Focus Assessment 2010

This is an essay that I wrote back during my last semester at BGSU.  I wanted to share this with everyone because after 3 years I have finally managed to land a job that this essay describes.  The Focus Assessment Test was given to our class which tells you the attributes that you should look for in a job that you like.  With working at WFFT Local and owning Valerie Adams Photography...it goes to show that you can have your dream job. 

            Personality Type:  I tend to be an independent person but I enjoy working with people on projects where I can get their cooperation.  I prefer to work with people but I really enjoy creating new ideas and new projects of my own.  I am a natural leader so I tend to attract and inspire other by my enthusiasm.  I enjoy motivating people and seeing the end results from that but also from seeing how people are growing and getting better at something.  I love seeing how things work and understanding everything involved in a project.  My approach to work and life is to be orderly, set goals, make plans, and proceed with the tasks.   I should have a job where I can help people learn new skills and improve them as a person.  Teaching, counseling, religion, and art are some examples of my occupation assessment from my personality type.

           

            Skills:  My top three skills were designing, performing arts, and problem solving.  With designing, I like to analyze requirements for a new product or service and then creating a design to satisfy those needs.  Dance, drama, music, and things performed in front of an audience are what go into my skill of performing arts.  Problem solving is based on the ability to identify a problem, review information, develop and evaluate options, and implement a solution.

           

            Values:  Creativity, helping others, and working outdoors were my top three values.  Creating new ideas, programs, things, or anything else not previously developed by other person make me see creativity as my strongest value.  Helping others and being involved in a direct way with an individual or a small group is another big value in my life.  I also love working outdoors so a job where I can spend a lot of time outside would be a great value to have.

            Work Interests:  I am a creator, a persuader, and a helper.  I am mostly artistic which means that I want to be expressive and I love innovation.  I do not like structure and I prefer to use my imagination a lot.  Enterprising was my second interest.  I love to sell and promote using my ability to influence people.  I am a natural leader who likes competitive activities which means that I am self-confident, talkative, and energetic.  The third one I got was that I was social.  I tend to work with others and I am highly verbal in a group setting.  When it comes to being social, this means that I am cooperative, friendly, and understanding. 

            Leisure Interests:  They are the same as my work interests.  My top three were artistic, social, and then educational.  When it comes to me being artistic, I enjoy using my creativity.  I am open, imaginative, original, intuitive, emotional, independent, idealistic, and unconventional.  Being social I love helping and advising people.  I am highly concerned with other people’s welfare.  I love seeing people learn and make relationships.  I am helpful, responsible, cooperative, friendly, kind, sympathetic, and understanding.  When it comes to educational, I like to be involved in activities that have to do with ideas and thinking.  I like to observe, learn, investigate, and solve problems.  I like to be curious, rational, intellectual, and modest. 

            Agree:  I tend to do most of the things that the assessment said that I already do.  I love that creativity and artistic abilities were listed more than once on what I should be doing with my life.  Some things that I didn’t agree with were that I like seeing how things work or I research problems to an extent.  I do not do that but I do like solving problems.  It is true that I enjoy helping others but I do not want to do it as a career like being a counselor.  I do that for free so I picked art as my professional career.

           

            Industry:  Three jobs that require a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology would be a Studio Photographer, a Web Designer, and a Graphic Designer.  Some qualifications of all three jobs would include creativity, goal oriented, multi-tasking, problem solver, and knowledge of applications and software such as Adobe Suite.  You must also be a trustworthy people person for all three jobs because you will be working with people on a regular basis.  More and more trends are being created for the typical designer job.  With technology growing and people always wanting visual pieces, there will always be new trends for our industry.  For example, the photography world is coming out with photo booths for weddings and parties to get more memories captured for the clients.

             There will always be a growth in the technology realm.  It will be the same for job growth and outlooks.  People will always need to use technology so that clients will be able to keep their memories with photographs, advertise their company with a website, or get a printed advertisement for their organization with graphic design.  I do not think that if I want to be a studio photographer that I would need to pursue any further degrees or add anything else.  Technically, I could have skipped college in general to do what I want to do for a living because all I really need is the equipment and the knowledge on how to make a good photograph.  School was just something I figured would be a good choice for me to learn so much more.  To make myself stand out above the rest I have already begun starting my studio of Valerie Adams Photography to the point where I have clients and an established freelance company.  I also have had lots of experience with working with studios. When it comes to honesty in this industry, people mostly refer to copyrights, patens, and liabilities.  Stealing other people’s work would be the biggest code of ethics played in our industry.

           

            Compensation:  I searched Salary.com for my salary ranges.  For a studio photographer the starting salary is $33,000.  From what I have experienced with paying rent and bills I would say that the starting salary is what I expected and I can live off of that.  The benefits that are usually included are a 401K, disability, healthcare, pension, and time off.  If I have my own studio though and I have employees, I can decide what benefits to give them.  A typical photography manager position makes $48,000 for their salary.  A studio photographer in Indiana makes $35,000 while in Florida they make $38,000 so there is not much difference for salary.

           

            Work/Life Fit: I have worked an hourly job with a boss that I hardly ever see around telling me what to do for my whole life.  Working at a photography studio, I want the ability to do what I want to do as long as I am getting my job done.  It is also important for me to have time off when I need a vacation or just a weekend to have fun.  Working at a studio fits my personality as long as I get to be around people all day in a fun environment and not sitting behind a cubicle locked away from the outside world.  I may have to take the time to edit pictures at my job so I would like to play music while I am doing it so there is not dead silence around me.  As long as I can make the workplace fun with happy people, I think it fits my personality best.  The only major changes that I see doing this would be moving away.  There may be job opportunities in other cities, states, or even countries and I would love to travel the world before I settle down so that fits me perfectly.  I cannot see any other changes being made from what my life isn’t already like.  This is what I have a passion for most is photography.  I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.  There may be different types of photography that I can get involved with but overall the studio atmosphere is the one for me.  Doing what you love never gets old so I can see myself being happy with it.

            Living Expenses:  I have my heart set on two cities to live in when I graduate.  Fort Wayne, Indiana has always been my second home since it is so close to my hometown of Van Wert, Ohio but I have also thought about living in my dream home of Sarasota, Florida.  If I was to live in Fort Wayne the rent would be around $250 a month when in Sarasota it would be $400 a month.  The average rent for Fort Wayne is $300 when Sarasota’s average is around $600 per month both for a one-bedroom studio apartment.  When looking at home prices, the average for Fort Wayne was $185,000 when in Sarasota it is $375,000.  The property taxes in Fort Wayne are .8353 per $100 of assessed valuation.  Sarasota’s property tax is .9567 per $100 of assessed valuation.  When it comes down to it, my budget would rather live in Fort Wayne because their rent is about the same for Bowling Green so I know that I can handle that.  My dream says go to Sarasota but my bank account says that might be tough to handle.  I am sure that if I save and do not spend money on worthless things each month that I can squeak by but I will be cutting it pretty close.