MY SYSTEM of CAREER INFLUENCES MSCI (Adult): Workbook

Dr Mary McMahon is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her particular interests are the career development of children and adolescents, and the application of constructivist approaches to career counselling and assessment. She is especially interested in qualitative career assessment. Mary is the author of a number of books, book chapters, and refereed journal articles.

Mark Watson is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa. He specialises in career, school and adolescent psychology and researches lifespan career development, with a specific focus on assessment and cross-cultural issues. He publishes in international and national journals, is the author of book chapters and is co-editor of several books. He is currently on the editorial advisory boards of several international career development journals.

Professor Wendy Patton is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. She has published extensively in the area of career development, including articles, book chapters, conference papers, and a number of co-authored and co-edited books. She is currently on the editorial advisory boards of a number of national and international career development journals and the Series Editor of the Career Development Series with Sense Publishers.

Completing the activities that follow will help you think about the many influences that are part of the career decision making process. For example, how important are your immediate family, your current position, your work satisfaction, your values and your lifestyle to the thoughts you presently have about your career direction?
There are usually many influences that people have to consider before they can make career decisions. Influences can direct people toward or away from a choice, and are not necessarily positive or negative.
Most people find that identifying their own individual influences helps them to understand what is important to them in making decisions.
As you work through these activities, read the instructions carefully and take your time to work through each section. Eventually, you will be asked to transfer the information onto one diagram. This will help you to see the most important influences for you in relation to making a career decision at this time. With each activity you will find a “notes” section where you can add any additonal thoughts or jot down ideas when working through the activity.
You will make many career decisions throughout your life, and these influences and their level of importance to you will vary over time. For that reason, we encourage you to complete this reflection process more than once, perhaps in a few months time or at a career decision point some time in the future.