Choosing a Career Sooner or later all of us face the problem of choosing a career when we are to decide what we are going to be in future. Choosing a career is not a simple matter in fact, it can be one of the most important in our life. You don't need to hurry making a decision. You should examine thoroughly your abilities and character, take a realistic view of your strengths and weaknesses, pay attention to your parents' and friends' advice and take into account your own preferences. The last point in the list is particularly important because there are many examples when people make great mistakes choosing their future profession. Sometimes they either simply follow in the footsteps of their parents or relatives or just blindly follow their advice. Your choice should be mostly based on your own opinion. Family traditions are good, but your turn of mind may be quite different. So, never base only on other people's opinion. requirements. Having thought carefully about what sort of person you are, try to work out a list of your occupation Nowadays there is a great variety of jobs to any taste. Choosing a future career, we should consider the following things. Pay. Is the size of your salary important? Generally speaking, it is important. Of course there may be various situations, but if you are going to be independent, successful and wealthy, you have to find a well-paid job. Moreover, if you are going to have a family, you should be ready to support it, to be a breadwinner. Naturally, you'd like to live in good conditions, and your children to study at good schools, and then to enter prestigious universities, to travel all around the world and so on. Now you understand why you should take money into consideration when choosing a job. Further training, promotion prospects and job conditions should also be kept in mind. Just after graduating it is very difficult to find a plum job which will respond to all your preferences. It is usually a monotonous, tedious clerical job, but if you are a capable and hard-working person, you will certainly be offered an opportunity to climb the ladder. • Place of work. You ought to decide whether you want to work indoors (cashier, chemist, librarian, secretary, etc.) or outdoors (driver, firefighter, estate agent, etc.). Your choice may be based on your lifestyle or health condition. • Full-time, part-time, flexitime jobs. There is no set pattern to part-time working. It may involve a later start and earlier finish time than a full-time position, working mornings or afternoons only, fewer working days in a week for less salary. It is a perfect variant for students who want to juggle their studies and work, as well as flexitime jobs. Employees decide by themselves when to begin and end their working day. • Communication with different people. Meeting and dealing with people doesn't appeal to every person. Some people are not very sociable; on the contrary, they are timid, shy and diffident. Frankly speaking, it is a great talent to have communication skills. If you think you have it, you may choose a profession involving close contacts with people, such as a doctor, a journalist, a lawyer, a guide, a teacher. Business trips. You should keep in mind that some professions imply travelling all over the world, such as tour guides, scientists, actors, journalists, pilots and so on. It's not always fun. Business trips may last a week, a month and even more. You may be sent to London for a few days, then you'll spend only a few hours in Paris, and right after that, without any rest, you'll have to go to Berlin. Sometimes it turns out that you don't have even an hour for yourself just to relax and see the town you've come to. Such trips may be very exhausting and stressful. However, if you are young, ambitious and full of energy, you will be able not only to do your job successfully but also see the world. • Aspiration for creative work. If you are a creative person, it's a must for you to find such job. It can be a job of an artist, a tailor, a designer or a stylist. Jobs connected with risk. Such jobs are usually well-paid, but very dangerous. A police officer, a fireman, a bodyguard, a lifeguard these are the names of jobs which imply risk. Those, who want a rewarding but demanding job and who are ready to devote all their lives to it, may choose this kind of work. Analyzing all these points will help you not to make a wrong choice. In case you are an aspiring, responsible, creative, optimistic, reliable person, who is ready to learn and be laborious, who is not afraid of any difficulties of the future and ready to solve any problem with a smile, the world of jobs and careers will be open to you. Choosing a career should not only be a matter of future prestige and wealth. Work should bring real satisfaction; otherwise your whole life will become dull and monotonous. 23