REFLECTION PAPER
INTRODUCTION 3
DISCUSSIONS.4
CONCLUSIONS8
REFERENCES..9
INTRODUCTION
Experience is one of the best teachers in order to succeed in the career of life and with the addition of the individual’s talents; these experiences can be useful in making a stable footing in the career of life. The goal of this paper is to map out how experiences from different industries enabled and helped an individual to hone the talents as well as to explore other possibilities of making a career out of that talent from the experiences she had in the past. Drawing from the interviews I have made, this paper will attempt to discuss how that individual’s life became successful through hard work, perseverance, and most of all effective utilization of the work experiences to build a future entrepreneur whose business interests varied to different industries. From this point on, the paper will start off with a short biography which will connect how the work experiences leads to a successful path into the future.
ENTREPRENEURIAL BIOGRAPHY
Allen Leigh was born in 1991 in a small orphanage in Philadelphia. The facts about her birth cannot be specified due to the delicate nature of the details. At the age of 7, she was educated by the nuns at the nearby convent where she learned to read, write, and do arithmetic. She also studied high school at the same convent before going to university. Whilst studying, Leigh encountered financial issues; being an orphan meant that she need to rely heavily on scholarship grants issued by various institutions. However, the money she received from these grants was not enough to support her and the lodging bills. In 2010, she worked as a factory worker for a porcelain factory for more than a year before transferring to another job as a shop assistant for Tiffany’s Bakeshop. She stayed at Tiffany’s until her graduation. Aside from legal jobs, Leigh also worked as a freelancer for various companies such as voice actor for Viz Media where she gained experience in anime dubbing and voice acting as well as for Henry’s where she worked as a computer sales specialist. Additionally, she used her talent in drawing to elevate herself financially. In 2013, she managed to win the Japan Manga Exhibit in Tokyo where her artwork was officially recognized by the Toei Company. As a result, even before she graduated from Philadelphia University, she already worked for Toei as a graphic artist and assistant artist for Japanese manga artists in Kodansha Co. Ltd. She graduated in 2015 as a Cum Laude with honors major in Journalism. At first, Leigh dreamed to become part of CNN’s distinguished reporters but her passion for art and crafts prompted her to open her first bakeshop/cafe in Philadelphia. This bakeshop is no ordinary bakeshop and café because her recipes are the best mix of both the East and Western flavors. Within the same year, she used her earnings from Toei and her bakeshop to open another artwork shop where she sells art materials and works as a resident painter, sketching portraits for various clients depending on the style they prefer. She specializes in Impressionism, Japanese style paintings, and restoration of old artworks and pictures (A. Leigh, personal communication, March 15, 2016).
DISCUSSIONS
Researchers suggested that individuals often rely on their skills in choosing the job they wanted to do. If a person had a liking to do mathematical computations, they might end up working as a statistician or any occupations that will allow them to practice their skills. “Therefore, entrepreneurs are likely to seek opportunities to explore and nurture their preferences for creating new products, services, or businesses.” (Greenhaus and Callanan 2006, p. 286). Based from the given biography above, why is it that Allen Leigh’s experiences in different industries made her the woman she is currently today? Does work experience really matter for those people aspiring of establishing their own career? The answer is yes. Work experiences are needed in order for an individual to get the hang of the things and establish themselves as professionals in their chosen league. For instance, one will never succeed without the knowledge of how to do the things related to the field; like an inexperienced sports car racer will somehow have slim chances of winning a national tournament prix and a newbie chief executive officer of the company will experience issues on the work especially if they lack the knowledge to operate and understand the main functions of the company they work with. In other words, work experiences are valuable because these fragments of work done for other companies is valuable to make good judgment, manage the resources effectively, and make the company more competitive on the global market by simply relying on the data of the company’s growth as well as the experiences that a person had in the past. Work experiences and talents often go handy. During the interview, she emphasized that it was because of the trainings and seminars related to empowering disabled youths she managed to gain first the social experience she needed in dealing with people. According to her, it was because of her condition as an Asperger’s individual that makes the easy things a bit complicated although she cites the condition as somehow a blessing instead of a curse because it enabled her to focus on what she really wanted to do in her life. For instance, Leigh loved everything related to art; she first pondered on taking a Fine Arts course but since she wanted to expound more on enhancing her social aptitude, she took a liberal arts course instead. Yet, even when studying Journalism and doing part-time jobs, Leigh still managed to keep her hobby intact by doing occasional doodles and paintings during her free time. Additionally, Leigh’s success in life is explained by the ‘self-exploration’ which is one of the methods that an individual chooses to do in order to determine which path is the right one to choose. The seminars that Leigh had attended in the past served as her footing to maintain her equilibrium in job searching. According to Leigh, she tend to avoid working in groups because she hated other people getting late especially during group meetings. As she frankly stated, “I do not like delaying the work. If I can do it on my own, I will do it without anyone’s help.” This became one of the drives that made her pursue working on non-American based companies because she hates that some American employees tend to neglect the lack of punctuality that she valued so much. “I get irritated whenever someone in my cohort gets late especially if the reason is too shallow.” (A. Leigh, personal communication, March 15, 2016). As Greenhaus and Callanan (2006) explained, individuals during the stage of self-inspection will try to analyze their future according to their perspectives. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the Leigh’s emphasis on the career programs she attended in the past have some truths concerning it mainly because the career programs meant to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the people with Asperger’s were fully addressed. For example, according to Leigh, her disability advisor often conducted friendly counseling that centered more on the talents that she currently have and the future job that she wanted to take. During these sessions, she noted that her advisor had taken down notes and told her that she would be suited to work initially at the service-related industries such as supermarkets, bakeries, factories, etc. where she can further develop her communication and social interaction skills. Based from this, Leigh not only managed to enhance her social and communication skills but the seminars conducted by the her disability advisor allowed her to obtain a job within the service sector as mentioned previously, she obtained her first experience working in a factory, bakeshop, and even becoming involved in other freelance industry such as voice acting where her love for anime and knowledge about the Japanese culture was taken seriously to the fullest. Her advisor also encouraged her to pursue her interests in illustrating using mixed media types; this path opened a new opportunity for Leigh to become part of Kodansha’s respected artists that work with some of the famous Japanese manga artist. The success of the Leigh as a career woman and a college student at the same time prompted her to enter various competitions wherein she gained valuable network connections necessary to build her initially small business ventures. From her biography and statements, it can be inferred that in order to succeed to become an entrepreneur, those people who have high-functioning autism should therefore ask for the assistance of the disability advisors so that they can present wide range of choices to help the aspirant realize and make right decisions for their future career. Even researchers such as Higgins and Kram (2001, pp. 277-281) argued that individuals who had received trainings and seminars from social institutions will have the high chances of getting a stable job in the future since in this method they will be able to learn their strengths and weaknesses and allow them to utilize the both premises to their advantage in securing their stability on the company they work.
Another benefit of work experiences that Leigh had in the past was the fact that it made her an expert and her ‘employability’ increased. As she explained during the final phase of the interview sessions, she compared her life before she started training and attending seminars and remarked that employers back then did not consider taking chances in employing an inexperienced autistic worker and most of the job interviews that she had all ended up in failure. But then again, after she devoted herself to attend the seminar and training specifically designed for Asperger’s individuals, her employability soared as she learned new skills and techniques on how to survive future job interviews. As a matter of fact, professionals from different fields have different perceptions in hiring individuals and it really matters to future employers that workers needs to have the necessary skills they will need to survive the tasks required by the job; whether it is communication, mechanical skills and knowledge, and making good judgment. (The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2016).
Conclusions
The road towards the successful career in entrepreneurship is not an easy one especially for people with high-functioning autism. From this fact, the society renders them useless due to their condition but the presence of social institutions and individuals dedicated to support the needs of these special people becomes their great asset in improving the quality of life of the people diagnosed with Asperger’s. From the biography of Allen Leigh, it is important that an individual should utilize their talents and improve themselves by obtaining work experiences from companies assigned to them by social institutions. These work experiences along with their natural talents will help them choose the right path for their career and successful decisions leads to productive lives and a stable position in the business industry. The life of Allen Leigh is a story that combines the positive traits of the individual nurtured by the social institutions which eventually led to her success in life.
REFERENCES
Greenhaus, J.H. & Callanan, G.A. (2006). Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=Jf1yAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT324&lpg=PT324&dq=do+american+entrepreneurs+prefer+individuals+with+work+experience&source=bl&ots=izO2T0Mm01&sig=4p4I72hd21XJzI_wGjQt18xXBn8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjM_-T33vHLAhWHNJQKHb8cBVoQ6AEIQDAG#v=onepage&q=do%20american%20entrepreneurs%20prefer%20individuals%20with%20work%20experience&f=false
Higgins, M.C. & Kram, K.E. (2001). Reconceptualizing Mentoring at Work: A Developmental Network Perspective. The Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 264-288. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/sph/files/2012/01/Higgins-Kram_Reconceptualizing-Mentoring-at-Work-A-Developmental-Network-Perspective.pdf
The benefits of work experience. (2016). In The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Retrieved from http://www.theiet.org/students/work-careers/work-experience/benefits.cfm
