Life 101Career Explorations Essay

This assignment is due ______. We want you to have a strong interest in at least one career to be the primary focus of career explorations project, so before you pick a topic, you need time to explore potential careers. You are given time to research your potential career in class and you may need to research some at home. Keep in mind that we are going to be spending the next two weeks exploring careers in the career unit and with your ILP’s, conducting interviews and online searches. Keep this assignment in mind when you are completing these activities.

You will be writing a career exploration essay on a career that you find the most interesting. You should research various careers that interest you with the FINAL one being your main focus career that you do the most extensive research on.. The final essay must be your main focus career – so think hard about what you want to do for this one – choose something you are very interested in. Read back over all of the information from ILP activities 1-7 , your research organizer, and your interviews before you begin.

The career explorations essay is a research essay that is to be written in proper research essay format - well written, good introduction, body, and conclusion, etc. Be sure to make assertions and support them with your evidence that you gather from sources and cite the source for each piece of information in the essay. You are to do the research, track your sources, and write your essay in good essay format and style.

You must have a bibliography at the end of your paper with AT LEAST3 different valid sources. You should have at least one print source, one person/individual source, and one electronic source. Don’t simply collect information from websites. These sources also must be referenced in the essay where the information garnished from the source is used. Either “according to…….” Followed by source and information, or Follow the information with the source and year published in parentheses (Rowton 2008). Note that the sources are listed in the bibliography in alphabetical order by author’s last name. MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES FOR CITING SOURCES IN A BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Follow the outlined organization for the essays as shown on the next page.

Each essay should have a your name, the assignment name, date, a title for the essay, etc.

When you are typing these, they must have:

They should be 1” margins on ALL four sides, and 12 point standard font such as Ariel or Times New Roman.

Organization of Paper:

I. Introduction: (One or two paragraphs introducing the career)

  1. Tell the reader what your career is
  2. Explain why you chose your career
  3. Discuss what you already knew about your career before you started
  4. Explain what you hoped to learn about your career

II. Body: (Tell what you learned in your research in several paragraphs with single topics each)

Support what you have to say with information from sources cited in the paper.

Pretend your reader knows nothing about it and you have to teach them everything there is to know.

A.Lifestyle

  1. What does a person who works in this career do? Be specific! Duties and responsibilities etc. What is a typical day of someone who is in this career.
  2. What personality type is best suited for this career?

B.Training/Education

  1. What preparation do you need for this career? What do you need to know how to do etc.
  2. What schooling, trade school, or apprenticeships are necessary? BE DETAILED.
  3. What schools offer the programs and where can you get them? Be Detailed & specific
  4. What alternative routes to this career are there (if any)? Other ways to get into this career.

C.Benefits

  1. What is the average and/or median starting pay? What is the average and/or median top salary? UNDERSTAND your statistics and cite sources.
  2. How long does it take to advance in pay and how does this happen (pay scale or merit based)? Salary vs. hourly wages – self employed vs. employee
  3. Does the career receive bonuses? How and why…compare and contrast
  4. How does location (region) affect pay? Be specific and compare and contrast areas.
  5. What possibilities are there for career advancement, promotions, etc.?
  6. What fringe benefits are typically available, and how do they vary? (insurance, retirement, pensions, stock sharing, Sick leave, vacations, etc.)

D.Location

  1. Where are the job opportunities located? Will you need to move? Make sure you research the various aspects of this essay based on where you will most likely have to live Etc.
  2. What is the cost of living in the areas where you will need to live (typical rent, gas, utilities, food, costs)? BE SPECIFIC – develop a complete itemized budget for the location you need to live.
  3. How does the cost of living compare to the typical starting income? Make comparisons based on location/s you will need to be to do this career. Be specific – can you live on what you will make? Defend your assertions with evidence cited from sources.

E.Future Outlook

  1. What is the job outlook for people in this career over the next 10-20 years?
  2. What technology skills do you need to be proficient in and how might development of new technology affect this profession (could you be replaced by a machine or have to update your knowledge over time)?
  3. What are the current and future employment opportunities? Is it increasing or decreasing?

III. Conclusion (One or two paragraphs summarizing your findings)

  1. Briefly summarize what you learned about your career
  2. Explain how you feel about your research and this career
  3. Decide if this is a career path you will follow and give reasons for your decisions

IV. Bibliography

  1. Cite ALL of your sources – USE PROPER FORMAT – follow guidelines for bibliographies
  2. Be sure to reference these sources to identify where specific information came from where you use it (in the paragraph) within the body of the paper.