1. Carley Aldridge
Career Plan
I. Long-Term Professional Objective
Within the next twenty years, I plan to be working with Juvenile delinquents or youth
that are at high-risk of turning to crime in the future. Whether this is in Juvenile
Detention Centers, Probation, Parole, or in Mental Health units, I plan to be an
established leader, trying to help those that have not received proper help or
opportunities before. It has been studied that youth that turn to crime are typically
poor, uneducated, and have little opportunity or choice in the world. They generally
turn to crime to make ends meet, to make connections, and to provide for their
families. Once these relationships, connections, and behaviors are established, it is
hard to turn back, but it would be my duty and passion to try. The trick is to try to
step in and provide positive alternatives at younger ages to give them better
relationships with positive connections in the community and to help them get
legitimate means of making a living. My job in twenty years would be a position of
leadership that would allow me to use my knowledge and connections to other
agencies to provide help to youth to give them a choice in hopes of them making the
better one. I would be known as a dedicated, hard working and compassionate leader
that has established a higher position due to the acknowledgment of my contributions.
Specifics are to be determined.
II. Objective Criteria
A. Motivation
This position would not be full of rainbows, butterflies, and easy transitions, however,
for the one out of one-hundred people that you are able to lead to better lives, a sense
of accomplishment is acquired. The feeling of reward for helping others would be the
factor that keeps me going day by day—even if it does not happen as much as I’d like
it to. What could be more motivating than getting paid to help those around me?
B. Disadvantages
In this position, I would most likely work long hours and be under stress
constantly. I would sacrifice a lot of my family time to helping others. I would
have a mailbox that is constantly needing attention and a phone that rings off the
hook. I would have to get used to being surrounded by those that may not want
my help or think that they need it, but I would still do my best to help them
anyway. I am not pursuing this job blindly or unrealistically. In this position, there
is a lot of stress and not a lot of success, but the small percentage that is improved
is what makes everything worth it.
C. Importance
I am set on getting this position. On a scale of one to ten, I would be ranked
between 9-10 on how far I would go to make this happen. I wouldn’t be willing to
break the law for it or lose my family over it, but I would put my social life and
family life to the back burner to an extent. I would be willing to give many long

2. hours, lose sleep and willing to do what it takes to help those around me. Phone
calls and failures would be a lot of my job, but that is what I want to do. I would
give up a lot to achieve this career and to be successful at it.
III. Long-Term Goals
It is hard to think of a specific person in my life that does this particular job. I think
the reason for this is because this job does not come with fame and fortune—you may
be a local hero to some people or you may be completely unappreciated. However,
someone that has a similar job description and has the necessary skills that I would
need are people that work in Adult Services in Albany. For the sake of his privacy, I
will call him John. John was with me when I had to tend to an elder lady that was
being separated from her cat family for health reasons. John came along in case she
threatened to hurt herself or if she showed any signs of depression so he could offer
help to her or get her in touch with people that could help her meet her needs. He was
a patient man that has dealt with many emotional and upset people in the past. He has
proven himself enough to be the one chosen for this specific case and he was a major
asset to our team on that day as I am sure he was many other times as well. He has
gained experience and knowledge on how to deal with emotional people in negative
circumstances. Not only that but he has gained life-changing communication skills,
huge amounts of patience, and through his career he has done research and connected
with other agencies that could help people in order to alter and improve their lives—
as he did with the lady I talked about previously. For example, he sat down with her,
listening and talking to her, for hours about her emotional state and where she is
personally. He then got her in contact with a place that she could stay at because it
was very likely that her house had to be condemned. He also gave her the card of a
very successful therapist and mental health service so she could talk to someone and
receive help with medications and supervision to keep her from harming herself. He
even got her appointments with people to come check out her water system to see if
they could fix that as well as her furnace in hopes of being able to save her home and
limit her loss. John used his knowledge, skills, and connections to take this angry and
emotional lady and convince her that the situation had positive sides to it. He made it
clear that this was not being done to hurt her, but rather to help her. The woman
wanted nothing to do with us at the Sheriff’s Office because in her eyes, we were the
ones hurting her and ruining her life as if it was fun for us. However, John is the
person who she wanted to be around and wanted to talk with. John gave her hope and
connections to a safer, healthier and happier future. John did what I wanted to do that
day, but I did not have the authority or connections to do so. John is who I want to be
when all is said and done. Although I prefer to work with kids and see myself doing
that, John had the skills that I have, the experience that I plan on gaining, and the
position that I plan on acquiring when my education is over and my professional
career begins. He has done previous classes, jobs, and gained networks and
experience that make him successful and I have been doing this and plan on
improving on this department before I begin my career.
IV. Short-Term Goals
A. Education

3. Post-graduation, I will be finished with my formal education, but my learning
experiences have only began. I will be moving forward in my life to now focus on
gaining skills, networks, and building my resume more before I look for my
professional career. I will get my pistol permit, learn and brush up on languages, and I
will volunteer at multiple locations in Albany or New York City to gain more
knowledge in my career field. I will get more specific about this in just a paragraph or
two.
B. Skills to Refine or Learn
Like I mentioned before, my formal education is finished, but I will still continue
my education and further learn about my career. I will be gaining experience and
skill in working with children in different areas with different backgrounds to
increase my communication skills, listening skills, time-management skills and
my knowledge of different locations that I could choose to begin my career at. For
example, Mental Health Centers, Detention Centers, Group homes, and even
living with certain families will increase my knowledge of different dynamics and
options. I will be discovering and working on skills necessary to be successful in
my dream position like John was.
C. Residence
I will be moving to either Manhattan or Jersey City with a Bachelor’s in Criminal
Justice to Nanny for a family full-time. I have been discussing this with multiple
families and I will be making my final decision this week. I know this may sound
funny as a career path, but these families have children with behavioral issues. I have
extensive childcare experience, but I feel like earning more experience with children
with behavior issues will only benefit my career and resume for the future. From this
position I would volunteer in the city at locations like mentioned previous to build
connections and experience that I can record on my resume and learn from. From
here on out, I plan to gain positions working with kids, athletics, learning languages,
learning skills, meeting people, and making myself more well-rounded. I need to be
somewhere where there are lots of opportunities and different types of people so I can
do all of these things to my fullest potential. I could stay in Albany and do this, but I
chose the city because that is where I want to be and I have been researching
opportunities there on top of doing my Nanny position. I may also choose to come
back to Albany or to travel further in different areas to enhance my knowledge and
connections.
D. Employment
1. Summer Position
I do not plan on taking any Summer positions because I graduate before Summer, but
I do plan on volunteering at certain locations as mentioned earlier to gain experience,
connections and more relevant experience on my days off of my position as a Nanny.
2. Internships
I will have already completed three internships in diverse, yet connected areas of
interest. These areas are the Victim’s Unit in the District Attorney’s Office, the Office

4. of Special Investigations in Corrections and the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. Each
internship has given me opportunities, connections, and has taught me not only about
the position, but myself as well. I do not plan on participating in any more
internships, but I will be gaining the same experience and connections through
volunteer work after graduation.
3. Full-Time Jobs
In either New York City or in New Jersey, I plan to volunteer with multiple
associations. Unfortunately, I have only done some research on a few places so far
because only recently I decided I was moving to Nanny full-time and to gain
experience with children in that way. Most of my research was with places in Albany,
but the families that I am discussing working with plan to show me around to
different locations I may be interested in volunteering at. There are juvenile detention
centers there as well as places for children at high-risk so those are the types of places
I plan on researching and touring before I make my decision. This coming weekend, I
will be traveling there to look around and meet people in those places and to see my
options.
4. Civil Service Exams
With most of the jobs I plan to do, Civil Service exams are a must. They are the
beginning steps of getting my foot in the door. Since February of this year, I have
been keeping my eyes out for any postings of even somewhat relevant job postings
that I would want to pursue. These postings are hard to find, but now that I am
moving to either New York City or New Jersey, I will have to start a new search or
see what it takes tin order to take those exams. Residency may be a tricky factor in
eligibility for taking those exams, so they may have to wait or maybe I will have to
make time to either come back to Albany to take them or decide if Manhattan or New
Jersey will be a more permanent home for me. This will be the trickiest part of the
process for sure.
E. Other Relevant Experience
For the next year of so, I will be focusing on working with children up close as a
Nanny. I will also be exploring new areas in search of gaining other relevant
experiences through volunteer work. My volunteer work will be critical to starting my
career because it creates more experience, connections, and possibly a foot in the
door to a position with that particular organization. For the next year or so, I will be
exploring my options to see where I should begin my career. Contrary to popular
belief, having a degree in Criminal Justice leaves you with many possible career paths
other than being a Police Officer or a Lawyer and I intend to search high and low to
discover which path or paths I would like to pursue.