Interview with a City Administrator

I interviewed Mrs. Regina Bowman, a semi-retired case manager/career counselor for the city Workforce Program, Job Link (personal communication, March 18, 2014). Mrs. Bowman spent 35 years with the city, 20 of those years at Job link and 15 years with the police department. The purpose of the interview was to discover how Mrs. Bowman selected career counseling as her profession or life’s purpose.

Prior to graduating high school, Mrs. Bowman confided that she received little guidance and direction from her parents or the school’s guidance counselor. Exercising her own judgment, Mrs. Bowman attended Livingstone College graduating with a degree in English. She admits that she was not very good in English, but maintained a good grasp on the literature component never relinquishing her aspirations of becoming an author. Receiving little professional development from academic advisors, Mrs. Bowman did change her major from English. When asked, “how she decided on a major”, she confided that “you pick what sounds good”.

Mrs. Bowman held various jobs before she acquired a position with the Police Department as a staff administrator. As an administrator, she prepared reports and various office duties. From speaking with Mrs. Bowman, it was apparent that while she enjoyed her job, it was fulfilling her needs. She contemplated changing careers. She knew she did not want to teach and she did not feel proficient in English to work as a reporter for the local newspaper. She realized that she liked working for and with the police department helping.

Helping sparked Mrs. Bowman’s career change. She attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University earning a degree in Human Resource Counseling. Upon comple...

... middle of paper ...

... Retirement availability coincides with monetary resources but has other factors such as but no limited to dependents, debt, and demand. Dependents may include spouses, children, parents, or grandchildren. Debt may include mortgages, credit card, and student loans. Demand includes the ideology that another trained professional is equipped and competent to assume your role.

In retrospect, Bolles’ Three Boxes of Life, Work Adjustment theory, and Myers Briggs Type Indicator identifies that one perfect career path or career assessment cannot solely define an individual or their purpose. It takes competent counselors to help individual’s tackle personal issues/conflicts in order to educate clients on the possibilities and initiating change.

Works Cited

ESTJ Personality Type. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.knowyourtype.com/myers-briggs/16-types/estj/