Be willing to change and adapt

If you re-read the preceding steps in this list, you'll note an absence (refreshing, we hope) of emphasis upon goal-setting and a substitution instead, of words like "values", "skills", "talents", and "preferences". It's not that goals aren't useful, but rather that they should emerge naturally from these other factors and, even though you may write them down and paste them on your mirror, they should not obscure the need to be willing to change and adapt to new conditions, your own growth, and developing opportunities. The distinction here is between "direction" and "plan". An ant has a direction, but not a plan. The ant knows where it wants to go and is willing to turn around, back up, and change course in order to get there. But the ant hasn't written it down, posted it on a bulletin board, or gained concurrence from all the other ants. The ant just knows, with absolute certainty, the general direction in which it's heading and that it WILL get there. That's what modern day career direction is all about.

Task 3. True or False? Prove your choice with the lines from the text.

1. Nowadays the career choice is quite narrow and thus easy to make.	T/F
2. You’ll enjoy your work only if it matches your personal values.	T/F
3. One usually enjoys doing the activities he can do well.	T/F
4. Psychometric questionnaires can help you choose a career.	T/F
5. There’s no use trying different kinds of jobs before you make your final choice.	T/F
6. Volunteering for a job can test your career preferences.	T/F
7. You cannot learn much about a career unless you try it.	T/F
8. If you are a specialist, you risk becoming useless.	T/F
9. If you are new to the job market, you should look for a high initial salary.	T/F
10. Most employers are eager to invest in their employees.	T/F
11. Your ability to change and adapt is far more important than goal-setting.	T/F

Task 4. Choose one of the expressions below and complete the Vocabulary Word Map (see Appendix 2):

· tunnel vision

· generalist

· specialist

· to turn smb on

· to be apt to do smth

· the job market

· to scuttle smth

· work experience

· to spoon-feed

· goal-setting

Task 5. Find another way to express the same idea using your active vocabulary.

1. Deciding what profession you’d like to have for the biggest part of your life is crucial.

2. An American person usually changes his/her profession several times before he/she is retired.

3. A career is something that occupies every day of your life.

4. Try to find a career that will allow you to do what you like and what you can do well.

5. I disapprove of people who can be happy only if they have a lot of money.

6. Never base your career choice on the opinions and advice of people around you.

7. It’s wrong to think that you can do nothing about your future.

8. Money is far from being everything one needs to be happy.

Task 6. Having a closer look.

ü For Steps 1-3, recall related ideas from the previous texts.

ü For Step 4, answer the questions: Do you agree that it pays to volunteer and work without being paid? Would you ever volunteer to perform a job?

ü What type of worker mentioned in Step 5 is valued nowadays according to the author’s opinion? What could you personally do to become a generalist/specialist?

ü In your career search, will you follow the author’s advice given in Step 6? Why (not)?

ü Comment on the ideas in Steps 7 and 8.

ü Are you ready to invest time, energy and money into furthering your career, as suggested in Step 9? Or do you consider it useless?

ü In Step 10, what does the example with an ant reveal?

Task 7. Paraphrase the underlined vocabulary units in the text in the written form. Make up 5 fresh-context sentences with the word combinations you like most.

— SPEAKING

Task 8. Prepare a lecture “THE _______ TOP STEPS FOR CHOOSING A CAREER” to present in class. You are a career advisor delivering a lecture on choosing a career for high school students and their parents. As resources for this work use the texts you have read in this book, search the Internet, interview other people for dos and don’ts, share your personal experience. Remember to mention the resources before you start your presentation and use your active vocabulary.