Chapter 19: Choosing Your Career Mrs. Swope Family and Consumer Science Columbian HighSchool

What is work? WORK is any activity that results in a useful product or service. Work may be for pay or be unpaid. How does a job differ from an occupation? from a career? JOB - any position held for the purpose of earning a living. OCCUPATION - a type of work CAREER - work done over several years within a particular field or area.

Why Work? To earn an income. To meet personal satisfaction, recognition. Increases feelings of self-worth. To support one’s chosen lifestyle. To gain a certain status in one’s community. Why does a person’s job affect so many areas of life?

Earning Income What are factors that can affect a job’s pay? Education and training- usually work that provides higher pay requires more education or training. Experience - people with more experience usually have more skill and knowledge. High-demand, high-risk jobs - when a job is in demand but there are few workers to meet the demand, rate of pay goes up. Jobs that involve danger often command higher pay.

Choosing a Career: Learn About Yourself How well do you know yourself? Can you recognize your own talents, traits, likes, dislikes? What personal factors should be considered before choosing a career? Personality Values Goals Interests Aptitudes Abilities

Personality, Values and Goals Choose a career that best matches your personal traits and temperament for greater career satisfaction. Prioritize your beliefs and ideals that are important to you. This can help you identify jobs that may match your values. Why is it important to set life goals before choosing a career? Your career choice should help you reach important life goals.

Interests How would you define interests? How does one develop interests? Subjects, activities, events that a person enjoys. All occupations involve to some degree work with: People Ideas (data and information) Objects What are some careers that deal mainly with people? Ideas? Objects?

Aptitudes and Abilities What is an aptitude? Why would an employer be interested in your aptitudes? A natural talent, such as…… Aptitudes make a difference in what a person can learn quickly and easily. Your abilities are skills that you learn and develop as a result of education, training and practice. 3 types of skills: Self management, Transferable, Job-related

Career Clusters There are 16 broad groupings of occupational and career specialties. Internet resources: Occupational Information Network (O*NET) http://online.onetcenter.org Occupational Outlook Handbook www.bls.gov/oco CareerOneStop www.careeronestop.org

Summary People work for many different reasons. The work you choose for your future occupation can help you meet your goals, be interesting, fulfilling, and worthwhile if it is a good match to your personality, aptitudes, and abilities. The career clusters are helpful in identifying broad occupational areas. There are many useful career information sites located on the Internet.