Choosing a career

For most people, choosing a career isn’t easy, yet it is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. Find the right career, and you will be happy and successful. Find the wrong career, and you may be unhappy and unsuccessful. It pays, therefore, to explore your choice of occupation from every angle, collect as much information as you can, actually try different kinds of work before making up your mind¹. Above all, evaluate yourself. Be sure you know your own interests, talents and abilities. Most people have a lot of these, but at the beginning they are undeveloped and may not seem outstanding. By concentrating on a few, or on one, you may surprise yourself, and everyone else.

Find where your interests lie…

_________

¹ to make up one’s mind – принять решение

Task 5. Answer the questions.

1. Why is it so important to choose the right profession?

2. Why is it necessary to know your personal interests?

3. Why does it pay to explore your choice of occupation?

4. Why should a person concentrate on his interests, talents and abilities?

5. What profession would you never choose? Why?

6. What advice could you give to your friends about the choice of profession?

Task 6. What sort of intelligence have you got? Give yourself marks from 1 to 5 for each of the following mental abilities (1 = very bad, 2 = poor, 3 = average, 4 = good, 5 = very good). Discuss your strong and weak points.

Use the following patterns: I have got …/I haven’t got …

I can …/I can’t

I am good at …/I am not good at …

• mathematical ability

• artistic ability

• memory

• imagination

• sense of humour

• decisiveness

• planning ability

• quick thinking

• ability to analyze problems

• logical thinking

• ability to deal with large numbers of facts

• ability to learn new things

• practical common sense

Which of these abilities do you think are most important for the profession you have chosen?

Pattern: I think that such abilities as … are most important for the profession of …

Task 7. Do you wish you had a better brain? Which abilities would you like to improve? Make up sentences according to the pattern.

Pattern: I wish I had more artistic ability.

I wish I could remember peoples’ names.

I wish I were better at making decisions.

Task 8. Read and translate the information; answer the questions given in item “A”.

Getting a job

In Britain there is a special service for school leavers, The Careers Advisory Service¹, which helps young people who are looking for their first jobs. Careers officers give practical advice on interview techniques, application forms, letters, pay, National Insurance and Trade Unions. This is an extract from a leaflet², which is given to young people by a Careers Advisory Service.

1. The Interview

You’ve got an interview for a job – good! So now for the hard work. To do well at an interview you need to put in some thought first.

The employer wants to know if you are the person he wants, so you’ll be asked about yourself. Think about it now:

What do I do well?

What are my good points?

Why would I like this job?

Spare time interests?

What is my family like?

What school subjects was I good at?

What do I like doing and why?

What do I not like doing and why?