1. Taylor Pamplin
INTS 3301_D01
L3-A1: FOCUS Assessment Assignment
Instructor J. Imamura
2/21/16
1. Top Career Choices
After completing the FOCUS assessment and combining the results from all of the
assessments, the top five jobs selected for me were as follows: criminal investigator
(detective), criminalist, electrical drafter, emergency management specialist, and
financial aid counselor. A criminal investigator, or detective, is someone who works for a
police department and works to solve crimes. A criminalist is similar to a criminal
investigator, in that they work in the same field of solving crimes. A criminalist, though,
focuses more on the scientific aspects of crime scenes, and uses their scientific
background to assess evidence. An electrical drafter is someone who designs the wiring
for buildings. An emergency management specialist helps people plan for disasters. A
financial aid counselor is someone who works at a college or university and works as a
liaison between students and FAFSA.
2. Career and Future Plans
My personal career choice is in the field of primary (elementary) education. Though the
FOCUS assessment provided interesting career choices, I am fairly set in my career
path at this point. I plan on graduating in the fall, and it would be quite a big hassle to
change career paths now. I feel as if the FOCUS assessment puts much emphasis on
the national average salary of jobs, which may be why teaching was not one of the top
five recommended career paths for me. Though the choices identified for me were
interesting, none of them have ever crossed my mind as career paths I could see myself
pursuing. Perhaps the test did not accurately detect my personality or lifestyle. Since my
current career goals deal with education, the most similar of the choices recommended

2. by the FOCUS assessment is the financial aid counselor. Though this is much different
than teaching young children, it still has somewhat to do with education and I would still
be working to help people get an education in one way or another. Though I have not
considered deeply this as a job for myself, I can say that I have wondered what it would
be like to work at Texas Tech University as a professor or even an advisor for a certain
major or field of study. Though my ideal job would be as a college professor at Texas
Tech, I don’t know that I could earn the credentials that it takes to be a college level
professor. It would be nice to work a full time job on the campus where I did my
undergrad. When I consider the jobs of criminal investigator (detective) and criminalist,
though these might fit my attention to detail and other skills, I don’t believe the FOCUS
assessment got it right that these careers match my personality. When I think of these
jobs, I think of television shows like Law & Order, and this is a bit too gloomy for me. For
the most part I am a very positive and optimistic person, and I feel as if this would get
me down on a daily basis. I also don’t feel as if the FOCUS assessment had a way of
detecting my ability and willingness to work with children. I feel as if most people do not
have the patience to work with children, and specifically the patience to teach children.
Many get frustrated when children do not understand a particular concept, but at a
younger age, children have simply not developed enough mentally to figure certain
things out. It is important to look at things from a child’s perspective, and to try to teach
them in terms they can understand. The career path of electrical drafter may be
something I would enjoy. I have always loved puzzles and following complicated
instructions, but I feel as if I would get lonely just drafting wiring for buildings, et cetera.
Lastly, the career path of emergency management specialist is something I don’t think I
would qualify for, because I feel as if this is simply something that would be too much
responsibility. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a disaster plan that was not sufficient
and that may lead to loss of life.

3. 3. Connections
Though I am rather set in my career path at this path, I will consider some of the choices
presented to me through the FOCUS assessment in order to try to relate my three areas
of concentration to them. My three areas of concentration would relate to the career path
of criminal investigator (detective) / criminalist in the following ways: a criminal
investigator could certainly use human development and family studies to understand
motives in family crime cases, and crimes that involve children. Someone who
understands the dynamic of families and the stages of development of children would
have a great advantage in solving certain crimes. When it comes to organizational
leadership, it would not seem that someone with a career that deals with crimes would
benefit directly. Organizational leadership may help a criminal detective / criminalist work
with a team in solving a crime, or simply to promote a group dynamic in the workplace
with fellow peers. This area of concentration could help the dynamic of all of the different
people who work together on a crime scene. Again, it is difficult to see how my area of
concentration in French could directly help at a crime scene, unless someone who can
help solve the case can only speak French, or if the crime were to take place in a French
speaking country. My three areas of concentration would relate to the career path of
electrical drafter in the following ways: I do not feel that human development and family
studies would necessarily relate to electrical drafting. Organizational leadership could be
beneficial as an electrical drafter. Though I am not very familiar with the job duties of an
electrical drafter, I can imagine that often times they would be working with contractors
and other people to build homes and buildings, and in this case, organizational
leadership would help bring the whole together as a sum of its parts. French may be
beneficial if I were to work with people who spoke the language. My three areas of
concentration would relate to the career path of financial aid counselor in the following
ways: human development and family studies would be very beneficial as a financial aid

4. counselor. Again, I am not very familiar with all of the suggested careers, but I do know
that it takes some understanding of one’s family in order to complete the FAFSA.
Sometimes the things asked of a student on a FAFSA are very complicated questions
about their families, and being able to navigate through these questions would be easier
if you could understand all of the ins and outs of how a student’s family life affects their
chances of receiving financial aid. Organizational leadership would assist in the
workplace environment if financial aid counselors work together with multiple other peers
with the same job title. This may also aid financial aid counselors in deciding what is best
for an individual in a school of many other students who are using financial aid. French
may not help a financial aid counselor directly, unless under certain situations.
4. Conclusion
Though I am set in my career path at this point, I am very glad to have learned about the
FOCUS assessment as a tool. I know that many of the people who go to school to study
primary education often teach elementary for a few years, but often switch their careers
because of the low income or other factors. Though the FOCUS assessment may not
necessarily be beneficial to me now, if I start working in my desired career path as a
teacher and find that it is not right for me, I am sure that the FOCUS assessment will be
of great use to me down the road. The career choices presented to me currently did not
entice me greatly, but perhaps if I retake the FOCUS assessment later on when I am
searching for a new career, my answers to the questions in the assessment may differ,
leading to different career paths that were not presented.