This is a paper that I wrote recently for the Career Development Facilitator (CDF) Training that I am taking with the Center on Education and Work at UW-Madison

1. Super’s
Theory
and
My
Career
Development
There
are
several
elements
of
Super’s
Development
theory
that
shed
light
on
my
personal
career
development.
For
one
thing,
Super
emphasizes
the
importance
of
self-­‐
concept,
i.e.
“the
picture
we
have
of
who
we
are,”
and
how
that
picture
influences
our
career
choices
over
the
lifespan.
Ideally,
we
are
able
to
implement
our
self-­‐concept
in
our
career
roles.
In
my
case,
my
self-­‐concept
was
first
formulated
while
growing
up
as
an
only
child
and
flourished
once
I
moved
away
from
home
and
began
my
adult
life.
All
throughout
childhood
and
adolescence,
I
viewed
myself
as
an
intelligent,
outgoing
individual
–
I
did
well
in
school,
and
my
parents
encouraged
me
to
devote
time
to
studying.
I
continue
to
view
myself
that
way
today.
I
was
in
numerous
gifted
programs
as
a
student,
did
well
in
most
academic
subjects,
and
participated
in
activities
outside
of
school
–
dance,
softball,
and
choir
to
name
a
few.
I
did
not
initially
see
myself
as
a
creative
person
until
I
received
the
award
for
“Most
Creative”
in
my
second
grade
class
because
I
had
always
associated
creativity
with
being
artistic
–
i.e.
being
good
at
arts
and
crafts
or
drawing
(which
I
was
not
very
good
at).
Winning
that
award
really
helped
me
to
embrace
my
natural
creativity
–
since
that
point
I
have
also
considered
creativity
as
a
key
part
of
my
self-­‐concept.
While
I
had
a
very
positive
childhood,
two
things
were
missing
which
prevented
me
from
developing
my
self-­‐concept
further
until
I
went
to
college
and
started
spending
more
time
away
from
my
parents.
As
mentioned
in
the
review
of
Super’s
theory
for
this
course,
“the
formation
of
self-­‐concept
begins
when
children
distinguish
that
they
are
separate
from
their
parents
and
other
people/objectives
in
their
lives.”
In
my
case,
I
didn’t
really
see
myself
as
separate
from
my
parents
until
there
were
literally
several
hours
driving
distance
between
us.
Growing
up
in
a
fairly
sheltered
existence
with
no
younger
siblings,
I
didn’t
have
the
opportunity
to
serve
as
a
leader
or
role
model
until
college.
Living
as
a
senior
member
of
my
sorority
in
the
chapter
house,
I
was
able
to
mentor
some
younger
members
and
motivate
the
chapter
to
have
better
wellness
habits
as
our
Personal
Development
Coordinator.
In
doing
so,
I
began
to
realize
my
potential
to
motivate
and
inspire
others
–
an
element
of
my
self-­‐concept
that
is
now
central
to
my
career
goals.
Later
on,
after
I
initially
“failed”
at
my
first
job
out
of
college
as
a
market
researcher,
I
realized
the
potential
and
importance
of
those
collegiate
experiences
more
consciously
and
decided
to
attend
graduate
school
to
become
a
Higher
Education
and
Student
Affairs
professional.
Since
that
point,
my
key
purpose
in
life
has
been
to
motivate
and
inspire
people
to
self-­‐actualize
(i.e.
fully
realize
their
self-­‐concept),
discover
their
calling(s),
and
share
their
unique
gifts
with
the
world.
According
to
Super’s
theory,
the
extent
to
which
I
am
able
to
realize
these
various
aspects
of
my
self-­‐concept
in
my
career
roles,
the
more
satisfaction
I
will
gain
in
life.
In
other
words,
if
I
can
help
people
self-­‐actualize
in
a
creative
way
using
my
intelligent
and
social
qualities;
there
is
a
good
chance
that
I
will
be
pleased
with
my
career
life.
1

2. In
the
four
years
since
I
graduated
from
my
master’s
program
and
started
working
full-­‐time
as
a
Retention
and
Matriculation
Advisor,
my
self-­‐concept
has
solidified
and
become
more
stable.
I
still
see
myself
as
outgoing
and
intelligent,
and
I
continue
to
see
my
creativity
and
motivational/inspirational
qualities
as
key
elements
of
my
personality.
For
the
most
part,
I
have
achieved
much
of
the
satisfaction
and
realization
of
my
self-­‐concept
in
career
that
Super
refers
to.
Still,
recently
I’ve
observed
my
self-­‐concept
starting
to
grow
and
evolve
further
now
that
I’ve
broken
up
with
my
boyfriend
and
started
to
examine
who
I
am
as
a
single
woman
on
my
own.
Going
to
college
helped
me
to
separate
from
my
parents,
but
I
quickly
got
into
a
long-­‐term
romantic
relationship
and
haven’t
really
been
out
of
one
for
long
since
that
time.
Now
that
I
am
taking
the
time
to
truly
be
alone,
I’m
noticing
other
elements
of
my
self-­‐concept
emerging.
For
one
thing,
I’ve
started
to
witness
a
more
introspective,
reflective
part
of
me
that
I’d
like
to
incorporate
more
consciously
in
the
next
phase
of
my
life
–
perhaps
by
writing
professionally
or
cultivating
a
serious
meditation
practice.
Another
way
that
Super’s
developmental
theory
has
affected
my
view
of
my
career
development
is
via
his
discussion
of
the
various
life
roles
that
people
play
in
a
lifetime
and
how
our
emphasis
on
those
various
roles
at
any
given
time
make
up
our
career
and
influence
the
choices
that
we
make.
While
I
was
most
recently
spending
a
lot
of
time
dividing
my
energy
between
Worker,
Partner
to
my
ex-­‐boyfriend,
(Doctoral)
Student,
and
Homemaker
/
Caretaker
to
his
cat,
I
am
now
focused
most
intensely
on
being
a
Worker
and
a
Leisurite
–
to
the
extent
that
I
am
started
to
downshift
my
role
as
(Doctoral)
Student
and
am
seriously
considering
giving
up
that
role
for
this
life
phase.
I’m
on
not
crazy
about
the
word
“Leisurite,”
but
basically
I
am
focused
on
activities
outside
of
work
such
as
yoga,
Biodanza,
dance
class,
choir(s),
and
meditation
that
bring
me
joy,
wellbeing,
and
personal
growth.
In
doing
so,
I’m
hoping
to
clarify
my
values
and
my
self-­‐concept
further
so
that
I
can
choose
a
mate
and
career
pursuits
that
fit
better
together
with
the
things
that
I
like
to
do.
In
addition
to
my
present
life
roles,
I
am
also
incorporating
future
visioning
of
life
roles
into
my
career
planning.
I
enjoy
much
of
my
work
as
a
Retention
and
Matriculation
Advisor
at
USF
and
my
life
feels
pretty
balanced
right
now
–
yet
I
find
myself
exploring
how
I
might
continue
to
achieve
my
life
purpose
of
helping
people
self-­‐actualize
when
I
attempt
to
add
partner
and
parent
into
my
life
roles
in
the
future.
Ideally,
I
would
like
to
take
on
a
part-­‐time
role
as
life
coach
or
writer
so
that
I
can
quit
the
full-­‐time
work
that
I
do
now
as
an
advisor
for
the
time
being
and
focus
on
my
partner
and
parenting
roles
more
intensely.
Overall,
Super’s
developmental
theory
has
provided
a
wealth
of
resources
for
me
to
use
in
exploring
and
analyzing
my
personal
career
development.
His
theory
has
helped
me
assess
how
my
self-­‐concept
and
life
roles
got
me
to
where
I
am
now
and
also
how
they
should
continue
to
guide
my
growth
and
choices
in
the
future.
2