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Career Exploration Research Assignment
(100 points)
This assignment will be a summary of your career research to date. It will consolidate your findings from CLII, MAPP, and your career research. It is one step in your career search process. Together with your informational interviews and information you gather through readings, class exercises and guest speakers, it should either help you to decide which internship experiences to pursue and, ultimately, what type of career is best for you or reaffirm the choices you have already made.
Assignment Specifics
- Using data gathered from your Career Liftoff Interest Inventory (CLII) and Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP), pick three jobs that are interesting to you. Since this is an opportunity to explore, investigate one career you have not thought about pursuing in the past.
NOTE: This assignment is to benefit you. If you know for example that you want to be a lawyer, investigate two types of law and then one other field that might have come up on your assessment that sounds interesting. Additionally, if you know you want to work for a non-profit and the jobs Marketing Representative and Fundraiser came up on your assessments, investigate those fields as they would pertain to a non-profit and then pick one other job that might not be in a non-profit setting.
- Thoroughly research these jobs using the information provided from several sources:
A general occupation site -
· The on-line Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://stats.bls.gov) Click on Occupational Outlook Handbook and then the A-Z index.
· The Occupational Information Network/O*NET (http://online.onetcenter.org) Click on find occupations and then use the Occupation Quick Search function.
· CareerOneStop (http://www.careerinfonet.org) Click on Occupation Information and then Occupation Profile. You will notice that much of the information on this site comes from O*NET but there are videos to watch and additional information by state.
An industry specific site
· For example if you are interested in counseling, look at www.counseling.org.
Document your sources using either APA or MLA style and prepare a bibliography page using a minimum of 3 industry specific sites (1 per job outlined) and a minimum of 3 additional occupational sites (see list above) for a total of at least 6 sources.
- Type a summary of your research and include the following data for each job: (see back)
· Summary of the job (3-5 sentences that explains the nature of the job)
· Required training and education
· Working conditions
· Job outlook
· Earnings
· What did you learn about this job? Or, what surprised you?
· How is this (or is it not) a fit with your interests?
· How does this career fit and not fit with your values?
· How does this career fit and not fit with your skills?
· What specific next steps will you take to continue to explore this career further?
Spring 08
Career Exploration Research Assignment (Sample)
Job: Public Accountant
Summary:
A public accountant typically passes an exam to become a state-licensed certified public accountant, or CPA. Public accountants work at independent public accounting firms. General duties include filing a client's taxes, and auditing a client's financial information. Accountants can balance the books, track expenses and revenue, execute payroll, and pay the bills. They also compile all of the financial data needed to issue a company's financial statements in accordance with government regulations.
Education:
The majority of accounting jobs require a bachelor’s degree from a 4-year university. Within the next few years, 48 states will require 150 hours of university education—30 hours more than for a regular 4-year degree—before you can take the CPA examination. Accountants who go on to get their Master’s degree may get a Master’s of Accounting (MA) or a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in either finance or accounting. The next step for many accountants is getting licensed. To become a CPA, many states require you to work for about a year before you can take the exam.
Working Conditions:
Accountants may work individually, in partnership with other CPA’s, in an in house corporate setting, or for one of the big four firms. Hours for Accountants average 50 per week.
Job Outlook:
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in North Carolina the need for public accountants is expected to rise by 23% from 2002-2012. This is one percent better than the national average. However, FOCUS reported that the growth in NC would only be 16%.
Earnings:
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median compensation for accountants of all kinds is about $47,000, and 80 percent of accountants earn between $30,320 and $82,730. Entry-level employees in the Big Four generally earn in the mid $30,000s to low $40,000s. In North Carolina, the lowest 10% of accountants earned $31,900 annually.
What I Learned:
Many accountants work for large professional service firms (The Big Four) which in addition to accounting offer services such as management and IT consulting, financial advisory services, and even legal advice. The job is changing from being mostly auditing type functions to a job that is more of an advisory role. I also learned that there are multiple career options in this field with new specialties emerging.
Interests:
I enjoy working with numbers and data, but I don’t enjoy following set procedures and routines. I am also very interested in sports so working as an accountant for a sports organization might be interesting. My Career Liftoff Results indicated an interest in conventional areas which would be a match with this career.
Values:
I value achievement and high salary, both of which would be welcomed in this environment. I also value leisure time and working an average of 50 hours per week would go against this value. I need to find out if there are some accounting areas that have a more consistent schedule with less hours.
Skills:
This job requires attention to detail, and analyzing data which are my strengths. One skill I would need to improve would be establishing and maintaining personal relationships. From the research I discovered that more accountants are taking an advising role so this may be more important than I originally thought.
Next Steps:
I would like to do one of my informational interviews with an Accountant to learn more about this profession. I also would like to contact someone with the Charlotte, NC chapter of Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) to see if I could attend one of their networking events or a professional development. |
