Career and Life Planning

Question 1 

Given that I have not interviewed before, one thing that I would find most intimidating is the “tell me about yourself” question. A considerable number of people that have gone through an interview before usually find it difficult to answer this question, which might be a derivative of its vagueness. Even though this question looks certain, I believe that it is intimidating since I would struggle to provide an appropriate answer that the interviewers might be looking for. The open-endedness of this question is presumably one of the reasons for the difficulty of coming up with a satisfactory answer since it has no boundaries. For this reason, my fear is that I might not be able to provide the interviewers with the most suitable first impression. To overcome this fear, one of the strategies that I would employ would involve studying the job description. In this regard, I would work towards internalizing the organization’s mission, its objectives, the job duties, and the qualifications expected for the position. I would begin by focusing on my qualifications and accomplishments that are relevant to the expected role. In this light, I would give the interviewers a predictable narrative in a chronological way, in addition to my expectations for the future direction of my career. I believe I have to mention my excitement about interviewing for the position since I believe that employers hire individuals that want to work for their organization. I also believe that limiting the response to this question to 60-90 seconds would be appropriate.

Question 2 

My current happiness level on a scale from 1 to 10 is 6. I chose this level for several reasons. One of the reasons is that makes me choose this score is the idea that I do not have enough control about some of my decisions. Being in control of the decisions in one’s life could be considered as a fundamental component of happiness. People always strive for independence to feel that they can do whatever they want. However, when not in control, unhappiness comes up. The other reason for choosing this score is that I consider myself as lacking novelty. A considerable number of people believe that trying new things or traveling to new places can be a factor in a person’s happiness. Since I rarely try new things, I believe that this factor influenced me to choose the score. One of the things that I could do to increase my happiness score would involve finding and acknowledging things that I control and those that I do not have control over but I can put some effort to ensure that I can control them. This identification will enable me to determine that there are many things within my power than I would have thought of previously. The other thing would be to do new things each day, such as walking to school instead of taking the bus or switching up my breakfast to each something that I do not usually eat. This small step might increase my novelty. Finally, to increase the score, I would spend more time outdoors than I currently do, which I feel might increase my level of happiness.

Question 3 

The most outstanding message delivered in the video is the provision that creativity and innovation begins by thinking differently. The idea of thinking differently is presumably one of the reasons for the success of Steve Jobs, among other famous individuals that came up with new inventions. This manner of thinking is probably likely to influence some of the decisions in my life, which would enable me to choose some of the things that interest me. The choices might be in line with the most appropriate course in my career. Steve Jobs advocates for connecting dots looking backward instead of forward. My take on this statement is that I will have to focus on what I want to achieve in the next couple of years, consequently laying out a plan on what I should do to achieve the desired end. This speech compels me to think about what I want to achieve in my career and profession. From the identification, I would choose the subjects that would enable me to fulfill the desired objective, consequently work towards being the best in the chosen subjects. I believed that this reversed way of thinking is likely to influence the strategies and plans that I can put forth to achieve the goal.