Idendity portfolio Part 1:

Personality: Introvert

Internal Dimensions: Race-white, Age- 20, Gender-male, Sexual orientation-straight, Physical ability-athletic, Ethnicity-Finnish

External Dimensions: Parental Status-mom and dad, Marital status-not married, Geographical location-from Helsinki Finland, Income-low, Personal habits-procrastination, Recreational habits-playing sports, Religion-Christian, Educational background-in college, Work experience-none, Appearance-Blonde with blue eyes

Organizational Dimensions: Classification-Point Guard, Work field-Student-athlete, Division/group-Longwood Men’s basketball, Seniority-sophmore, Work location-Longwood, Political affiliation-no affiliation, Management status-None

The four aspects of my identity that I will be talking about are: my ethnicity (Finnish), my geographic location (Helsinki, Finland), my recreational habits (playing sports), and my work field (student-athlete). My Ethnicity is part of my internal dimension, my geographic location and recreational habits are part of my external dimensions, and my work field is part of my organizational dimensions. These are some of my most important identities, they shape who I am, what I care about, as well as my goals in life. These four identities translate into what I desire for my future self because my goal in life is to play basketball in Finland once I get my degree.

All four aspects of my identity are crucial to my efficacy, self-esteem, and mattering. For efficacy, or feeling of control, my recreational habits and work field play a much bigger part as those affect my mastery, vicarious experiences, as well as my emotional and physical states. Playing sports and being a student-athlete makes me feel successful, I get to see others around me also succeed, and playing releases stress and makes me feel good about myself. My ethnicity and geographical location affect my modeling experiences. Growing up in Finland caused me to have similar but also different role models than others in America. The role models from Finland have different values and principles because of our culture. When looking into my self-esteem all of the aspects play important roles. My ethnicity and geographic location affect my personal worth because the culture where I am from is very positive, and maintaining a balanced and peaceful lifestyle is emphasized. My recreational habits and work field affect my efficacy and personal worth as they help with my feelings of success and control over my life as well as boosting my confidence and seeing my value. This leads me to feel very good about myself and worthy of respect. Finally, when it comes to my sense of mattering I would say that again my recreational habits as well as my work field affect this more than my geographical location and ethnicity, but they affect it in different ways. My recreational habits and work field boost my feeling of importance to others as my role is needed on the team, it also helps ensure that I am not invisible. My ethnicity and geographical location remind me that I am a part of society and I don’t need people to smile and wave at me every time they see me to make me feel noticed or important. That is something you have to feel within yourself.

Professional Self

My purpose to work is to do what I love, encourage others, and make enough money to feel financially free. I want to be able to live doing what I love and basketball is the perfect way to do that. Through basketball, I can encourage others and be a role model, and if I’m not playing, I want to coach. I would also love to have a job that allows me to not worry about food and live as freely as I want, which playing professional basketball can allow.

Three things that motivate me to continue down this path are my love for the game, being able to achieve my dream of being a professional basketball player, and the idea of being financially free in the future. Playing basketball now also deepens my drive and love for the game, it is what my life revolves around. It has always been my dream to become a professional, I am so close already, and I just keep pushing myself more and more.

My “why” impacts my career path because it has always been my dream, it is something I have worked so hard to achieve, and my reasons why encourage me every day to keep working. If I couldn’t enjoy the game even when I messed up or my team loses, I would never have the motivation to play. The mess-ups and loses are what show me how to be better and push me harder, which I love. I feel that most people also can’t say that they have achieved their childhood dream job, but I want to be one of the people who can say that.

A previous job that I had was professional basketball back in Finland. This made me feel fulfilled because I got to experience what my future could be like on a small scale. The job allowed me to get a small glimpse of what professional basketball will look like later on. I also now play D1 basketball here at Longwood and it fulfills me every day as I can continue this path that I am so passionate about. These teams show me how I can grow and be the best athlete I can.

My future career plans align with this experience very well, it gave me experience that I can apply to when I play or coach in the future. The past experiences only strengthen my drive, they show me how much I truly love the sport. My past professional experience shows me that I am capable of making it far in this sport and that it doesn’t make me nervous. My experience on the Longwood team has also helped me become a better team player. My past job and experiences always have something to do with basketball to prepare me for the future and help me gain the necessary experience for my future.

I have only worked once in my life and that was playing professional basketball in Finland. This was something I really enjoyed and it showed me what my future could look like. Some things I enjoyed about playing were that in Finland all the basketball players know each other, so it’s like a community between the players, the travel wasn’t bad because the games were so close to each other, and I was doing what I loved. There were some negatives, but very few. Sadly, it’s not a very popular sport compared to others, so not many people follow basketball, this also meant there weren’t many people coming to watch our games.

Three hard skills I possess are trilingual skills, public speaking, and math skills, such as algebra and statistics. Three soft skills that I possess are problem-solving, communication, and I am hardworking.

I believe that if someone were to describe something I am good at, the first thing they would think of. This is because most people know me because I play on the basketball team here and if they know me, they know I work very hard in it. They would also probably mention communication, I believe I am very good at reaching out to others and properly discussing topics. This is probably one of my strong attributes in basketball that helps out in school as well. Another thing mentioned would probably be my teamwork abilities. This is also heavily influenced in basketball, but it helps in every role I am in outside of it as well.

The person I have heard of that I believe has the coolest job is Sasu Salin. Sasu is a professional basketball player in Finland, the captain of the Finland national team, and has been playing professional basketball for almost 15 years now. This job is so great to me because he is 33, he has accomplished his dream, he is doing what he loves, and he is getting to travel. This is someone I look up to and hope that I can achieve what he has. This aligns with my career path because I want to be able to do the same thing once I get back to Finland.

The first competency is critical thinking, I have developed this competency through my experiences with basketball. Basketball has helped develop my decision-making, problem-solving, adaptability, how quickly I analyze information, and increasing my strategization. When in the middle of a game we have a plan of how we will execute a play, but when something happens, such as getting the ball taken, we must process that information quickly and come up with a new plan very quickly. I also have to come up with new strategies constantly depending on how the other players are reacting to my movements.

The next competency is professionalism, one experience that helped me develop this was an internship back in Finland. This role helped me see and understand communication in a professional manner, accountability, reliability, appearance, etiquette, and respect. In this role I was interning as a receptionist at a sports complex, during this I was taught how I should appear in professional settings, not just in my appearance, but also in how I make impressions. I was also taught the proper etiquette of how to behave in a professional setting, such as being on time, or early, and taking accountability even when I didn’t believe what I did was truly wrong. I also got to understand respect on a different level, in basketball, there is a sense of seniority, but being older isn’t what earns you respect, yet in more professional settings, the higher your position, the more people respect them.

Another competency is communication which was also mainly developed through basketball. Basketball helped me learn how to communicate best with others depending on their strengths, and how well they responded to certain gestures, allowing us to work more effectively and understand each other on a different level. It also taught me how to effectively listen, which is key in communication as it can’t just be one-sided. I was also able to develop how to communicate more clearly as well as non-verbally. To ensure that other teams wouldn’t know our next move, sometimes we have to communicate through gestures.

The final competency is teamwork, once again I believe a past experience that shows I have this competency is basketball. Through this, I was able to work with others effectively to be able to score and succeed as a team. Even if I am struggling personally, I put that aside to still be able to help my team succeed. Through basketball, I have also been able to show how I can make plays on my own, but also help the team adapt and support my teammates.

The three people I would ask about their career journey would be a youth coach I worked with named Tomi, my old teammate Eero, and my old coach from Finland, Jussi.

• Tomi Kaminen, Youth basketball coach, +358407775077
  • Eero Sahlberg, Professional basketball player/investor +358403901260
  • Jussi Syrjanen, Professional basketball coach, +35840603 8677

Reflection

I believe my resume and cover letter represent my attempt at my presentation of self very well, as it shows my interests my skills, and the experiences that have shaped me. The information present in both my resume and cover letter is consistent with how I present myself in my life and in a professional setting. The resume and cover letter create a professional identity that emphasizes my background, skills, and passion for basketball, demonstrating effective impression management. By highlighting my experience as a Division One player at Longwood University and a professional athlete in Finland, I show authenticity and competence. The cohesive narrative of my journey in basketball highlights my growth and dedication.

Job Ad at Penn State https://psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Staff/job/Penn-State-Hazleton/Part-Time-Assistant-Men-s-Basketball-Coach_REQ_0000058269

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