Essay On Professional Persona

Mask On: The Study of My Professional Persona Nobody is really how they seem. In the book “Pathways to Bliss” the author Joseph Campbell explains that Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, tried to define the many parts of the human personality. In the explanations, he mentioned a big part of the human psyche, the Persona. He says, “Society has a number of roles that we need to play. We assume these roles just as an actor might slip into different pieces of a costume” (Campbell 71). Everyone has many of these costumes or masks; some of these include your Persona with your friends, family, and even your professional interactions. When I was offered the opportunity for a job interview, I put on a show with my most professional Persona in order

Since I was expected by society to act a certain way in a professional setting, I changed my whole personality for the time that I was there. In order to get ahead in life you need to play different roles. Jung explains that “you should play your roll, knowing that it is not you” (Campbell 72). In contrast to my professional Persona, when I am with my friends and family I am usually humorous and outgoing because I have gotten to know those people and have been around them for so long. With strangers however I tend to keep to myself and do not usually approach anyone unless I need to. Even the general Icebreaking activities that are done in classrooms give me anxiety and makes my palms sweaty. My professional Persona consists of confidence, assertiveness, and communication skills while my Persona with friends and family varies but usually is less serious and more honest than the former. The mask I wore at my job interview was superficial and purely to benefit me. Without this mask I would almost be unrecognizable to