Beginning the Journey

Where I Am
Career Development is a lifelong process that
includes physical, cognitive, and emotional
development (Seligman, 1980). There are many
factors that influence lifelong career development
process.
Each person has different difficulties and
boundaries that may hinder him/her from
pursuing a career goal. The Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
(SWOT) activity enables the learners to
realize and prioritize their own interests that
they owe to value in planning for life because
this will lead them to whatever career goal
they want to achieve.
The SWOT framework is credited to Albert
Humphrey, who tested the approach in the 1960s
and 1970s at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
SWOT analysis is a process that identifies the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of
the students’ chosen career field. As its name
states, a SWOT analysis examines four elements:
1. Strengths—Internal attributes and resources that
support successful outcome of the chosen track and
strand.
2. Weaknesses—Internal attributes and resources
that work against a successful outcome of the
chosen track and strand.
3. Opportunities—External factors of the
career goal that can be capitalized on or
used to its advantage.
4. Threats—External factors that could
jeopardize the career goal.
Self-efficacy means the belief in one’s capabilities
to organize and execute the courses of action
required to produce given attainments. This is
constructed on the basis of the following:

Personal Performance—Accomplishments, previous

successes or failures (most influential) Vicarious

Experience—Watching others, modeling, mentoring