Читать книгу Find a Better Job - Michael Dolan - Страница 6

People who feel successful in their careers enjoy their work. Prospective employers usually have an idea of what they are looking for in a worker, and new workers bring with them certain expectations of a job. Working in an occupation that focuses on your strengths will help you get the most out of your abilities. By matching your interests to occupational requirements, you increase the chances of doing work that suits you.

The first step in planning a career is to do self-assessment. Think about your strong and weak skills relevant to careers that interest you. Research the industries and occupations you find interesting, focusing on those that would allow you to use your strongest skills. Also consider how much post-secondary education you will need for a particular career. Assess your goals for salary and professional job growth.

The next step is to learn about the occupations that interest you. You should begin by looking at the educational requirements. Check to see if the skills and abilities required match the ones you already have. Explore related occupations. You might have narrowed your job choices, but you also may have added a few. Now it's time to continue researching the occupations that interest you.

Because the table provides an overview of almost 250 occupations, certain characteristics are generalized. Skill requirements and work characteristics are generalized. Skill requirements and work characteristics are based on the norm for a large proportion of workers in an occupation. Job specialization in the same occupation may require different levels of skill and education. For example, an elementary school English teacher needs a lower level of mathematical proficiency than a high school calculus teacher does. Although Kindergarten, elementary, and secondary school teachers are grouped together, all teachers are listed as requiring only basic math skills since the majority of teachers do not need such a high level of math proficiency.

Finally, while the number of expected job openings indicates potential employment opportunities, competition depends on the number of workers applying for a particular job. Some jobs with significant growth have more workers than openings, leading to greater possibilities for job competition and unemployment.