What Are You Going To Be?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 205, 29 August 1936, Page 1 (Supplement)

What Are You Going To Be?

WE must remember that a large portion of our waking hours is spent at our work, and it is surely only common sense to say that it is most important to do our utmost at the outset to ensure that we shall be happy and successful in this. An advertisement for a boy may catch your eye, or a neighbouring grocer may offer to engage you, or Bill Smith, your old school friend, may be working in a motor garage and seems to like it very much; but such things are not enough— not nearly enough—to decide your career. There are two important studies that you must make first, a study of yourself and a study of occupations, and the one must not be linked up with the other until you feel sure that they are well matched.

Last week I discussed the study of yourself; this week I wish to discuss the way to study occupations. Before passing on to the new topic, however, I must answer a question which I am often asked: "How am I to know whether I should go for my matric. or not?" One thing that will help you very considerably to decide r t n i . t t i this is to arrange through your 1 teacher, or through the Psychologi- J cal Department at the University, to J undergo what is known as an intelli- ! gence test. Long experience in many ♦ countries has shown that the results J of such a test are a most reliable 4 guide as to your ability for passing ♦ higher examinations, and many large I post-primary schools nowadays use I such a test to select the pupils who T should aim at this examination. But \ don't forget this also; you may not ♦ be very good at general subjects and I yet prove to be an excellent skilled I worker, and this kind of intelligence 4 is as valuable as the other. It is a r great mistake to imagine that, I because you have not done well at J primary school, or in a general J course, therefore it is a waste \„ . of time for you to worry any more about school.

There are several different courses from which you will surely be able to choose one that will interest you—building trades, engineering, agriculture, commercial and art for boys, and home science, commercial and art for girls to mention some of them. They do not differ very much from each other in the first year, so it is not a serious matter if you find you should transfer one to another at first. Your teachers, or any specialist in vocational guidance, will help you in your choice if you are in difficulties; but because your training after your first year will begin to have an important bearing on your actual choice of career, it is important to get settled down as soon as possible. Your progress among the different subjects will probably soon give you a clue as to your strong and weak points. v In your study of occupations you may be able to persuade your teacher to allow you to undertake this as a class project—to regard it as a valuable section of your civics, or an excellent set of topics for essays. Such 'Occupational Studies" are'quite common in other countries, but do not yet form a part of the work done in most of our New Zealand schools. But, whether you undertake such studies individually, or through your school, it is important for you to realise that there is' a great deal that you ought to know about various types of occupations before you try and decide which one you will seek to enter. Make out a list first of all of the different jobs which you would like to enter, and then from the Department of Labour, or the Year Book, or some similar source, obtain a list of the many different occupations open to you. You will probably get a big surprise when you see so many that you have never thought of before. The furriers' trade, tailoring, and certain branches of cabinetmaking are examples of trades that are very short of apprentices to-day. Now take in order of preference the occupations you are keen to study, and set about this in the way I am now going to describe, taking care to

A STUDY IN OCCUPATIONS.

There are few decisions that you have to make in life that are as important as choosing your career, and yet n is amazing in what a casual and haphazard way many boys and girls enter upon their first job. I have questioned many hundreds of boys as they are finishing their school course and it is quite unusual to find one whose plans are clear-cut, and still more unusual to find one who has chosen thoughtfully and wisely. The rest either spend the first year or so of their working life trying first one thing and then another, or else settle down into some occupation for which they are not very well suited, and in which they are not very happy, just because they don't know what else to do about it. —G. M. KEYSj M.A., Dip. Ed. s Dip. Soo. Sc., Ohristchurch.

record in writing, under appropriate headings, all the information you are able to obtain. First and foremost, find out the nature of the daily tasks. The big majority of boys whom I have questioned, who wish (just to take one example) to enter electrical engineering, are very ignorant of what kind of work they really will have to do from day to day. It wouldn't be very difficult for them to find out, but they don't bother to do this until they get their first job of this kind, and then after a little while realise that it is quite different from their imagined tasks, and so they begin to look for something else. You wouldn't think much of a doctor who operated on a person just on the off chance of finding the cause of some trouble, if he hadn't examined the symptoms and details of case with great care beforehand, would you? You may read a thrilling detective story, or hear of the splendid achievements of some pioneer of the air, or take a fancy to a special type of uniform, or gaze in admiration at a great express thundering by; but it would be very unwise of you to decide there and then to be a detective., or a pilot, or an army officer, or a locomotive engineer. You must make a careful study of all the daily tasks, the everyday routine of the average man in such an occupation, paying particular attention to the stages and methods of promotion. Fasten your eyes first of all on the bottom rungs of the ladder, and decide if you are prepared to undergo all the necessary training, and perform constantly the normal daily tasks, and enjoy doing them, before you think too much of the ■-» »11 «m 11 »t»t»t «it » t ultimate possibilities. t We shall suppose, then, that you [ have,'by a number of visits (perhaps [ arranged through your school, or the [ Y.M.C.A.) and careful inquiries, » learned much about tha actual work , you would have to do and the stages > of promotion; and that you are stil! | convinced you would like such work. , Now you must study the standard ' of education, and perhaps the special | type of training which is required of applicants. Is it proficiency, or ' senior free place, or University entrance standard ? Are boys from a commercial, trades, or general course preferred? And at what age are such juniors generally engaged? Then, after one has started in such work, what further education and special training is desirable or compulsory; and where can one obtain such training, and alt what expense? Not every boy-who is capable of being a successful doctor, or professional engineer, or research chemist, is able to undertake the lengthy and expensive course of training involved. But there may be scholarships or special allowances in certain cases; it would be well to find out about these. Next you must go carefully into the matter of special abilities required, perhaps in different branches of this occupation. Is mechanical dexterity essential, and, if so, is this of a very fine type involving flexible, careful, nimble fingers and perhaps great patience and care for detail (as, for example, in watchmaking) ; or is it of a broader, "large scale" type, as in fitting and turning in a general engineer's shop? Does one need a special aptitude for figures, or an artistic bent, or physical strength above the average; or a pleasant, courteous, confident manner of addressing people ? And under this heading you must consider, too, whether the training that you receive in such a job is very specialised, and if this is so, whether this specialisation is such that you will always be reasonably sure of employment once you have achieved the skill; or whether it is such that should you lose your job you would have great difficulty in obtaining another of a similar nature because of the rarity of such work. There is a danger of too great a degree of specialisation in this country. This relation of the job which interests you to the other main types of work in your district, and in the Dominion, is an important part of your study. Get figures to show the number of workers so engaged, and find out if this number is tending to increase or decrease. 'Try and find out, in addition, the extent of the waiting lists of juniors keen to get into certain classes of work. It would be unwise to concentrate all your efforts and training upon the chance of joining some branch of aviation, for instance, no matter how keen you are, for you must realise that there will be hundreds of applicants for every vacaucy that will occur. You must have a second string to your 'bow.