How to Look for a Career

This paper is an important one because looking up what I’m going to school for has given me second thoughts about getting my Masters. I don’t know what I’m going to do with my future but at least now I know where to look.

Gathering Information

Ohio is a fictional client, but his case is based on common qualities of clients who have suffered homelessness and related problems.

Ohio came to my office for observation as a standard operating procedure before his induction into the program. As the client had trouble sleeping in became clear that he needed to be engaged on a topic that made him comfortable to place him at a lull and permit him to node off. In that vein I told him to think of his coming to my shelter as a flat tire on the road to the rest of his life, and that he should think about what to do to get moving again.

Ohio stated that he might like to work as a janitor because when he was in high school he knew a janitor named Rob who he had a positive relationship with. As I know a paid job training program for this exists I expressed that Ohio would benefit from the honest work and that we could likely help him to this occupation.

I accessed the Bureau of Labor Statistics for him (http://www.bls.gov/oco) and noted that he would be able to start this job without further training. Here I noted that the low end workers in this area had seen the largest projected then year job growth of twelve percent and that the other areas had a projection of around five.

I also noted that he would likely start at the California minimum wage  but that he could find better employment with more experience making as much as twelve dollars an hour at a government site or around a dollar less than that at a hospital or college. I likewise informed him that management in these jobs paid well and if he planned to stay in that line of work management should be his goal.

www.acinet.org confirmed notation of pay scale from the .gov but added that often workers may start with only a few days a week, would work at night, and that moving on to a higher paying union job will often depend on experience.

This, I explained to him, should present no worry as so long as he lived in the shelter he had free food, clothing, and rent so part time work would be fine. They would help him find a better job even if he had one and would keep working with him for some time.

From http://www.onetonline.org/ I read off the physical requirements of the job to him.

Trunk Strength — The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing.

Extent Flexibility — The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Manual Dexterity — The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.

Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Static Strength — The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.

Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

We then agreed that he would talk to the employment department in the morning and he quickly drifted off to sleep.

References

O*Net Online (2012). Occupation Search. Social. Conventional. Enterprising. http://www.onetonline.org.

CareerInfoNet Online (2012). Occupation Search. http://www.acinet.org.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (2010-11 Edition). Occupation Search. http://www. bls.gov/oco.