Ruvini’s Story

Ruvini was the oldest of four siblings. Her parents owned a small mortgage brokerage company.
Ruvini was an excellent student in high school, but her parents never encouraged
her or discouraged her from attending University. They felt that Ruvini would always be able to
make a living no matter the circumstance. Before Ruvini got 3A’s from Advance Level examination,
her school teachers told her she had a very good chance of getting a to attend University, but
Ruvini never took advantage of the opportunity.

After Advanced Level, she went to work in her parents’ business and her life changed very little.
Being a shy, quiet young woman, Ruvini usually let decisions happen to her, or she let others make
them for her. One morning Ruvini awoke and she couldn’t get out of bed. She felt very tired and
had a bad headache. Her mother told her to see the doctor, who told her she was probably
starting to get the flu, but weeks went by and she was still feeling poorly.

One-night Ruvini was having dinner with a friend and she started to cry. With some
encouragement, Ruvini started to talk about how unhappy she was with her work and her life in
general. Her friend suggested that she talk with a career counselor who might be able to help her
look at career options. She discovered that she could meet with the counselor in SLFI.

The counselor spent some time talking with Ruvini and together they felt it would be beneficial for
Ruvini to take some assessments to examine her interests, personality preferences, values, and
skills. The assessments revealed a pattern of interests that were very different from the type of
work Ruvini was doing and a value system that supported a strong moral code, creativity, and self-
expression. After several appointments with the counselor, Ruvini began to understand why she
was so unhappy.

The counselor suggested that Ruvini develop some goals and objectives to help her move from her
current situation. She also suggested that Ruvini speak with her parents to help them understand
her feelings. A year later, Ruvini had made some specific changes in her life. She enrolled in private
university and discovered she was really interested in psychology. Because she was still very close
to her parents, she kept her job, but with school and more social activities, she felt she had some
balance in her life.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

1. Do you think Ruvini was unhappy with her job because it didn’t satisfy her values, her interests,
or both? Why?
2. Do you think values or interests are more important when it comes to making career decisions?
Explain your answer.
3. Why do you think Ruvini had problems with decision making?
4. How do you know when you have made a poor decision?
5. What values are most critical to your career satisfaction right now?
6. To what extent does your current job or lifestyle support your most critical values?
7. Can you recall a recent decision that you’ve made that supported these values?
8. How easy was it to make that decision? Were you aware of the role that your values played?