Why Helpers Chose the Helping Profession?

There are many factors that influence a person’s decision to enter any profession. Human service careers are specifically unique in that financial gain is not the primary motivation (Woodside & McClam, 2011). Individuals who choose this career can have a desire to help others and are motivated by the gratification received when he or she successfully assists the client in improving the client’s life. It is important for this fulfillment not to center around the success or praises received from choosing a career in the helping field.

When a human service professional is motivated by the need for praise, it is easy to lose site of the client’s need when the professional is not receiving recognition or approval. The human service worker may begin to compromise ethical codes and the client’s course of treatment to gain this missing feeling of self-worth.

A helping professional must pay close attention to what motivated him or her to pursue a career in the human service field to avoid negatively impacting the lives of many seeking help.

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Professionals that choose to enter the helping field are normally mature, sympathetic and, established individuals who help others through interesting conditions. They feel joy when they have the opportunity to help someone. The tasks in the helping professions are huge in their eyes, but in numerous cases, the incentives are important. These professionals provide both direct and indirect services to people in need. Professionals that choose this career also listen, give advice and can be caring of others.

Social workers are devoted to helping people function the best they can in their environment.

Several human service professionals are motivated to choose a helping profession because they: 1) desire to help others, 2) have a desire of self-exploration, 3) want to exert some sort of control, and 4) desire to be a positive role model (Woodside & McClam, 2011). The desire to be a positive role model normally comes from someone who’s experienced a positive helping experience in the past, and has chosen to help others because of that experience. Truly having the desire to help others and to be a positive role model for others are selfless acts of kindness, and are pure reasons why a person may chose a profession in helping others.

A person has to be completely self-aware of their strengths and their weaknesses, and use this knowledge to leave judgment, criticism, and discrimination behind to truly help others. Several people who want to exert control enter more managerial aspects of the helping profession, and those who have desire of self-exploration enjoy learning concepts of psychology and human behavior which work well when researching and studying human behavior to better improve knowledge for the helping professional.

Entering the helping field of human services, one must possess the diligence, perseverance, and confidence to insure quality of work. A human service professional may have personally experienced the helping hand of a social worker in the past, or know someone with different medical disabilities that lead him or her to want to pursue a career in the field of helping others; along with having a great deal of compassion, desire and hope to do something to help the world become a better place.

References
Woodside, M., & McClam, T. (2011). An introduction to human services (7th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.