Is A Career In The Professions For You? (1973)

are you what do you know what work you want to do if not start finding out now what the possibilities are for you in the world of work at some time you have probably seen yourself in one or more of the many professional occupations if you feel you would like very much to work directly with people caring for their health or ministering to their spiritual needs encouraging their intellectual and emotional development defending their rights or helping to solve their social and other important problems or if you're turned on by the sciences or mathematics or Business Administration or if you have a drive to design to build to entertain and or more inspiring if you have any such intense interest then a career in the professions may be for you most of the professions are occupations such as practicing medicine or the law in which you must have a thorough understanding of a specialized body of knowledge and how to use it for entry into professions of this kind you must have a college education and often an advanced degree requiring from one to as many as five more years of formal study in a much smaller group of professional occupations such as dancing creative writing and playing in a professional sport you must have well-developed talents and skills but no matter what profession may be your goal the preparation for it will demand dedication a willingness and determination to make a continuous and self-discipline effort over a period of years more than eleven million persons roughly 1/8 of the workforce are engaged in the many professions in the United States four of every ten are women professional workers up 50% in the last decade have been increasing faster than any other occupational group continuing rapid growth is expected generally with moderate or little or no growth in a few individual professions such as teaching in the elementary and secondary schools it is possible for professional workers to earn large incomes not all but many generally professional people are highly respected and they have the satisfaction of knowing that their work is important to society if you have a strong desire to help people get well and stay well you'll want to know about the professional occupations in the health services the largest is nursing more than 700,000 registered nurses observe and record the progress of patients administer medication and treatment under a physician's direction and perform many other duties physicians diagnose diseases treat the sick and injured and seek to prevent illness one-fifth of almost 300,000 physicians providing patient care are general practitioners the others specialize in some 30 different medical fields these are a few also on the health services team are men and women and many other challenging professional occupations professionals in the health services are also found in the Armed Forces serving throughout the United States and the world working with people as a clergyman you'd serve the spiritual needs of the congregation and counsel and help the members and community in many ways or you might teach Ana seminary the a missionary or a chaplain in the armed forces bringing faith and comfort to our service personnel wherever they may be teaching is the largest profession having more than two and a half million men and women working directly with more than 60 million students many teachers are also members of other professions such as Home Economics or medicine or the sciences kindergarten teachers provide experience in play artwork and stories they introduce science numbers and language and encourage curiosity in the elementary schools teachers teach several subjects and usually work with one group all day in junior and senior high school teachers usually specialize in a single subject and teach a number of classes each day instructors and assistant associate and full professors deliver lectures and lead class discussions in the country's 2,600 colleges and universities they direct graduate students in teaching freshman courses counsel students and grade assignments many also engage in research aid in college administration write for publication or serve as consultants to industry government or community agencies instructors also teach the many courses available in the Armed Forces service academies librarians provide an important service in making information available in many forms in school and college libraries in public libraries and special private company libraries if you are concerned with the rights of people you have probably thought about the law most lawyers go into general practice helping people with all kinds of legal problems many others specialize in one branch of law social workers from public private and armed forces agencies help individuals families and larger groups to solve the many problems that affect their well-being social workers help people to understand their problems and to obtain needed services including financial assistance aid for troubled youth working mothers the ill the disabled in the aging and they conduct activities in institutions for the young and older persons school counselors help young people primarily in the secondary schools to plan and achieve their educational and career goals rehabilitation counselors work to make the physically mentally and socially handicapped able to earn their living and care for themselves employment counselors serve all kinds of people helping them to choose a just right career area and to plan the necessary preparation for it also psychologists whose function is to understand people and explain their actions helped many with problems to make satisfactory adjustments what really absorbs your interest maybe the social sciences they are concerned with all aspects of human society most social scientists teach in the colleges and universities economists study the production distribution and consumption of goods and services and develop data and theories that often influence government and industry planning political scientists study the theories objectives and organizations of all types of government historians describe and interpret the people and events of the past and anthropologists examined civilizations of the past to help understand our society today sociologists analyze the behavior and relationships of groups to the individual or to society geographers are concerned with the distribution of people throughout the world with types of land and water masses and natural resources from the research of those in the physical sciences have come whole new industries plastics nuclear energy they include chemists who search for new knowledge about substances physicists who analyze forms of energy in the structure of matter and astronomers who study the structure extent and evolution of the universe two environmental scientists the earth is their laboratory the Earth's land and water its interior atmosphere an environment in space they have an important role in solving the problems of a polluted environment most geo physicists are employed by industry to explore for petroleum natural gas and mineral resources and then there are the life sciences basically botany the study of plant life zoology which is concerned with animals and microbiology the study of microorganisms such as bacteria there are professional workers in many specialized occupations in each of the three basic areas and in others that cut across areas those in other professions preserve our natural resources such as foresters to develop and protect the forests that cover one-third of the country and Range managers who do the same for a billion acres of Range lands as mathematics grab you mathematicians today are engaged in expanding activities ranging from the translation of scientific and managerial problems into mathematical terms to studies of the effect of new drugs on disease closely-related statisticians make their contribution to society by drawing a portrait of the world and its inhabitants in numerical terms also allied with a mathematician the actuary designs insurance and pension plans and maintains them on a sound financial basis there are many professional occupations in the business world advertising workers are needed to plan and prepare the ads and commercials companies use to sell their products and services marketing research people gather and interpret information upon which businesses decide what products and services to offer in what markets in another area public relations workers encourage good corporate performance in their company and tell the public about it reporters and technical writers are among other professional workers on the business scene systems analysts develop data processing systems for solving accounting inventory and other problems computer programmers prepare detailed instructions telling the computer exactly what to do accountant sub professional workers so our personnel workers industrial designers and interior designers do you have a desire to design to build the structures or machines of the future each of these started as a sketch on some architects drawing board architects may work with other professionals such as urban planners landscape architects and engineers on major projects like the designing of an entire town engineers contribute in countless ways to the welfare progress and defense of the country they also serve in all departments of the armed because a great body of basic knowledge is common to most of the many engineering specialties it is possible to switch from one field of specialization to another possibly you have an overwhelming urge to entertain you would have to have that and endlessly polished talent and a driving determination to to make a go at in the performing arts all the professional occupations in the performing arts are overcrowded for many people it's difficult to even make a living more than 35,000 athletes are engaged in some form of professional competition the competition for jobs is keen while salaries of some are high they are made during only a portion of the athletes working life now you may have seen one or more professions you would really like to get into but before you make up your mind learn about the many other career areas including those that don't need a college education seek occupational information on your own talk with your school counselor with teachers who subjects interest you most with your parents and the people at your local state employment service office they can tell you about local earnings and job conditions visit your local Armed Forces recruiter and find out all the opportunities and training available to young men and women then with knowledge of the many alternatives choose the career area that suits you best and start putting together your credentials for fulfilling future in the world of work but you know and yeah what you gonna do and you're happy like me what will you really do