2. Career Choices
Who am I?
Learn about yourself:
Values: What is important to you?
Interests: What appeals to you?
Skills/Aptitude: What are you good
at?
Personality: What makes you the
person you are? / Who are you?
Energy: High or low levels of energy?
3. Choosing your Career
You will have to work to earn money in order to live when you
leave school – but it’s never too early to think about the type of
job you’d like to do! The choices are endless. You could work in
medicine, entertainment, transport, law, science, construction,
finance, sport, the military or many, many other exciting fields.
So how do you begin? It’s much better to plan a career in a field
that you’re interested in, rather than being stuck in any old job,
just to earn money. You could think about what you’re good at
and the types of things you’re interested in or enjoy doing. Talk
to teachers, family and friends to find out what they do and how
they like it. Many schools have teachers whose role is to offer
career advice
4. Remember that some career choices offer more
financial stability than others. For example, we hear
about movie stars making tens of thousands of pounds
to make a film but, in reality, most actors struggle to
get work. The amount of money you can earn depends
mainly on the type of employment, your skills and
your qualifications or training, so it’s important to
research the qualifications or training you’ll need for
your career.
5. Types of Employment
Employment
You mostly earn a salary or wage
by being employed by a
company or organisation.
Self-employment
You get to be your own boss and
have the challenge of running
your own business. The money
that the business earns goes to
you, rather than someone else.
But owning your own business
can be financially risky. You
don’t get sick or holiday pay and
you have to organise to pay your
own tax to the Government by
filling out an annual tax return.
And as your own boss, you have
to be motivated!
Voluntary and unpaid work
You carry out voluntary work
supporting a cause, such as a
charity. Voluntary work is
unpaid, but some organisations
offer to cover expenses, such as
travel costs.
Some people also choose to
work unpaid on a work
placement to gain important
experience or to get the
opportunity of demonstrating
their skills to someone who
might want to employ them in
the future.
6. Skills For Working
•Besides educational qualifications and
training, there are certain skills and
personal qualities that most employers
look for:
•Being punctual, reliable and managing your
time effectively.
•Making sure your appearance is suitable for
your job .
•Communicating well, both orally and in
writing
•Good teamwork .
•IT skills (most careers involve some form of
working with computers) .
•Being well organised .
•Having good problem-solving skills
•Putting effort into work and having a
positive attitude .
7. NSC Requirements
An NSC (Grade 12 Certificate) shall be issued to a learner
who has complied with the following requirements:
12. Self Assessment:Reflection
When thinking of how you may want to
use your MLIS degree, one approach to
self assessment is to think in terms of…
Functions: What are those things I most
like to do in a job (e.g. solving problems;
writing; working with numbers,
machines or data; analyzing documents;
providing customer service; helping
people)? What activities do I truly enjoy?
What classes and subjects have been my
favorites and why? Which work
experiences have I enjoyed the most and
why?
People: Who will I be supporting? How
do I want to interact with people? What
kinds of people (e.g., youth, children,
students, working adults, seniors) do I
like to work with as colleagues or clients?
Do I prefer to work mostly with people or
do I prefer working mostly by myself?
Setting: Where do I see myself working?
Is it a quiet environment or a busy hectic
setting? Is the work always changing or
predictable? Do I prefer to work more
with machines and technology or
answering questions and assisting
people? Do I want a work setting that is
academic or corporate, highly-structured
or more informal?
Your answers are a way to help you look
for patterns, themes, and relationships
between your preferences for the
functions, people, and setting you desire
for your work environment. They are
clues to the types of LIS courses and the
career direction you will excel in.
Remember that you will experience the
greatest job satisfaction when you are
doing what you like to do and what you
can do well, and are working with others
who share similar interests.
13. Where your answers to the
questions in these 3 areas
intersect is the main focus for
you in your area of study
when choosing classes, and
the main focus for you when
considering career directions
in the LIS field.
Take time with this process.
Sit with it for a while and
think. It is a good idea to go
over your answers to the
questions above with people
who know you well to see if
they agree, or to identify how
and why they might have
answered the questions about
you differently.