Essay on Your career prospects

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Essay on Your Career Prospects
You are encouraged to work on your passion – whether it be teaching, acting, music, dance or something else in the arts, even if they do not guarantee a high salary or even a regular job. Such people often support themselves with a “job” unless or until they actually get paid to follow their dream.

Given the theme of the course is “Building a Better World”, you might also consider working for moral, social, political or economic change. You might follow in the tradition of the great prophets, teachers, revolutionaries, human rights activists, union organizers – those who ended slavery and apartheid, struggled for democracy, won equal rights for women, the 8 hour work day, union recognition, medicare or fair taxation. You could help save our environment and end climate change, overcome inequality and injustice, or help us achieve economic democracy.

Or, rather than write about your own job prospects, you might want to investigate how to improve job prospects for all of us. In other words, you might offer some solutions to the problem of precarious jobs, or economic austerity, or the loss of democratic control over our economy, to cite but a few examples. You might explore how to stop climate change and create green jobs. If you feel that war isn’t working, you might explore alternative routes to jobs and justice. Or, if you are appalled when young men feel they have few options but to become warriors or martyrs, you might identify non-violent ways of social service.

OUTLINE AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

You will first be required to submit an outline and an annotated bibliography, worth 5%. It should be submitted in class on Wednesday, Feb 3rd.

You will benefit from using the writing texts recommended for our class (or an equivalent):

Van Rys, John, Randall VanderMey, Verne Meyer and Patrick Sebranek.
Writing Life: A Canadian Students Guide to Thinking, Writing and Researching, 1st Ed. Toronto: Nelson Canada, 2015. See Chapter 21, “Getting Started: From Planning Research to Evaluating Sources”

Klassen, Thomas R. and John A. Dwyer, How to Succeed at University (and Get a Great Job!) Mastering the Critical Skills You Need for School, Work, and Life. 3rd Ed. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015. $19.95 or free online

SOURCES – You will probably come up with a mix of material. The final page of this handout lists “Where You Can Find Relevant Information”…

Books

Articles from periodicals

Government reports – various levels of government produce reports about different industries and the employment prospects in different fields…

Studies done by industry associations or unions about the trends in their area
Eg. the Canadian Bankers Association, Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, etc

Website material – make sure that you cite it correctly!

Interview with someone working in your chosen field – You are strongly recommended to speak with someone who can give you a first hand, up-to-date account of what is happening in your chosen field. It could be an employer or an employee – or preferably both!

Before your interview you should do enough research so that you do not waste their time – eg. asking for information that you can find on their website! You should come with a list of questions…. Your interview could take the form of either: a) a personal interview = face to face; b) personal communication via email; or c) a telephone interview. (see Van Rys et al, Writing Life, pp.440-441 on “Conducting Interviews”)

You might ask the person you are interviewing (either in person or over the phone):

How many people are working for their firm, agency or department? In what capacities?
How many jobs – and job openings — are there in your field in the Toronto area, in Ontario, in Canada? How many have been people have been hired to do this work in recent years, and how many do they plan to hire in the next few years?

What are the important trends affecting employment, and how will they affect your prospects?

What qualifications do they require for the job that you are seeking?
What are the working conditions? — eg. hours, vacations, union, etc.
What sort of wages or benefits might you expect?
Is the work stable and secure or rather precarious?

You must include such interviews in your bibliography (list of sources).
You can cite them as follows: (here is an example)

4. Personal interview with Daniel Johnson, Supervisor of Staff Training, National Institute of Mental Health, Oxford, Ontario, February 23, 2015.?

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