CHOOSING A CAREER How do you choose a career? Many students finish high school and begin college without a clear idea of what they want to do in life. Part of the problem is the size and complexity of the job market itself. Seven hundred and sixty-three different occupations were listed in a recent publication of the United States.

Department of Labor, and this list is probably incomplete. With so many kinds of work, how can you tell which will interest you? And what about the job outlook? Some of these occupations are already overcrowded. In old industries, there may be little need for new workers, while new and growing industries will offer good jobs, now and in the future. Finally, how can you make the best use of your own special talents? Those who know themselves often find the best jobs. The article that follows does not answer all these questions, but it does try to get you started.

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 mind. Above all, evaluate yourself. Be sure you know your own interests and talents.

Unfortunately, not everyone takes this trouble. Those who don't, can make costly mistakes. For example, some people simply follow in the footsteps of a parent or a relative. One young man I know became a doctor because that was his father's profession. Yet he could not stand the sight of blood. Watching an operation made him sick to his stomach. One day he had to amputate a leg, and, after making the first cut, fainted in the operating room. A young woman I know became an accountant although she hated maths. Her uncle encouraged her by promising a job in his company. It took her several years, and several disasters with the company books, before she realized her mistake.

Procrastinating, postponing a decision, is another error people make. «Manana1» is the Spanish word for it. I'll get started tomorrow, or next week, or next year. These people refuse to face the problem, hoping it will go away. But if you don't take the first step now, how can you plan for the future, take the right courses in school, get in the right programs? Procrastinators just drift, missing many opportunities.

Well then, how do you find a career? Jascha Heifetz was a concert violinist at the age of thirteen. Shirley Temple was a movie star at the age of five. Most of us

are not so talented, or so lucky. Everyone has skills, but yours may not be so obvious; may, in fact, go undetected. Your career search has to look for everything. Be systematic. Analyze your problem. Determine what information you have. Then go after the information you need.

First, start with yourself. Make a list of inventory of your interests, your 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, at how good you can get.

The interest inventory that follows covers the major fields in which most people find careers: science, arts, social service, business, sales.

Упражнение 1. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

1. Unfortunately not many people take the trouble of discovering their own interests and talents.

2. Teenagers are a lot of trouble to their parents.

3. The trouble is that some people tend to underestimate the importance of choosing the right career.

4. She couldn't stand the sight of blood.

5. It stands to reason.

6. Indecisive people refuse to face the career problem.

7. The sitting room windows face a beautiful lawn.

8. Negotiations between the two sides were broken off.

9. In 1945 Allied Forces broke through the German defences.

10. Fighting broke out between Hindus and Moslems.

11. Bangladesh broke away from West Pakistan in 1971

Упражнение 4. Дополните предложения, используя слова из текста.

1. When you finish school you should have … of what you want to do in life.

2. He was offered hundreds of different ... .

3. Enjoying work means choosing ... in the first place.

4. It is necessary to … yourself if you want ... of your own special talent.

5. It took her a month to think over the proposal before she ... .

6. Children often ... of their parents or relatives choosing a career.

7. Don't … of taking this course as your major.

8. He was exhausted in ... of a job.

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