Friday December 17, 2004

I’ve been going for this Career Research and Assessment Service (CRAS) provided by the UNSW School of Psychology this past week. It’s like a series of tests and interviews done to appraise your abilities, personality and career preferences to assist you in making sound decisions about your career direction. Which is fitting for me now especially now that i don’t really have a direction. Well….i kinda do…just want to know if it’s the correct way to go.

I first met the psychologist who conducts my tests on Monday. The first meeting was sorta like a formal/informal interview, she asked me about my past working experiences, my interests etc. Did a personality test, depression test, and also a career preference test. During the interview, she asked me some other questions which i thought was interesting, i mean…at least i’ve never thought about it before until then. ‘What de-motivates you about work?’ As in, what would motivate you not to work. I mean, we’ve always been asked what motivates you to work, and the answer most of the time is money…..or personal growth…things like that. But what would make you not want to work? hehe…

Well, my answer was for one, office politics…all the acting you have to do in front of people you don’t like….and all that office gossip and back stabbing…..Also, i guess, time away from loved ones. Like you don’t get to spend time with them because of work. Since Joe’s been working full time now on weekdays and I’m working most weekends, we almost never get to spend any time together anymore. Before, i used to complain that we spend too much time together but now…well….we rarely get a chance to just sit down and talk. hehe…Isa would know what I’m talking about.

Anyways, i went back again on Wednesday for my next session of testing. This time it was all out exams. 40 minutes for an abstract matching- choose an abstract object that fits in this picture- kind of test, 30 minutes for a verbal exam- answer some questions according to a passage- which i didn’t finish in time coz there were like 9 long passages and 4 questions with 2 answers each for each passage!! And the final….numerical test…which i was just utterly horrible at. Didn’t even finish 4 out of the 9 questions. And i betcha 2 out of the 4 i’ve answered is wrong. I really can’t do maths to save my life. And it didn’t help that i haven’t done any real maths since high school.

I’ll be going back again next Tuesday to get my results. Will know what kind of jobs my personality and abilities matches. Will keep you guys posted. Meanwhile, 8 more sleeps before Christmas!! hehehe…