UNIT 4: CAREERS

UNIT 4: CAREERS

1. Characteristics and skills 

    1. What characteristics and skills do the people in the left hand column below need to be successful in their jobs?

patient creative computer literate brave physically fit

persuasive multi-lingual being a team player good with figures well-organized

authoritative working well under pressure good communicator having an eye for detail… good with money/number

	Characteristics needed to be successful	Skills needed to be successful
Secretary to company director	Well –organized,	computer literate,
Primary school teacher
Salesman
Company director
Firefighter

    2. What jobs would you like to do in the future?
    3. What are the characteristics and the skills that you will need to be successful in that job?

2. Discuss these questions 

Would you rather ...

    1. work alone or with other people?
    2. have flexible
hours or the same schedule everyday?
    3. have a boss or be a boss?
    4. travel a lot or stay close to home?

What would be the pros and cons of working for the following types of company?

• a multinational company
• a national company
• a local company
• your own company

You can consider the following potential work features:

• lots of responsibility
• the potential for international travel
• a friendly working environment
• a need for English language skills
• long holidays
• the opportunity for quick promotion
• a comfortable working environment
• a share in the company profit
• a company car
• perks such as childcare facilities, medical insurance, etc.
• a company pension

     Look at the following statements. Which ones are true about your country? Change the others so that they are also true about your country.

a. Work is becoming more stressful and pressurized.
b. More and more people are working from home, using computers to do their work and to communicate with the office (telecommuting).
c. Increasing number of women are going out to work.
d. People are working long hours but are not being paid more.
e. Manufacturing industries are employing fewer people because they are becoming automated.
f. When a person joins a firm after leaving high school or university, he expects to stay with that firm until he retires.

1. Being an international correspondent sounds like a cool job. Which of the following “perks” of the job sound most appealing or attractive to you? 

a. You get to travel around the world.
b. Your friends and family see you on TV.
c. You get to see amazing things happening.
d. You meet world leaders.
e. You have the opportunity to change people’s lives with your reports.
f. The money must be good.
g. Telling people you’re an international
correspondent sounds cool.
h. You can tell the world the truth about tyrants and dictators.
i. You see history in the making.
j. You get a BBC / CNN… T-shirt.

2. Read the following text about war correspondents and discuss why they do their job. 

    You’re near the front line of a battle. Around you shells are exploding. People are shooting from a house behind you. What are you doing there? You aren’t a soldier. You aren’t even carrying a gun. You are standing in front of a camera and you’re telling the TV viewers what is happening.

    It’s all in a day’s work for a war correspondent, and it can be very dangerous. In the first two years of the conflict in former Yugoslavia, 28 reporters and photographers were killed. Hundreds more were injured, including the BBC’s Martin Bell. What kind of people put themselves in danger to bring pictures to our TV screens and stories to our newspapers? Why do they do it?

    ‘I don’t know whether we’re macho or masochists,’ says ITN’s Michael Nicholson. ‘I think it’s very young reporter’s dream to be a foreign correspondent- that’s where you find the excitement. So when the first opportunity comes, you take it even if it is a war.’ Jeremy Bowen from the BBC agrees. ‘I don’t think we like the danger, but it gives you a certain thrill. After a while other stories become a bit dull.’

    Although they work for different organizations, war reporters help each other. ‘As a war reporter, says Michael Nicholson, ‘you become a member of a very exclusive club and you depend on each other.’ One of the most respected members of that club is Sandy Gall. He’s reported on several conflicts including the Suez Crisis of 1956, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Gulf War. Sandy says, ‘We’re all a bit mad, if not when we start, then certainly by the end.’

    They all think that their job is important. ‘I don’t like the danger at all,’ says Penny Marshal, ‘but it’s the only way to get an honest report. We aren’t brave, because you don’t really think about the danger when you’re in it, but you have to be calm.’ For Kate Adie the danger isn’t the important thing. She describes her job as a privilege. ‘You’re seeing history in the making,’ she says.

    But there are moments of terror. Jeremy Bowen again: ‘Yes, when you’re lying on the ground and bullets are flying past your ears, you think: "What the hell am I doing here? I’m not going to do this again.” But that feeling goes after a while and when the next war starts, you’ll be there.’

     ‘None of us believes that we’re going to die,’ adds Michael Nicholson. But he always carries a lucky charm with him. It was given to him by his wife for his first war. It’s a card which says, ‘Take care of yourself.’ Does he ever think about dying? ‘Oh, many times, and every time it happens you look to the sky and say to God, “If you get me out of this, I promise I’ll never do it again”. You can almost hear God laughing, because you know He doesn’t believe you.’

1. What do most people consider as important when deciding on a job or a career?
2. In modern life a lot of people work too hard. What are the effects of this? How could the problems of overworking be avoided?
3. How has technology changed the way that people work? What further changes in the way people work do you think we will see in the future?