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My Career Development Journey

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By Ruby Rios, DeBruce Career Corps Member

Three years ago, I walked into a local co-working space with peers and talked to an incredible organization about how difficult it was to figure out what careers to pursue. I was going into my first year of college. While I had a general idea of what I wanted to do as a major and what sorts of careers I was interested in, I felt like I lacked a lot of the information I needed to make an informed decision.

The incredible organization listened, and they incorporated our ideas and feedback into a new tool they created to solve our problem. By the end of that year, I was speaking on behalf of the DeBruce Career Corp alongside Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight and Mayor Quinton Lucas at a press conference about The DeBruce Foundation’s newest tool: The Agile Work Profiler

This is a true testament to The DeBruce Foundation’s work: they listen to the needs of students and work diligently to create tools to help them succeed. I know I was hesitant at the time that a 10-minute self-assessment could give me better insight into what careers I might be interested in and what Agilities I am better in, but I found the information provided to be incredibly accurate and helpful. 

My sophomore year, we talked to the Foundation’s team about what life looks like around a career and planning for your future. Soon, Draw Your Future with Agilities was presented to us, and we all loved having a guided introspection to think through our next steps. Additionally, the Agile Work Profiler continued to improve as we talked through ways all careers require Agilities and how one can travel different paths to get to those careers that didn’t just include going to a 4-year college.

In my third and final year of college, I’ve been excited to be a part of combining these tools with meaningful stories into the Graduation Toolkit. As I figured out I had the ability and desire to graduate early, I appreciated that The DeBruce Foundation listened as we talked to them about how useful these tools were and put them into one, easily accessible toolkit so graduating high school and college students could more easily get the same learning that helped me get through my college years. In less than 30 minutes a day for 4 days, you can get invaluable assistance in thinking about your career and your future. 

I’m so glad I was able to represent the DeBruce Career Corps alongside Alex and Brian in creating an ad for this toolkit. Filming that day reminded me so much of the press conference back when I began college. As I think about how much these tools helped me to develop over the course of my college career, I cannot imagine where I would be today without them.

The person who spoke at the Agile Work Profiler press conference back in freshman year, who attended those initial meetings and complained about being lost and confused now has a job lined up! I’m excited about this opportunity and it aligns well with my Agilities and actionable goals for the future. I learned about Selling and Communicating as a skill and interest of mine, and I combined that Agility with my passion for technology to get into a career as a solutions engineer. I would have never known what that role was, much less to look for it as a career without the Agile Work Profiler and the career tools you’ll find in the toolkit. 

 “Graduating right now is very scary” is the first line you’ll hear from me in the ad you might have seen on the Graduation Toolkit. And that’s still true – it’s terrifying to take the leap into my next big life steps beyond college. But, it’s so much less scary due to these tools from The DeBruce Foundation. I know myself, my strengths, and my goals so much better.

If you or someone you know is graduating, launching a career, switching to a new career, or anything in between, I encourage you to check out the Agile Work Profiler, Career Explorer Tools, and Draw Your Future with Agilities for yourself. They were made by students (and professionals, don’t worry) for individuals just like you. 

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