CAREER INTERVIEW

Assignment

Instructor
Doç. Dr. ASLI BUGAY SÖKMEZ

This interview is being submitted in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for
GPC 300
Career Counseling

Prepared by
Melike Nural Calisan

METU-NCC
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INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

What attracted you to this career path?

The extraordinary effect of consciousness on people and its reflection on human behavior has

always been a subject that caught my attention. When I was a kid, I enjoyed observing people

and trying to understand what was happening around me. I was in the last years of my high

school years when my interest in human consciousness and psychology was noticed by my

friends. Until then, I could not decide which area I wanted to choose. I enjoyed doing research

on the effects of people's psychology on their behavior and sharing them with my friends and

watching videos on these topics like TedTalks. So I chose guidance and psychological

counseling for my university field. I follow up-to-date information about my field. I try every

way to improve myself in this field. Now I am a master's student in this field at Izmir

Demokrasi University.

What previous professional experiences have helped you most in this role?

Graduating from a high-grade school such as Middle East Technical University, which

provides 100% English education, helped me a lot to be accepted to a master's degree. Also,

the references of the professors in my department supported me in this regard. Again, it was

very useful for me to get high scores from the ALES and YDS exams I entered to be accepted

to my master's. Also, I can say that my personal qualities such as being punctual, being able to

follow information related to my field, and being able to communicate well with people

helped me in this way.

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What’s one thing you wish somebody would’ve told you before going into this field?

Before entering this field, what somebody would've told me is to read more books and articles

in my field. The master's process is a process that requires patience and strength, so I would

like someone who knows more about it to help me.

What are some of the biggest rewards of your position?

Now I think I am glad that I have been accepted to the master's degree. Because I learned a lot

of theoretical knowledge about my field during my undergraduate life, but I used them less in

practice. The master has helped me a lot to practice in this field. In addition, I provide online

consultancy services for a fee besides the graduate program. What I learned in my master's

degree and my teachers who supported me gave me this power.

How would you describe somebody who would excel in this career?

Someone who will be successful in this career must love this profession. He/she needs to

develop herself/himself a lot in this field and to follow up-to-date information on this subject.

In addition, he/she must practice as much as possible and must be confident in

himself/herself. As I always say, I think reading a lot of books and articles is the best resource

in this field.

What’s most important to be prepared for a role like yours?

In order to pursue a master's degree in guidance and psychological counseling, university

graduates must take the necessary exams as high as possible. It would be good to be well
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prepared for graduate interviews and to have people who can help him/her if necessary.

He/she can improve himself/herself by following famous professors in his/her field.

,
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ANSWERS

About Interviewee

Her name is Zulal Nur ISIKOL she is fresh graduated student from Middle East Technical

University Northern Cyprus Campus as a high honor student, and now she is continuing her

researches and academic life in Izmir Democracy University as a PhD student.

How the interviewee was selected

Firstly, I wanted to choose an easy-to-reach interviewee because it would make my work

easier. Secondly, I wanted an interviwee who is a fresh graduate from our school in order to

see her path that may bright my path later. Besides, she supposedly gained knowledge about

our field from her own experience; since she can count as noob/inexperienced in the work

field, for now, I can see her thriving by observing. Since sometimes very experienced

interviewees can seem like as if he/she have the hard-to-reach position, and it might seem far

away from the position that we have into, it even can cause decreased motivation. Third, I

embrace weed the idea that she could be a perfect example for me, as I trust her career choices

and know she is taking firm steps.

Her position and responsibilities

She had an opportunity to work in RAM centers while studying at university as a requirement

of an internship; after she graduated from university, she had a chance to work in the same

environment part-time. She is keeping a record of documents related to the cases, and if she
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needed to use them, she uses some special software and applications that are explicitly used

for the department, such as SPSS, Jamovi. Some of the stories she of the stories she told me

by considering client’s privaricy, really take my attention, even though I could not see my

future as being a counselor, the interestingness of the cases she shared excited me. You can

even save one’s life by doing counseling sessions or touch someone’s heart. This what made

me inspired. She stated the reason why she wanted to do her Ph.D. in our field because she

had a particular interest in working with the community, and she was interested in the

possibilities around making psychology accessible for everyone.

A review of the information gathered from the interview,

She believes that someone who does not like the profession cannot really be successful in this

field. I guess it is not remarkable for our field, it is pretty valid for every field; however, I

agree with her. At the same time, she said, it is imperative and valuable to create our own

agenda for ourselves and it is necessary to follow the leading people and current news in the

field in order to be a successful and robust counselor in the future. Besides her thoughts, i

believe in that doing research maintains that providing effective outcomes is less predicated

on a particular type of therapies that we need to apply for cases we might face in the future as

a psychologic counselor. By standing on that, counselors necessarily have the ability to be

confident, enthusiastic and, most importantly, believe in the patient’s ability to change. She

states she really has a passion for learning and believes this field allows students and the

candidate of future counselors working in a learning environment so that this field is like a

dream come true for the ones who like being in an endless learning process. I also learned

actually I knew but I had the opportunity to seek more in the requirements of this course and I
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found out that as a psychological counselor, we can work in different fields, like private

counselor, family counselor, drug addiction counselor, or human services, and etc.

Reaction to the information and your gains from the assignment.

I gain insight into our field's future, and I realized that I want to have not just a job that I get

up and do in the morning. It should be very much part of how I see myself and who I am.

Also, as my interviewee stated that it is important follow up on current changes in the field to

know new therapy mechanism tools and stuff, she drew under the importance of doing

research, but in this point, i believe in the importance of super wise activities. For example, as

far as I know from upper classes, they engage in personal and group counseling sessions in

labs or have to prepare some relative work that needs to be in field practically. Considering

the importance of developing a good counselor skill by observing the professor or gaining

feedback from professors is as valuable as reading academic articles about the field.