Senders Name
Dear Name:
My purpose of writing this letter is to offer information that will help provide career guidance to students. The information in this report is based on the following website: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/legal/home.htm of the United States Department of Labor (USDL). The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published online by the USDL offers career guidance on hundreds of occupations ("Legal Occupations: Occupational Outlook Handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics"). It is an excellent source of information on duties, education, salary, outlook and training provided for different occupations. The book has information on 25 major occupational groups, each of which in turn is has categorized into specific sub-occupations. You name a job and you are sure to find advice on it, in the e-book. The online publication is easy to navigate and it has scroll bars and tabs that will take you to different sources of information. It also offers career outlook for featured jobs on a daily basis. The website would be a good platform for students to research and decide on their career choices.
Making a career decision is extremely important. Many don’t understand its significance until they have gone too far that turning back and choosing another career would be hard. Choosing the right career will save time and energy that could be lost in pursuing the wrong job. Very often, students lack the perspective about the occupation and the working conditions, before deciding on the choices (Koen and Lee). What looks fancier from the outside, need not necessarily be the same from inside. While certain career choices may fetch you quick job and money, others may require constant perseverance and hard work to get a payback. Knowing the difficulty, of course work and the aptitude of the student’s towards these subjects, will help determine their success in completing the course and excelling in the job. Personal assessment should be the first step in making a career decision, as it will prevent making inappropriate choices.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook, can also offer guidance on the type of degree or education required for each occupation. It will provide information on how much money one can earn by choosing a particular career. For students who find it challenging to go to a university and opt for a professional degree, there are a number of lucrative careers that could be obtained with a community college degree. The main aim of the handbook published by the USDL is to reduce unemployment. Unemployment occurs when people looking for jobs cannot find a suitable job. Lack of suitable training and skills, disqualifies most job seekers. The chances of finding a job will increase, when the student chooses courses or job training that are in high demand. The handbook is a good source of information about jobs that are in high demand in the U.S.
As a general trend, those with a university degree tend to make more money than those who don’t have a university degree. Education counts when seeking occupation. Though people choose an occupation to earn a living, money is not always the deciding factor while making a career choice. A significant amount of our life is spent, working in the career we choose for our self. It decides both our short term and long term happiness. While basing our career decisions, it is not sufficient that we consider our short term benefits, but also give importance to long term benefits. Many people tend to ignore the long term benefits of choosing a career and this may prove a mistake later.
Most satisfying careers are those that offer fun, opportunity to help others, less stressful and enjoyable. While salary is the short term benefit that people associate with a career, the long term benefit of choosing a career is related to job satisfaction and this is not always about salary. Money may help solve financial problems, but these are not the only challenges one faces in life. According to studies, beyond $75,000/year, the increase in money does not correlate with an increase in happiness (Easterlin 465-484). Nevertheless, choosing a career based on salary, offers several advantages. Making more money will result in lesser financial stress and will help to plan earlyretirement for the pursuits of once hobby. However, choosing a career based on money is positively correlated with stress and relationship problems. People earning more money tend to spend more time on job and spend more money. It is important that the career one chooses is less stressful, as stress is linked to a number of health problems and also reduces life expectancy. Choosing a career based on enjoyment may be personally rewarding. However, low pay levels mean less purchase and long years to retirement.
The best age to consider career planning is 14-15years of age and not till you have turned 20. Before starting to explore the career options in Occupational Outlook Handbook, it would be a good practice to reflect on oneself and on once dreams. A person’s personality traits can be deciding factor while choosing a career. An introvert may find sales and marketing jobs that require extensive contact with people uncomfortable. Personal abilities and self-interest are very important while choosing a career. I hope that the information and suggestion offered in this report has provided a certain level of guidance on facts to consider before choosing a career path.
There are many wonderful career options, but many students have no idea about their existence. Through this letter, I am happy to introduce you to a platform that will expose you to the huge career options that are provided in Occupational Outlook Handbook. I hope that this platform available at the USDL website, will help the students make a successful career choice and avoid mistakes in their decision.
I hope this report was satisfactory in providing introductory information on the subject,
Looking forward for your feedback,
Sincerely yours,
Work Cited
Easterlin, Richard A. "Income and Happiness: Towards A Unified Theory". Economic Journal 111.473 (2001): 465-484. Web. 28 July 2016.
Koen, Deb and Tony Lee. Career Choice, Change & Challenge. Indianapolis, IN: JIST Works, 2000. Print.
"Legal Occupations: Occupational Outlook Handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". Bls.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 28 July 2016.
