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Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow. Choosing a career

      

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

Choosing a career

The career market is full of opportunities. Gone are the days when we had ‘either…. or’ career choices. The time when women, for example, choose between only nursing, teaching and secretarial work are long gone. The explosion in communication technology, and the liberalization and globalization of the world economy has ensured that there is no longer a dearth of career choice. Today,
colleges and universities offer a wide range of training opportunities to high school graduates. This has made choosing a care an involving process. It has also given rise to the need for career counseling.

When choosing a career, whether you have the help of a career counsellor or not, there are several factors that you should consider. These include your abilities or talents, your interests, your priorities, and the available opportunities in the job market.

The skills required in a particular career and the ability to gain them through education must be considered when choosing careers. Becoming a doctor, for instance, requires extensive education and training, and many years of educational commitment. In addition to the compulsory subjects, the academic background required for this career is good grades in Chemistry and Biology at secondary school level. If your ability in these subjects is just average, you would be overstretching your luck to enroll for a Bachelor of Medicine degree course. In the past, students have chosen to pursue training in engineering, even when their ability to handle Physics and Mathematics was low. This, in many cases, has made them drop out of the class mid-course. The waste of time and resources would have been avoided if they had considered a career that did not require the ability to handle Mathematics and Physics well.

There are times when people have been driven to choose a particular career because of the salary and prestige associated with jobs in that field. At times, the desire to take certain courses comes from within the individual, but most times, individuals feel pressured by peers or family to take certain courses. Joining a career in which you have no interest is a recipe for a dull life since you will spend most of your working hours doing something you do not like. Your career does not necessarily have to be your passion, but it should not bore you to death either. You can work out your interests by identifying the subjects you enjoy most at school, or the topics that are of interest to you and for which you take the initiative to read on your own.

It is true that many young people are attracted move by the social mobility that the job might provide than by their interest in the career. However, big role in job satisfaction as many people think. Of course we all have to make a living, but if you do not like your job, it does not matter how much you get paid to do it. What does matter is how well a career choice matches your values. If you value variety, collaboration, and creativity, for example, you would not find job satisfaction in a career where you are working alone and doing the same thing every day.

The availability of jobs in a particular field should also be a factor in choosing a career. This should be considered alongside the skills and education sought in a given field. Most times, highly competitive field require more education but may not pay well. When there are more applicants for a particular position, unique personality traits become an added benefit. However, in fields where there are fewer applicants than the positions available, the pay may be more and the job may require less education
Nevertheless, one should be discouraged by the scarcity of employment positions because institutions of higher learning now emphasize that they are not simply training people to get out and look for jobs. They are training people to get out and create jobs. Therefore, the availability of job opportunities is not necessarily limited to presence of employers. It also encompasses opportunities for self-employment which everyone is free to explore.


1. What has ensured that there is no longer a dearth of career choice

2. What has created the necessity for career counseling?

3. Why is one’s ability an important factor in career choice.

4. According to the passage, which career should a person who values variety choose?

5. Make notes on factors to consider when choosing a career?

6. What drives people to choose a particular career?

7. What evidence is given in the passage to support the statement ‘money does not play as a big role in job
satisfaction’?

8. Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage? (4 marks)
(a) Dearth
(b) Social mobility
(c) Liberalization
(d) Collaboration

  

Answers


Martin
1. - The explosion in communication technology.
- The liberalization
- Globalization of the world economy


2. Because choosing a career is an involving process due to the many career opportunities available.

3. One’s ability determines whether one will be frustrated or fulfilled as he or she pursues a certain career.

4. A career where he or she is not working alone or doing the same things every day.

5.
- Abilities or talents.
-Your interests.
-The available opportunities.
-Skills required in a particular career.
-The ability to gain those skills through education.
-The availability of jobs in a particular field.
NB: They must be notes

6. - The salary.
-The prestige associated with the job in that field.
-Pressure by peers or family.

7. If one does not like the job he or she is doing, it will not matter how much money he or she is paid to
do the job.

8. (a) Dearth – Scarcity/shortage.
(b) Social mobility – Improvement on one’s social standing.
(c) Liberalization – Freedom from restrictions
(d) Collaboration – Co operations in doing something.


marto answered the question on August 15, 2019 at 12:02


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