In completing the assignment, I prepared six questions for my two role models. Their interviews followed by my summaries are below
Julie - Social Worker
1) State your current job title and responsibilities.
My title is Individual Service and Support Advocate (ISSA) Case Manager. This is a position created through DHS (Department of Human Services) through the Division of Developmental Disabilities to monitor the cases funded within. My responsibilities are to monitor and advocate for the individuals on my caseload. I visit each person quarterly to ensure that they are receiving the care they need and deserve. I advocate in various ways to resolve any issues that occur. I also assist with making changes to services (ie moving to a new CILA or Home Based Services, etc)
2) What do you find the most and the least satisfying about your job?
I enjoy my job when I am able to help someone to resolve an issue or to enhance his or her life in some way. For instance, one of my clients was living in a CILA home with 24hour staff but she was becoming very independent with her life skills. She was ready to have less staff support and really wanted to move on. I helped her to find a new place to live and complete the necessary paperwork to make that happen. She still calls me, thanking me, for all of the assistance. She is very happy in her new home.
The least satisfying part of my job is seeing problems in the care and despite all my efforts it may not be enough to fix the problems. It can be very challenging, frustrating and upsetting – especially when problems are so systemic.
3) What path did you travel to achieve success?
I don’t know if I’ve succeeded yet. I don’t think I’ve achieved my potential yet. I hope to do more still.
What path did I travel to get this far? I had a psychology class in High School that I really enjoyed so when I went to college I felt strongly about pursuing that. I took an Intro to Social Work class as part of my curriculum. I loved it. I became a social work major at that point. After a few semesters of college, I thought it would be a good idea to get some relevant experience to build my resume. I was moving home for the summer and saw that the group home in town was looking for help. I applied and got the job. I worked as a direct support staff with 4 developmentally disabled gentlemen at that home for the next year and a half. I moved onto another home closer to my college for my senior year of college. During college I also completed three internships and only two of them were required. The third one was just something I sought out because I wanted to learn and experience as much as I could. I interned in a corrections/probation office, with a disadvantaged youth program, and in a pro bono legal center.
After college, I moved to Chicago (I grew up in Minnesota). I was hired at a job with Victor C. Neumann. Neumann works with people with DD and with Mental Illiness. I felt sure, after all my college experiences, that the population was right for me. Although I had sort of fallen into the work, I really had grown to enjoy it and I felt that I was good at it. I worked there for almost two years. I began finding myself burning out though. I could sense the stress of supervising staff and being paged in the middle of the night was wearing on me. I decided to make a change and that is how I wound up at CAU doing ISSA. I’ve been here for about 3 and ½ years. I think some of the most important things one can do are to strive for the truth, trust your gut instinct, and never stop trying to learn. I try to do this every day in my job.
4) In following your path to success, what difficulties did you face?
I continue to encounter difficulties. Difficulties are abundant in social services because there is never enough funding, training, staff support, etc. Difficulties are abundant because different people have different ideas of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is not so good. Frequently the answers are not black and white, so it can be challenging to find a consensus.
Also, I have a young child – so it has been difficult to balance my life as a mom with my life as a social worker. That has been my most recent difficulty.
5) Did you ever feel discouraged or unsupported? How did you overcome the challenge?
For me, my patience may start to wear thin and discouragement maybe setting in – with whatever situation I may have been dealing with for a length of time. If day after day, month after month, you don’t see improvement on an issue that you have become so impassioned about – it can be very difficult. I don’t have any good advice for how to overcome these obstacles. It is an ongoing battle for me. I can say this: I try not to take my work home with me or internalize negativity, I try to be honest with myself and my supervisor if I am struggling with any challenge, I try to take care of myself and do things to relieve stress (such as massage, exercise).
6) What advice can you offer for my next steps to become a social worker?
Social work can take many forms, so try to figure out what field or population you are interested in. Learn as much as you can about that segment. Get as much real experience as you can. Try to take care of yourself – social work can consume you, but you won’t be much help to anyone else if you can’t help yourself.
Summary:
Julie's path to success includes the following:
Following her touchstone of helping others
Acquiring experience in social work while in college
Working an internship in her field
Following her moral and ethical nature to discover the truth
Continuing to learn new things in her field
Embracing stress management
Not allowing a job that is difficult to deter her from her love of service
I was struck by how proactive Julie was in ascertaining her goal to become a social worker. After following her touchstone, she sought job opportunities while attending college. Julie was able to gain the experience she needed to become a social worker before she graduated. I feel that her aggressiveness in getting a job in her field of study before graduation gave her a big advantage over other recent graduates in her field that did not have work experience. I was also impressed by Julie’s dedication to service. Obviously helping disabled and disadvantaged individuals is a noble cause to pursue, but Julie is candid when speaking about the difficulties and challenges that exist in social work. In addition, I truly admire Julie’s tenacity and conviction to help others despite of obstacles, lack of funding being the main obstacle, that stand in they way of her personal commitment to community service. By facing adversity, I feel that Julie’s moral and ethical convictions sustain her desire to remain in the field of social work. I feel that it is extremely important to have professionals like Julie who fight through difficulties in order to assist and serve people who are unable to fight for themselves. In our society it is essential that every individual has the right to be treated as an equal.
Julie emphasizes the importance of learning while working in her profession. Many people in our society become too comfortable in their profession and find their skills are outdated after years of service. I feel that Julie has approached her career in a realistic and progressive manner by continuing to learn new things about her job every day.
Julie describes the most satisfying part of her job is when she feels that she has helped someone to become a better person. Although she expresses that she has a “ways to go” before she feels she has become successful; in my opinion by bringing about a positive change in the life of even one person, she is already a successful leader.
Next Steps:
Julie’s advice begins with narrowing down the specific area of social work that most interest me. This information is very useful because I did not consider the variety of areas of study that are available in the field of social work. Her statement led me to conduct a brief analysis of the various fields I could pursue. After my investigation, I discovered that there are numerous opportunities in almost all sectors of the job market for social workers and that following my touchstone for mentorship can be captured in a variety of careers. Julie advises me to gain work experience early on during my journey to success and to guard against stress by taking care of myself. Taking care of yourself is good advice to any woman who dares to become successful.
Cookie - Image Maker/Stylist
1) State your current job title and responsibilities.
As an image maker and stylist I work for various department stores by coordinating cosmetic/fashion event promotions. In addition, I am an independent fashion consultant. I coordinate fashion shows and perform makeovers for women of all races and ages.
2) What do you find the most and the least satisfying about your job?
The artistic and creative aspect is the most satisfying part of my career. I get to see my ideas come into fruition daily. The least appealing aspect of my job are the long work hours and having few weekends off.
3) What path did you travel to achieve success?
I started in retail sales working at an upscale boutique on Chicago’s Gold Coast which led to participating in retail fashion shows. Opportunities allowed me to become more involved with the fashion show aspect of my job by becoming the fashion show coordinator where I worked. I quickly began to build my clientele and subsequently became a stylist with name recognition in the fashion consulting and make-up industry.
4) In following your path to success, what difficulties did you face?
Being in the beauty business, my biggest difficulty was interacting with co-workers who were insecure about their talents. I was often challenged when co-workers would try to steal my customers or become hostile towards me because my sales were high, being that I was working on a commission basis. I found that team building is very important when working among women who may feel intimidated by others. I still am challenged with this problem. However, I try my best to make co-workers feel comfortable around me and I go out of my way to assist them when I can.
5) Did you ever feel discouraged or unsupported? How did you overcome the challenge?
Yes there were times I did, but I overcame it by not taking no for an answer. If I was turned down for an opportunity I simply kept asking for what I wanted. Eventually the doors opened for me through my persistence and my family was very supportive.
6) What advice can you offer for my next steps to become an image maker/stylist?
Make an effort to meet people who are already in the industry and network constantly. Keep a positive attitude even when things don’t go your way. Stay in the public eye in order to obtain name and face recognition. I also suggest taking classes in fashion, make-up artistry, and marketing in order to attract the clientele you need to become financially stable. Seek out opportunities that put you in places where you want to work although the pay may not be what you want at the time. Remember that bigger financial opportunities will come once you build a good reputation. Finally, keep pushing forward and do not take no for an answer. In my business persistence is the key.
Summary:
Cookie’s path to success includes the following:
Sought other career opportunities from her current employer
Utilized networking as a tool to gain name recognition in the fashion industry
Became an entrepreneur while still working in her current position
Practice team building as a leadership skill
Believes that persistence brings about positive results
The most impression thing about Cookie’s career as an image maker is that her career has branched off into many aspects of the fashion industry. She explains that her creative nature has led her to become an image consult, fashion consultant, make-up artist, fashion show coordinator and cosmetic promoter. Wow! In addition to all the roles she plays, while working in department stores she still discovered a variety of opportunities by working as an independent contractor. I first met Cookie at a party and clearly she was the most beautiful woman in the room. I approached her to ask about what she was wearing and our friendship was formed from there. I found her very charismatic and fashion forward. After visiting her at work at Saks Fifth Avenue and watching her turn ordinary looking people into “Divas” I was convinced that I wanted to do something on the level of an image maker. Cookie would ask the women questions about their life style and after only a few minutes she was able to create the look or style of dress they desired. When I met Cookie she was the top sales person at the store. Currently, Cookie works independently and in department stores and I continue to admire her exceptional work ethics. Cookie has managed to become financially stable as well as spiritually happy by embracing a career that she loves.
I have no doubt that her charming personality has taken her far in life. In her interview Cookie stresses the importance of networking. She explains how name and face recognition plays a major role in becoming successful in her field as an image-maker/stylist. As we are learning in our class, according to Barbara Sher “Barn Raising” is a form of networking necessary in becoming successful as we seek out our vocations. Cookie’s experience in the fashion industry can be used as an example that networking is crucial when creating relationships with others that lead to work opportunities. Today Cookie is the only image maker/stylist that I remain faithful to when purchasing cosmetics and other beauty products. In addition, Cookie is the reason that I chose becoming an image maker as one of the vocations I would like to pursue. I cannot forget the look on her customers faces after she delivered the look they wanted. I feel that Cookie helps women to build their self-esteem by assisting them to enhance their appearance. In many ways she is a mentor.
Next steps:
Cookie's suggestions for my next steps are in line with what we have learned in class about making connections with people through networking or Barn Raising! According to her interview, her success in the beauty industry rest almost entirely on name recognition or (creating relationships with people.) It is important to know that being successful in the beauty industry is not entirely based on skills and knowledge, rather connecting with people, learning to overcome personal differences and personality conflicts with others by team building is equally as important.
