probably incomplete. With so many kinds of work, how can you tell which will interest you? 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.

Getting 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 informa­ tion 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 realised her mistake.

Procrastinating, postponing a decision, is another error people make. "Manana" 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.

Work And Careers

Sometimes we say that someone we know is "a square peg in a round hole." This simply means that the person we are talking about is not suited for the job he is doing. He may be a bookkeeper who really wants to be an actor, or a mechanic who likes cooking. Unfortunately, many people in the world are "square pegs"; they are not doing the kind of work they should be doing, for one reason or another. As a result they are probably not doing a very good job and certainly they are not happy.

Choosing the right career is very important. Most of us spend a great part of our lives at our jobs. For that reason we should try to find out what our talents are and how we can use them. We can do this through aptitude tests, interviews with specialists, and consulting reference books on the subjects that interest us.

There are many careers open to each of us. Perhaps we like science. Then we might prepare ourselves to be chemists, physicists, or biologists. Perhaps our interests take us into the business world and into such work as accounting, personnel management or public

relations. Many people find their place in government service. Many other fields - teaching, newspaper work, medicine, engineering - offer fascinating areas to those with talent and training.

The Job Interview

When a job opening is advertised in the United States, there are often a lot of people interested in applying. Many job hunters send in their resumes and apply for the same position. Sometimes a company will receive hundreds of resumes for a single job opening. The job interview, therefore, is very important. In the interview, an applicant must demonstrate that he or she is the best person for the job.

Because job interviews are so critical, some job hunters read books or take courses to help them make a good first impression. These books and courses are full of advice and suggestions to help job applicants prepare for their interviews. For example, successful applicants dress appropriately and have a clean and neat appearance. They take their resume or a sheet of paper listing their education and work experience with them to the interview. They also prepare a list of questions about the job or the company. They go to the interview alone and are always on time.

At the beginning of the interview, the applicant shakes hands firmly with the employer. The employer usually invites the applicant to sit down. During the interview, it is appropriate to smile often and to look directly into the eyes of the interviewer. The applicant doesn't chew gum or smoke during the interview. The applicant is prepared to answer questions about education and previous jobs. More difficult questions are possible, such as: "Why did you leave your last position?" Sometimes interviewers also try to get to know the applicant better. They ask questions about the applicant's personal background, family, and hobbies. Interviewers expect applicants to talk profoundly, confidently, and truthfully about their work experience, skills, goals, and abilities. When the interview is over, the applicant stands up, shakes hands with the interviewer, and says thank you for the time the person has offered.

Job applicants who can show they are capable, well-prepared, punctual, polite, and honest have a better chance of getting the job they're looking for.

Read the texts about differentjobs and answer the questions after them.

People And Their Jobs

1. Lucy works in a travel agency. Her salary is very low. She only gets three weeks' holiday a year and she works long hours. But Lucy doesn’t mind, because she enjoys her work. She has a nice boss and she meets a lot of people during the day. Her work is interesting and varied. Also, every year her company gives her a free two-week holiday in Europe.

2. Paul works on a car assembly line in a factory. He is a skilled worker and he does a lot of overtime; so at the end of each week he takes home quite a good wage. However, he doesn't enjoy his work. He finds it boring and monotonous. He gets four weeks' holiday a year, but because there are several public holidays and sometimes strikes in the factory, he doesn't usually work 48 weeks a year.

3. Tom is unemployed. He is a university graduate and he has a degree in sociology. However, Tom cannot find a good job. Each week he receives some money from the government called 'Social Security' With his money he pays the rent and buys his food, but at the end of the week he is always 'broke'.

4.Mr. Charles is a successful businessman. He is a company director. He earns a lot of money, and he also pays a lot of income tax. He is 64 and next year he is going to retire. He will get a good pension from his company and also an old age pension from the state. He is looking forward to his retirement. He wants to read a lot and go fishing.

5.Henry: I'm a pop star. I earn about £60,000 a year. Being a pop star means all sorts

of things. It means I don't have to worry about money any more. It means I can do what I want to do. For example, I hate having to get up early. I can't stand working in offices or in factories. I can't bear having to work at fixed hours. That's why I enjoy being a pop star. I like playing in front of large audiences. I even like all those young girls screaming and trying to tear my clothes off.

6. Alice: I'm a nurse and I don't earn very much money at all. In fact, I have a lot of difficulty in just making ends meet, as we say. But I like being a nurse. I suppose it’s because I enjoy helping people. Being a nurse is hard work. It means working all sorts of hours. And it isn't very pleasant sometimes. There are all sorts of things I don't enjoy. For example, I don't enjoy seeing people in pain. Working ten hours a day and more in a hospital isn't much fun, but at least you know you're doing something worthwhile.

7. John: The job that I have recently started is as a sales representative with a company that produces garden furniture. The company, called 'Sunnosit', is based in Thornton, a small town in the Midlands. The area manager, who has been with the company for over thirty years, is due to retire next year, which means I might get his job if I do well. One great advantage is having a company car, which I have to have, because the job involves visiting different parts of the country. My colleagues, who I get on well with, are quite ambitious, which means the atmosphere at work is rather competitive. I don't mind. Apart from that, the job is fine.

8. Keith: I'm 17. I'm a babysitter. This is the best job in the world. My parents have many friends with younger children. They call me when they want to go to a restaurant or pub for the evening. When I arrive the children are usually already in bed. I sit in the living room and watch TV. The children almost never wake up, and anyway they are not usually babies, so I can just tell them to go back to sleep. Some of the parents even leave food and drink for me in the fridge. If the parents stay out late they give me extra money. Usually I get 5 pounds per hour. The best thing about this job is that I don't have to pay any taxes on my money - it is all cash-in-hand!

9. Max: I'm 15. I’m a fast-food restaurant worker. I love this job! It's never boring because you are busy all the time. You can talk with your colleagues and have fun while you work. You also get a discount on the food here. My job is a Saturday job and I get 4.50 pounds per hour. I would like to work in the evenings too. I am saving up to buy a car when I am 17.

10. Karen: I'm a police officer. I decided to join the police service after a police woman visited my school when I was about 15 years old. I work on a response team which means that we answer calls made to Scotland Yard and the local police station by people from the local community. We deal with family arguments, people who have had their homes broken into, assaults, people who are lost or who have fallen over at home and cannot get up - lots of very different situations.

It's a challenging job and there are many different aspects to policing a large city. Some of my colleagues have police dogs, some ride police horses, others ride police motorbikes.

I work shifts which means that I work two early turns (06.00—14.00) and two late turns (13.00-23.00) and then two night duties (21.00-06.00) and then I have four days off.

The skills you need as a police officer in the UK are varied. You need a very good sense of humour, a strong constitution, a sense of duty in serving the community, like talking to people and most of all believe in the importance of law and order.

Answer thefollowing questions.

1.Would you like to work in a travel agency? Why?

2.Certainly few people want to work in a factory; but why are skilled workers necessary in our society?

3. Is it difficult for a university graduate to find a job? Will it be difficult for you?

4.Is the life of retired people easy in this country and abroad?

5.Do you envy a successful pop star?

6.Why is the job of a nurse which is so necessary for people not popular at all?

7.What is appealing in the job of a sales representative?

8.What makes teenagers take a part-time job?

9.Why is work in police difficult and dangerous? What other kinds of job are dangerous?

READING

Read the stories.

Success Story

After J. G. Cozzens

I met Richards ten or more years ago when I first went down to Cuba. He was a short, sharp-faced, agreeable chap, then about 22. He introduced himself to me on the boat and I was surprised to find that Panamerica Steel was sending us both to the same job.

Richards was from some not very good state university engineering school. Being the same age myself, and just out of technical college I saw at once that his knowledge was rather poor. In fact I couldn't imagine how he had managed to get this job.

Richards was naturally likable, and I liked him a lot. The firm had a contract for the construction of a private railroad. For Richards and me it was mostly an easy job of inspections and routine paper work. At least it was easy for me. It was harder for Richards, because he didn't appear to have mastered the use of a slide rule. When he asked me to check his figures I found his calculations awful.

"Boy," I was at last obliged to say, "you are undoubtedly the silliest white man in this province. Look, stupid, didn't you ever take arithmetic? How much are seven times thirteen?"

"Work that out," Richards said, "and let me have a report tomorrow."

So when I had time I checked his figures for him, and the inspector only caught him in a bad mistake about twice.

In January several directors of the United Sugar Company came down to us on business, but mostly pleasure; a good excuse to get south on a vacation. Richards and I were to accompany them around the place. One of the directors, Mr. Prosset was asking a number of questions. I knew the job well enough to answer every sensible question - the sort of question that a trained engineer would be likely to ask. As it was Mr. Prosset was not an engineer and some of his questions put me at a loss. For the third time I was obliged to say, "I'm afraid I don't know, sir. We haven't any calculations on that". When suddenly Richards spoke up.

"I think, about nine million cubic feet, sir," he said. "I just happened to be working

this out last night. Just for my own interest".

"Oh," said Mr. Prosset, giving him a sharp look. "That's very interesting, Mr. -er- Richards, isn't it? Well, now, maybe you could tell me about.