Career Reflection
University is a diverse world of people and options, a journey, where one will meet a variety of people with a variety of goals. University offers its students the ability to learn and grow, and to transform themselves over the years and develop the person they want to be, however it doesn’t always turn you into the person that think you will become. This is supported by research conducted by Kinash et al. (2017) which found the majority of participants in their study did not know what their post course employment goals were until graduation. Ran et al. (2023), showed that self-reflection, career exploration and subjective well-being are all factors that could contribute to students having a better understanding of their chosen career paths before graduation helping to ensure that they are on the right path to accomplish their future goals.
My experience of the university journey has aligned with self-discovery that I did not anticipate and I have changed direction on more than one occasion throughout the learning process, and this contrasts the observations made by Boyle (2022) who suggested that millennials do not know who they are and therefore delay identity exploration until after they have experienced disillusionment within the workplace. I do believe that this is due to universities taking on a more holistic approach to education and focusing not just on academic but also developing the individual as a whole. This holistic approach produces students that are well prepared for study as well as entry into the workforce (Channells & Yard, 2014), and students who have a stronger sense of self resulting in the ability to map out a more focused career path.
Throughout my time at university, I have been encouraged to explore my identity both in relation to my academic self, my personal self, and my future professional self. This has led to significant personal insight as well as changes in my planned career trajectory. When I first entered the academic world I was aiming for a career in accounting, namely personal accounting with a specialisation in tax returns, Sometime in my first year I learnt that I wanted to help people on a more personal level and this is where my first career goal change happened and I began to focus on a career more focused on finance and mortgage broking became my goal.
After this discovery I was presented with an opportunity to help a family member with the process of retiring and accessing their superannuation, and this lead me to discover that I had a passion for this type of work. Through the satisfaction I gained from offering my help I further explored career fields and found a passion for superannuation and retirement planning as well as wealth creation in the lead up to retirement. This ultimately resulted in my chosen career path of financial planning.