unlocking untapped potential and opening doors to new possibilities you may not be aware of. 

On the other hand, if you’re looking to level up in your career, embarking on this introspective journey helps you to gain the invaluable opportunity to chart your own course, align your passions with your professional pursuits, and ultimately thrive in your chosen field.

All you need to do is to set some time aside and start asking yourself some questions relevant to your professional self. 

Unsure of what to ask yourself? Workipedia by MyCareersFuture has got you covered. Here are ten questions we’ve carefully compiled to help you in your self-reflection process.

Ready to take charge of your career? Polaris is tailored exclusively for you and designed to match your unique aspirations and ambitions. Sign up today!

7 questions to ask yourself

1. what are my strengths.

Identifying your strengths allows you to leverage them to your advantage. Reflect on the skills, qualities, and expertise that set you apart. Assess how you can further develop and showcase these strengths in your current role or explore opportunities to maximise them. 

Consider seeking feedback from colleagues and mentors or even taking assessments to gain a comprehensive understanding of your strengths.

2. What are my areas for improvement?

No one is perfect, and recognising your areas for improvement is crucial for growth. Reflect on the skills or habits you’d like to develop or refine. 

Consider seeking training or mentorship in these areas, setting specific goals, and creating a plan to address them. Embrace a growth mindset and see challenges as opportunities for learning and improvement.

Have a job but want to level up? Achieve career excellence, develop your skills, and expand your knowledge with resources from Career GRIT. Check it out now!

3. Am I investing in my professional development?

Continuous learning is essential for career growth. Reflect on how you invest in your professional development. Consider whether you’re actively seeking new knowledge, attending conferences or workshops, pursuing certifications, or engaging in networking opportunities. 

Assess how to create a learning plan and allocate time and resources to invest in your skills and knowledge.

Read More: Upskilling and Reskilling: Know the Difference and Why They’re Important for Career Resilience

4. Am I on the right career path?

Take a step back and evaluate if your current career path aligns with your long-term goals. Reflect on whether you feel a sense of purpose and fulfilment in your work. Consider your desired lifestyle, work-life balance, and potential growth opportunities. 

If you find yourself disconnected or unfulfilled, explore alternative paths and be open to making changes that align with your aspirations.

5. Am I challenged enough?

Growth often comes from stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing new challenges. Reflect on whether your current role provides opportunities for growth and development. Consider whether you’re being intellectually stimulated and if there’s room to take on additional responsibilities or projects.

Looking for a job? Trying to ace that interview? Subscribe to our Telegram channel for useful career tips, resources and events! 

If you find yourself in a stagnant position, seek out new challenges or consider pursuing professional development opportunities.

Read More: How to Adopt a Growth Mindset for Career Success

6. How do I handle setbacks and failures?

Resilience is a critical skill for success in any career. Reflect on how you handle setbacks, failures, and obstacles. Consider your coping mechanisms, problem-solving skills, and ability to bounce back. 

Assess how you can build your resilience and develop strategies to overcome challenges more effectively. Embrace failure as an opportunity for growth and learning.

7. How do I communicate and collaborate with others?

Strong communication and collaboration skills are essential in today’s interconnected workplace. Reflect on how effectively you communicate your ideas, actively listen, and build relationships with others. 

Consider seeking feedback on your communication style and exploring ways to enhance your interpersonal skills. Look for opportunities to collaborate with diverse teams and build your network.

Career success is not a destination but a journey

Career success is not a destination but a continuous process of learning, adapting, and evolving. You don’t have to self-reflect on your career every day, but at regular intervals – once a year is a good time frame. 

Embrace the power of self-reflection, take deliberate actions, and watch as you unlock new opportunities, fulfilment, and success in your professional life.  

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