Hamline University Professional Experience Paper

Description

Career Autobiography Overview and Template

“The first and most fundamental building block of emotional intelligence on the road to becoming a leader or for anyone would have to be self-awareness. You sense you are or can become the creative force of your own life”(Covey, 2005, p. 346).

As you begin to look at your career, current, past, and future, it is important to understand various situations that have led you to where you are today. This activity explores relevant career positions and determines some specific elements that influenced how you felt about each one. Moreover, you will note if there was a particular personal event (birth, wedding, breakup, relocation, family event, etc.) that may have impacted you during your tenure at a particular position. It may be favorable or unfavorable, but for some reason it did make a difference in how you approached your career.

By reflecting on these areas, you will gain a sense of the common themes within areas that are of particular interest to you. You will gain a sense of the themes that you want to continue seeking out in your career or those you wish to avoid. It will help you to identify skills you developed and enhanced along your Journey. You may have five to eight depending on your experience level. That is fine – remember it is about YOU!

When you are finished you will have a document that helps you support your transferable skills for a future promotion or position. You can also ‘wrap’ a few stories around those skills defining the value you brought to a position. By crafting a story around the value you brought to a situation, you can develop unique and concise ways to support your ability to excel for others. This becomes YOUR STORY!

Follow this format as you write up your thoughts. (Template)

Go to a quiet place.

Use one sheet of paper per position – list your first position, second, third, etc. Write up as bullets for each position. Then convert the various bullets for all the positions to a 3-5 page (draft) paper using your APA skills. Submit that draft to Blackboard. It is graded as a Complete/Incomplete.

Approach in a self-reflective format – consider the total experience.

Consider: What did you like, dislike? What did you learn? What were some key skills that you developed? Which skills were transferable? Why did you decide to leave? Do you now see more opportunity you could have taken from that position?

Were there personal events that influenced you during your tenure in the position?

Pull out the themes. Reflect on their meaning.

Write the paper.

Submit the paper.

Use the themes as future instruments for discussion or engagement when you interview. They will support your ability to ‘frame’ how you can add value. It lets you control the interview as you create the story around the themes with your examples. Here is an example, ‘this is what I do, this is how I did it and this is how I can help you’! Practice it… It will be your homework the rest of your life.

*For those with limited professional experience, rely on positions that you may have had while in school, internships, or within volunteer or sports activities. The intent is to learn about yourself.