“Treating Major Stress with Career Counseling”
This quarter we had the pleasure of conducting a Q&A with Pat Carney Weaver, Director of Career Counseling at Baylor University. Pat is one of our loyal customers here at CPP, Inc. and has discovered great value in using the MBTI® and Strong assessments with her students. These tools have not only benefited her students in their career exploration, but have also allowed Pat to make a profound impact in her students’ lives.
Question 1: Did you get into Career Counseling/ Academic Advising based on your Strong Interest Inventory and MBTI® results?
Answer: I made my career decision without the help of assessments, but it took me 10 years after college to find my calling in the area of career counseling and academic advising. When I took the MBTI® and the Strong for the first time as a career counselor, I was shocked to see how both assessments pointed to my current career. I believe I would have chosen a different major in college if career counseling using the MBTI and the Strong assessments had been available to me.
Question 2: If a genie grants you one wish, what would you want for your career center?
Answer: I would love to have a copy of every book that has been written about the MBTI instrument. It is a fascinating tool and so applicable to many areas of our lives. My department has frequent - almost daily – conversations about the various impacts of MBTI preferences on what is transpiring around us. Of course, at times we drive our spouses crazy with our MBTI talk, “Oh, I see you won’t take the trash out right now because you have a perceiving preference. I understand that you want to keep your options open and wait until the last minute to complete this task!”
Question 3: I understand that there is a new program at Baylor called “Meet the Majors”. Can you tell us a little about the program and how it has helped the students?
Answer: We invited professors from a variety of departments to showcase their majors in a casual setting. Each major selected had its own session and we recruited students through academic advisors and current career counseling clients, as well as through advertising across campus. Students were able to hear an overview of the major and ask questions about the nuts and bolts of each major along with the career opportunities associated with it. The relaxed setting gave students the freedom to ask good questions.
Question 4: In your experience using the MBTI® and the Strong assessments, what do you see as the greatest benefit for the students?
Answer: Students benefit from BOTH assessments as they look at their personality preferences and their interests. We also incorporate values and strengths into our discussions. The assessment results allow students to analyze careers they had never even thought about. In conjunction with the results, we use O*Net™ OnLine and Occupational Outlook Handbook and then, through a three session model, assist students in their decision-making. The detailed information provided by both assessments is the stepping stone to more research. I think these two assessments used together provide students with a huge advantage in exploring careers.
Question 5: Would you mind sharing an occasion that comes to mind where your advice really, really made a difference in a student’s life?
Answer: A few years ago, I was working with an Asian American student who was being pushed by his parents to enter the medical field. The student was resistant to the idea but felt he needed to follow the advice of his parents. After completing the career counseling process, he realized that his personality preferences, interests and values did not align with the major his parents had chosen for him. We worked together to create a plan where the student would have the freedom to declare his own major and not be disrespectful to his parents’ wishes. I met with this student numerous times and felt the end results were a win-win decision.
Question 6: Are there any tips or pitfalls you want to share with your peers?
Answer: Find the funds in your budget to attend one of the MBTI® or Strong Interest Inventory assessment workshops that are offered through CPP. I have attended three and they were all very informative. These workshops help you to “sharpen your saw” and stay in touch with the latest developments in the use of these assessments.
