Up Front

"To be truly happy in what you do for a living, you need three things: You must be good at it, it must come easily for you, and you must enjoy it." —Unknown

 

A junior in high school, Mark worked every afternoon sorting and moving boxes. He was unhappy with his job, and he was trying to find out why. His friends told him it was because he wasn’t paid enough money. But Mark knew that there was more to it. He didn’t look forward to going to work, and he was bored with the work itself. Once he reminded himself that this job wasn't permanent and that it was just a part-time, after-school job to earn spending money, he was much happier.

"When I choose my career, I'll be sure to pick something that I like doing so I can enjoy going to work," he told himself. to decide what that right career choice is.

Careers of the Future

Your grandparents or even your parents may have worked for one employer for many years before retiring, but your career path will likely look much different. New products and services, together with global competition and the computerized work environment, have changed the expectations and needs of employers. The job you accept will likely change quite a bit within a few years. In fact, you will probably retrain, upgrade, or change jobs several times during your working life.

Technology creates newer, better, and faster ways of getting things done. Technology is a general term for improvements in work methods and equipment that increase productivity. Productivity is the amount a worker produces in an hour. Businesses must constantly increase their output and lower their costs to stay competitive. Companies today must become very efficient in order to be profitable and stay in business.

Major Occupational Groups

In the early 1900s, farmers made up more than one third

of the total workforce of the United States. Now, they make up less than 3 percent, and that number is decreasing. Today, in most occupations the collection, use, and distribu­tion of information is the job. Computers and the Internet are key tools for gathering, transmitting, and storing information.

One of the largest career groups is the professions, where knowledge is the key job skill. For example, the professions include doctors, lawyers, and accountants. Professional employees also work in the information field, with the creation, processing, storage, and retrieval of information as important parts of the job. As computers and the Internet continue to evolve, many new pro­fessional careers will emerge. For example, people who work as Web designers and database administrators are in rapidly growing professional fields.

Service jobs are a large—and increasing—sector of the market. They also are dominated by technology and information needs that determine what will be produced and how it will be made available to customers. Service employees are using highly sophis­ticated information storage and retrieval devices, from point-of-sale computers to optical scanners for inventory counting.

This extraordinary transformation of occupations has been vari­ously labeled the "space age," "electronic era," "global village," "technological revolution," and "information age." All of these terms refer to technology and the rapid increase of knowledge that affect virtually all career choices today.

Job Titles and Descriptions

Some of today's careers may seem the same as they were 20 years ago. However, you will find that most are considerably different when you compare present-day job descriptions, job qualifications, and employment opportunities with earlier counterparts.

Careful research into job titles and descriptions of potential careers will help you prepare to make career choices. Several U.S. government publications provide detailed descriptions of many job titles. Three of them are available in most public libraries and also online: the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), and the Monthly Labor Review. You can find the DOT online at http: //www.oalj.dol.gov/libdot.htm or by entering the keywords "Dictionary of Occupational Titles" in your browser. Eventually a new online publication called O*NET is expected to replace the DOT. You can find O*NET at http://online.onetcenter.org. To find the OOH online, go to http: //stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm or enter the keywords "Occupa­tional Outlook Handbook." For the Monthly Labor Review online, go to http://stats.bls.gov/opub/mlr/mlrhome.htm, or use the keyword "Bureau of Labor Statistics." Then search the publications section for the Monthly Labor Review.

The Dictionary of Occupational Titles, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, classifies jobs by nine-digit categories according to functions and duties. Listed within the major cate­gories are numerous jobs available in the United States. Figure 1-1 is an excerpt from the DOT that lists some specific jobs under "Pro­fessional, Technical, and Managerial Occupations." To use the DOT, first consult the index to locate the reference number for "0/1 Professional, Technical, and Managerial Occupations." Jobs may be further divided into functions and duties, with a brief description of these

.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a yearly publication of the U.S. Department of Labor. It provides in-depth job descriptions and includes additional information about job opportunities nationwide. As you can see in the Figure 1-2 excerpt, the Handbook refers to the O*NET numbers for the jobs it describes. The Handbook descriptions include topics such as nature of the work, working conditions, employment, training and qualifications, job outlook, earnings, related occupations, and sources of additional information.

Additional statistics and graphic information are available in the Monthly Labor Review, published by the U.S. Department of Labor. Articles in this publication provide current information about specific occupation clusters (groups of similar occupations) across the nation.

Job Analysis

While considering the type of work for which you would be best suited, you may find it useful to do a job analysis. A job analysis is an evaluation of the positive and negative attributes of a given career choice. After careful analysis, you may find that a certain job will not meet most of your career objectives. When this happens, continue with your analyses of other careers that interest you. Because you will proba­bly spend a number of years in your first career choice, selecting the right one is very important.

Positive Features of Employment

Your chosen career will provide you with many positive features. The most important is usually the salary, which is the amount of monthly or annual pay that you will earn for your labor. You should also consider whether there are scheduled salary increases after a month, six months, or a year. Some companies offer frequent evaluations, merit raises, and lib­eral pay schedules. Benefits are also important. They are company-provided supplements to salaries.

Portions of an Occupational Outlook Handbook Job Description

These extras may include sick pay, vacation time, profit-sharing plans, and health insurance.

Another important feature is the opportunity for promotion—the ability to advance, to accept more responsibilities, and eventu­ally to work your way up to higher positions. Promotions give you recognition for your achievements, higher pay, and more challenging work. For example, a junior accountant will want to work for a company in which advancement to senior accountant and partner is possible.

You may also want to consider commuting distance and park­ing, company stability in the community, work hours and flexibil­ity, and personnel policies. It's important to examine all features of a field of work and specific jobs, so you will have some idea where the career path may lead you. You should evaluate both rewards and additional investments you may need to make. These invest­ments can include retraining and upgrading, moving to a new location, and advanced education or specialized skill development such as learning new computer programs, new electronic equip­ment, or new industry-specific technology.

Negative Features of Employment

Every job or occupation also has its negative features. You should try to see these negatives as challenges that go along with the posi­tive aspects of employment.

Employee expenses include any costs paid by the employee that are not reimbursed by the employer (for example, uniforms or other special clothing and its cleaning). Although such expenses may be tax deductible, they can be very costly and can make the job less attractive. It is important to carefully balance employee expenses against benefits in a prospective job.

Work characteristics are the daily activities at work. They might include indoor versus outdoor work, working alone or with people, job pressures, time between breaks, supervisory relation-ships, number of employees with whom you will work, time spent at a computer terminal, and company rules and policies. Because you will do this work for eight or more hours a day, it is important to match work characteristics to your own needs and preferences.

To gain insight into how employees in actual careers feel about their jobs, read Vocational Biographies or Working by Studs Terkel. Both publications are a series of short descriptions of workers in many different occupations. In addition to discussing their job likes and dislikes, these workers give more details about their jobs than you may find elsewhere.

You can continue your in-depth career research by searching the subject headings in your library's card or online catalog and magazine indexes, such as the Business Periodicals Index and the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Most career information sources can be found in the reference section of the library, which typically provides Internet links and online research assistance. Online career sites, such as Monster.com, often provide informa­tion about different jobs as well as openings.

Entrepreneurship

Many people would like to own their own business and be their own boss. An entrepreneur is someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. There are many opportunities for people to start their own business or purchase a: existing business or franchise. While long hours of work and dedi- cation usually accompany such a move, rewards are also great because you can better control your own life and future.

With careful planning, training, advice, financing, and support many young people today will eventually own and run their own businesses. Small business management and entrepreneurship courses, information, and assistance are often available in high schools, community colleges, and through local business organizations such as Junior Achievement. Incubator projects (in which cities or counties provide reduced-cost sites with incentives and subsidies to get a small business on its feet) and Small Business Assistance Centers also provide ongoing training, education, and assistance as needed. The Small Business Administra­tion Web site is a valuable resource for people thinking about going into business for themselves. Visit the site at http:www .sba.gov/.

Review Terms

1.        technology

2.        productivity

3.        job analysis

4.        salary

5.        benefits

6.        promotion

7.        employee expenses

8.        work characteristics

9.        entrepreneur

Review Concepts

1.        Why are terms such as "information age" and "electronic era" used to describe today's occupations and career environment?

2.        What are some U.S. government publications you could use to research careers?

3.        What are some positive features of employment? What are some negative features?

4.        Why might a person want to be an entrepreneur?