Gaining Insight Into Yourself as a Helper

Chapter 1 Homework

Chapter 1 Homework

by Maggie Garcia -
Number of replies: 4

A woman contacted me for assistance in finding another job.  She was working in a position where she was on the phone all day (working from home) and felt that her skills were not being utilized as fully as they could be and her work was not fulfilling to her. 

1.  My motives for helping this person were first and foremost because I like helping people, especially in the career/job search area.  Even though she was not a student, I could use my work hours to assist her.

2.  I benefited from this relationship because she gave me a positive review on my Facebook page.

3.  My role in the relationship was to help her in rewriting her resume in such a way that her marketing/writing/presentation skills were highlighted.  I also assisted her in identifying potential job opportunities.  If I could do anything differently, I would probably go back and take things slower and dig deeper into finding out what she was needing.  I jumped right into the resume writing and the "nuts and bolts" of what I do.  Looking back, she probably wanted someone to bounce ideas off of (in the beginning anyway).

4.  This particular person was very positive, had excellent interpersonal skills, and presented herself very well.  She was very easy to work with and talk to.

5.  As I mentioned in question #3, I need to remember to slow down and take time to figure out what exactly the client is needing.  I think this comes from working with high volumes of people at my last campus.  I felt pressure to get people in and out.



In reply to Maggie Garcia

Re: Chapter 1 Homework

by Charise Wilson -

Thank you Maggie. Great insight into your student and yourself. Let's consider and explore more during our face-to-face meeting.

In reply to Maggie Garcia

Re: Chapter 1 Homework

by Ericka Cuvilie -

I have aspirations of working in career development on the collegiate level.  I appreciate reading in your post "I felt pressure to get people in and out." This could be an experience I may encounter. I also like how reflective you are in saying you need to "slow down." As a school teacher, I am ALWAYS jumping into the "nuts and bolts" of everything.  There is rarely time to slow down.  Perhaps I could have used this technique in working with the undergraduate student who is applying to law school.  This technique may have also assisted the student in sourcing the best words to reflect her message as opposed to me doing much of the heavy lifting.

In reply to Maggie Garcia

Re: Chapter 1 Homework

by nikki lin -
I think I have some motive as you because both of us want to help people.

The differences that I found out are that you already help the clients with the resume editing and I am going to learn the resume editing skills that I can use in my future. I think you reflect what you did for the client when you said you can slow down and understand the clients more deeply. I think you really concern about the people who you help. I think you respond to the questions in details.

In reply to nikki lin

Re: Chapter 1 Homework

by Charise Wilson -

Hello Nikki,

Thank you so much for your post. It is great to see that you have a strong desire to help people. The chapter really helped to explain that while we want to help people, we also want to make sure that we listen to their needs and that we don't just try to "fix" their situations in the manner that we think but that we seek to understand them, build a trusting relationship and then help them to obtain what they need to move forward. Nice job.

I am going to recommend that you use Grammarly as a resource. It will help you to formulate your thoughts when writing responses which is something you will need when attempting your CCSP assessment. 

I think I have the same motive as you because both of us want to help people. (Nikki, maybe you could have shared an example here to explain why you stated that you both have the same motive.)

The difference is that I found out that you already help clients with resume editing and I am going to learn resume editing skills that I can use in the future. I think you reflected on what you did for the client when you said, "you will slow down and understand the clients more deeply." I think you are really concerned about the people that you help. I think your response to the questions was very detailed.

Thank you,

Charise