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Chapter 20: Career Planning

Preparing for a Career

Making Decisions About Work

  • A full-time job requires at least 40 hours of work every week.

    • Most full-time workers spend 2,000 hours working each year.

    • That is time you will want to spend doing something you enjoy.

  • A job or occupation is work that people engage in to earn pay.

  • A career is a work history of one or more jobs in the same or related fields of interest.

  • Each occupation in a career builds on interest, knowledge, training, and experience from the other jobs.

  • Pursuing a career requires career planning.

  • Career planning consists of assessing your potential, analyzing your options, and preparing for the future.

Self-Awareness

  • Before you start thinking about careers, you should note what interests you.

  • Your interests are your favorite activities.

    • They could lead to a career that you would enjoy

    • Things that you enjoy doing may involve working with people, information, technology, or all three.

  • Values are what you believe to be important.

    • They are the beliefs and ideas by which you live

    • Your work values are the aspects of work that are important to you.

  • A skill is proficiency for performing a task that is developed through training and experience.

  • An ability is a natural or acquired skill or talent.

  • An aptitude is your potential for learning a skill.

  • Personality is the set of characteristics that make someone special. It is the sum total of your feelings, actions, habits, and thoughts

How Work is Changing

  • The working world is no longer limited by U.S. borders.

  • The global economy continues to grow.

  • People around the world want many goods and services that U.S. businesses sell.

  • More U.S. companies are opening offices abroad, and overseas firms are operating within the United States.

  • Companies do business via e-commerce.

    • These changes create more job opportunities for workers.

  • Today’s workers must be adaptable and willing to learn new technologies and ways of working.

    • Every day you should work to improve your basic skills, develop thinking skills, and build personal skills.

    • You will use these skills in all kinds of work later.

Developing a Career Plan

Finding Information on Careers

  • There is a lot of written information about careers at libraries and on the Internet.

    • Also, the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) describes hundreds of jobs.

      • It lists the fastest-growing fields and gives addresses of places to write for more information.

  • A career counselor is someone who is trained to provide information and guidance on choosing a career.

  • Another way to get information is by networking.

    • Networking is the practice of building informal relationships with people whose friendship could bring advantages such as job or business opportunities.

  • The best way to learn about a career is to work.

    • New workers often benefit from job shadowing, which involves following another worker on the job for a few days.

  • Internships are another option.

    • An internship is a temporary paid or unpaid position that involves direct work experience in a career field.

  • You might also consider volunteerism, or working without pay.

Understanding the Working World

  • Most occupations have career ladders.

    • A career ladder is a series of different jobs within a career.

  • Many U.S. firms outsource work to other countries.

    • Outsourcing is using outside sources to do tasks traditionally handled by internal staff.

  • The more demand there is for a worker’s set of skills, the easier it will be for him or her to get a job.

  • Short- and medium-term goals can help you achieve a long-term goal.

  • When setting goals, be as specific about each one as you can.

    • Specific goals are easier to aim for and achieve.

Chapter 20: Career Planning

Preparing for a Career

Making Decisions About Work

  • A full-time job requires at least 40 hours of work every week.

    • Most full-time workers spend 2,000 hours working each year.

    • That is time you will want to spend doing something you enjoy.

  • A job or occupation is work that people engage in to earn pay.

  • A career is a work history of one or more jobs in the same or related fields of interest.

  • Each occupation in a career builds on interest, knowledge, training, and experience from the other jobs.

  • Pursuing a career requires career planning.

  • Career planning consists of assessing your potential, analyzing your options, and preparing for the future.

Self-Awareness

  • Before you start thinking about careers, you should note what interests you.

  • Your interests are your favorite activities.

    • They could lead to a career that you would enjoy

    • Things that you enjoy doing may involve working with people, information, technology, or all three.

  • Values are what you believe to be important.

    • They are the beliefs and ideas by which you live

    • Your work values are the aspects of work that are important to you.

  • A skill is proficiency for performing a task that is developed through training and experience.

  • An ability is a natural or acquired skill or talent.

  • An aptitude is your potential for learning a skill.

  • Personality is the set of characteristics that make someone special. It is the sum total of your feelings, actions, habits, and thoughts

How Work is Changing

  • The working world is no longer limited by U.S. borders.

  • The global economy continues to grow.

  • People around the world want many goods and services that U.S. businesses sell.

  • More U.S. companies are opening offices abroad, and overseas firms are operating within the United States.

  • Companies do business via e-commerce.

    • These changes create more job opportunities for workers.

  • Today’s workers must be adaptable and willing to learn new technologies and ways of working.

    • Every day you should work to improve your basic skills, develop thinking skills, and build personal skills.

    • You will use these skills in all kinds of work later.

Developing a Career Plan

Finding Information on Careers

  • There is a lot of written information about careers at libraries and on the Internet.

    • Also, the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) describes hundreds of jobs.

      • It lists the fastest-growing fields and gives addresses of places to write for more information.

  • A career counselor is someone who is trained to provide information and guidance on choosing a career.

  • Another way to get information is by networking.

    • Networking is the practice of building informal relationships with people whose friendship could bring advantages such as job or business opportunities.

  • The best way to learn about a career is to work.

    • New workers often benefit from job shadowing, which involves following another worker on the job for a few days.

  • Internships are another option.

    • An internship is a temporary paid or unpaid position that involves direct work experience in a career field.

  • You might also consider volunteerism, or working without pay.

Understanding the Working World

  • Most occupations have career ladders.

    • A career ladder is a series of different jobs within a career.

  • Many U.S. firms outsource work to other countries.

    • Outsourcing is using outside sources to do tasks traditionally handled by internal staff.

  • The more demand there is for a worker’s set of skills, the easier it will be for him or her to get a job.

  • Short- and medium-term goals can help you achieve a long-term goal.

  • When setting goals, be as specific about each one as you can.

    • Specific goals are easier to aim for and achieve.

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