In my junior year of high school, more than 35 years ago, my Guidance Counselor Rita Ostrom asked me to take a career aptitude test. She suggested we would use the results to help me start thinking about life after high school. 

I had always thought of myself as smart, and expected I would go to college. My high school resume to that moment reflected this: I took AP courses and the AP exams, built my extra-curricular resume, and had scored well on the PSAT. I knew I wanted to go to college in a big city and study politics or public affairs. 

When I sat down with Mrs. Ostrom to review the test results, she told me they recommended I’d do well in a factory environment. 

A factory environment? I was stunned. 

While as a child I had dreamed of being the Shirley to my best friend Laverne and working the line in the Shotz Brewery, I now had big plans for myself. In fact, a year later I publicly declared via my high school yearbook that I intended to “be the first female president of the United States.” 

I tossed aside the results of the exam and proceeded to stumble my way through college, graduate school, and then several careers. 

Looking back on that experience, I realize the test results were spot on. I wish Mrs. Ostrom had the language to help 17 year-old me understand the subjective interpretation of the results. What she might have said is the test revealed that I have aptitude for: 

• Carefully following instructions to design and build complex, multi-part products. 

• Successfully understanding when I need to adhere to the letter of the law and where there is room for interpretation. 

• Developing and testing systems for improving the efficiency of processes. 

• Expressing and acting on a relentless curiosity about how work gets done. 

• Being an enthusiastic and encouraging member of a team. 

These are among the aptitudes and skills I think make me a strong and successful market capture and proposal professional today, particularly one who specializes in navigating compliance-heavy government procurements.

I long ago abandoned my aspiration to be the first female president of the United States. And right now, I'm leaning into my professional identity as a proposal management professional. I recently earned certification in market capture and proposal management from the Association of Proposal Management Professionals, and I've starting a proposal consulting business. Thank you Mrs. Ostrom for planting the seeds back in 1987 to help me understand what I’m great at in 2023.