English 269: Career Discovery SWOT Analysis

My teaching experience with ENG 269 was primarily in tandem with Professor Cathy Day, who has been teaching iterations of this course for multiple years but this was the first semester that the course was required for Sophomore students in English Studies and Creative Writing. The ultimate goal of the course was to re-frame what a job search both in professional humanities, but importantly, a job search with an English degree can looks like, and then assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the individual are.

In this, I ran a course lesson about SWOT analysis that I want to reflect on. A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that is commonly used in the business world to assess an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. However, it is also a valuable tool for college students who are preparing to enter the workforce. This conversation was also inflected with a reflection on rational and Intuitive decision making. The ultimate goal for the lesson was to help the students understand not only what the choices that they were making were, but why and in what way that they made them. There is an open acknowledgment that English Majors tend to gravitate towards intuitive without questioning it, and this lesson was meant to disrupt that.

Rational Decision Making

Rational decision-making involves a systematic and logical process of analysis and evaluation. It is based on facts, data, and reason, and is often used in situations where the consequences of the decision are significant. Rational decision-making is objective, analytical, and requires a significant amount of effort and time to make a decision. Rational decision-making often involves the following steps: identifying the problem, gathering information, analyzing the information, developing alternatives, evaluating the alternatives, and selecting the best option based on criteria that have been established.

For an English major, rational decision-making may be useful when choosing a career path or deciding on a graduate program. An English major may gather information about various career options, such as editing, publishing, or teaching, and analyze the information in terms of job prospects, salary, and personal interests. The English major may then develop alternatives, such as pursuing a graduate program in creative writing or journalism, and evaluate those alternatives based on criteria such as job opportunities, cost, and program reputation. The English major may then select the best option based on those criteria, and pursue that career path or graduate program.

Intuitive Decision Making

Intuitive decision-making, on the other hand, is a more subjective and spontaneous approach to decision-making. It is based on gut feelings, instincts, and personal experience, and often involves a quick and automatic decision-making process. Intuitive decision-making may be useful in situations where the decision needs to be made quickly, or where the consequences are less significant. Intuitive decision-making often involves relying on past experiences and personal beliefs to make a decision.

For an English major, intuitive decision-making may be useful when choosing a research topic or selecting a novel to study. An English major may rely on personal interests and past experiences to guide their decision-making process, and choose a research topic that aligns with their passions or a novel that resonates with them on a personal level. Intuitive decision-making may also be useful when choosing a writing style or technique, as an English major may rely on their instincts and personal preferences to guide their creative process.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The purpose of a SWOT analysis is to identify these four elements in order to develop a plan of action that maximizes strengths, addresses weaknesses, takes advantage of opportunities, and mitigates threats.

• Strengths are the positive aspects of an individual or organization that set them apart from others. In terms of college career readiness, strengths may include a high GPA, leadership experience, or technical skills in a particular field.

• Weaknesses are areas for improvement. In the context of college career readiness, weaknesses might include lack of work experience, poor communication skills, or a low GPA.

• Opportunities are external factors that could benefit an individual's career prospects. These may include job openings in a particular industry, networking events, or internships.

• Threats are external factors that could negatively impact an individual's career prospects. These may include economic downturns, job market saturation, or lack of job openings in a particular field.

Traditionally, the way that a college student would apply this model to this job would go a little but like this:

Strengths and Weaknesses

First, the student would identify their strengths, such as their high GPA or relevant work experience. Next, they would identify their weaknesses, such as poor communication skills or lack of work experience in a specific field. Based on this analysis, they could develop a plan of action that addresses these weaknesses, such as taking a public speaking course or pursuing an internship in their desired field.

In English 269: Career Readiness we re-framed this conversation however is to add two dimensions to the conversation of viewing SWOT from the perspective of the employer (what Weaknesses do I bring to them?) and viewing the opportunity as a SWOT applied to your own journey and goals (what Threats does this job bring to me? What opportunities?).

Assessing one's strengths and weaknesses is an important part of personal development, especially for college students who are preparing to enter the workforce. In this essay, I will explain how college students should assess their own strengths and weaknesses.

First, it is important to define what is meant by "strengths" and "weaknesses". Strengths are the things that an individual does well, that come naturally to them, and that they enjoy doing. Weaknesses, on the other hand, are the areas where an individual struggles, lacks experience or knowledge, or has difficulty performing certain tasks.

One way for college students to assess their strengths and weaknesses is to ask themselves a series of questions. For example:

• What do I enjoy doing?
• What do other people compliment me on?
• What have been my greatest achievements so far?
• What areas have I struggled with in the past?
• What skills or knowledge do I lack?
• What tasks do I find difficult or unpleasant?

These questions can help students to identify their strengths and weaknesses and to develop a better understanding of themselves.

Opportunities and Threats

In terms of opportunities, the student could research job openings in their desired field and attend networking events to make connections. Finally, the student would identify potential threats to their career prospects, such as economic downturns or a saturated job market, and develop contingency plans to mitigate these risks, such as pursuing additional certifications or exploring alternative career paths.

A SWOT analysis is a valuable tool for college students who are preparing for their careers. By identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, students can develop a plan of action that maximizes their strengths, addresses their weaknesses, takes advantage of opportunities, and mitigates threats. By using this approach, students can increase their chances of success and achieve their career goals.

Reflection

The idea of adapting a business tool for assessing risk in for college students was really interesting. The process allowed for students to think about how they have navigated life to get to Ball State and how they will plan to do so beyond. I concluded the 50 minute lesson with a question:

How did you choose Ball State?

Was it with Intuition or Reason?

The resulting conversation pulled forward the ways that they thought about location and cost, as well as the kinds of programs that they were looking for, and at the same time elicited experiences that were far less critical in the way that some of the students chose Ball State because why not? They liked the campus, or they knew someone who had gone here, or it was the only who accepted them first. The reasons ranged but it brought the message home that there were many ways to think about where you have gone and where you are going.