WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY
Special Educator Program
SPED 200 Introduction to Careers in Human Services (3 credits)
Fall 2009
Individual Career Appraisal Project (45 pts)
Your assignment is to appraise and compare two human service jobs that you have learned about through class projects or on your own or any human service jobs in which you are interested. You will look at each job in terms of the education needed, the benefits of the jobs, and the challenges of the jobs, then appraise each job based on the information you have reviewed. Finally, you will reflect upon your own interests and suitability for these jobs, and identify which of the two jobs you are most likely to investigate further.
Your answers to the prompts below must be written, and may be submitted as a term paper or as a letter to a friend, but in either style, your finished product must be typed, grammatically correct, spell-checked and double-spaced, 4 - 5 pages in length. Provide complete answers to the questions below:
1. Amount of education required. What education is required for the two jobs? Can you get that education at Western Oregon University, or do you have to go somewhere else? How many years or credits before you could complete the educational requirements? (10 pts.)
2. Job benefits. What are the pay, job-related benefits, and working conditions for both jobs? Are there job advancement possibilities if you need a change? What are they? What do you think are the most common reasons people choose these jobs? (15 pts.)
3. Job challenges. What are the disadvantages of this job? What do you think are the most common reasons people leave this job? (5 pts.)
- Individual Appraisal. Summarize the differences and similarities between Job A and Job B with reference to the information you have given in Questions 1 – 3. Provide a personal appraisal of the jobs, identifying which of the two you are more likely to investigate further, and why. (15 pts.)
This assignment is due by no later than December 7 (last class).