The purpose of this report is to elaborate the factors which are considered by individuals before selecting an occupation. Choosing an occupation is indeed a major decision of everyone’s life and it does give a shape to where he would be heading in the course if time. The report begins with a list of various occupations which have been going since the human civilization started though it has indeed changed its form to a large extent. Amongst all the occupations mentioned, six are chosen which are quite different from each other and are quite prevalent in the society. After those different evaluation criteria which are used by the individual before selecting a job is made, and from all the possible factors, some important ones like income, job security, interest, skills, social status, risk and comfort are considered to be important. A decision matrix is prepared and three respondents are asked to give their ranking to the different criteria of evaluation. The findings of the matrix are discussed after that. The last part of the report explains how the factors like demographics and personality affect the decision making process when selecting a job. Interesting findings are shown throughout the report evidencing how different individuals are different from each other when it comes to making decisions about themselves. The report ends with a conclusion of the main findings in the report where in personality is given an important position as that is what affects how decisions are made about selection of an occupation.
In the present era of globalisation, there is a vast amount of choice available for people to choose from and analysing what their skills and interests are plays an important role in selecting a career which they want to pursue. The youth can choose from a wide variety such as accounting, agricultural, finance, construction, creative, education, healthcare, medical science, IT, telecommunications, management, manufacturing, professional, repair and maintenance, sales and marketing, service related, technical, transport etc (Tieger, Paul D.; Barbara Barron-Tieger 1999).
The list of six different occupations amongst many is as follows:
Flight Attendants
Truck Drivers and Deliver Workers
Lawyers
Market Researchers
Actors
Police Officer
There are many factors which an individual thinks before deciding what career he wants to pursue. This obviously depends on persons and what his thought are and what kind of perceptions he holds towards life. Some individuals also think that they would not be able to handle instructions from other people and thus they take the option of being a sole proprietor and start up their own business. It also depends to an extent on how he has been brought up in his family and what has been the family scenario. The individual gives a thought on many factors before deciding a specific career which includes interests, natural skills and abilities, introversion and extroversion, goals and rewards, work attitudes, training and education, availability of jobs, priorities, growth opportunities, accessibility, level of comfort, prestige and respect offered, ease in changing to a different career or shifting of career, passion for the role selected, compassion, peer pressure and approval from home and parents, income, job security, ability to travel, ability to relocate, working hours, facilities available, variety, challenge or risk associated with the job, social status etc. Amongst this, the following are put in the matrix which is considered to be important for the selection of career by an individual.
The scale used in this decision matrix is based on the following scale: 1-5 where one indicates least important and five indicates very important. The decision matrix was filled by asking 3 respondents which included me as well. After a careful analysis of this decision matrix, the following points can be highlighted.
It was interesting to note that Actors enjoyed a very positive response from all the three respondents as they felt that fame came along with it. Thus respondents had a feeling that they would enjoy a social status which cannot be met by any other occupation. Further probing of the three respondents revealed that they were not too keen to become actors as they grew up and became more mature. They had this fascination when they were young but the parents pressurized them to keep their focus to studies and do not imitate what is being done by celebrities and on television (Pittenger, D. J. 2004).
Respondents also felt that the friends and family were gave high importance to occupations like lawyers and police officers as the family took pride if some of their relatives were in these profession then they were considered very educated and took part in the important decision making in the family (McCrae, R. R., Terracciano, A., Costa, P. T., & Ozer, D. J. 2006).
The most likely occupation in which the respondents are likely to engage in based on the matrix is Lawyer as the same has given a maximum score of importance and satisfaction for the respondent. However, that is not the case with all the three respondents as none of them is a lawyer by profession in actual. The various reasons given by them were different. One of the respondents said that he could not study further after school due to financial constraints and that led him to work as a music DJ in parties and the primary reason amongst many was income as that would deliver immediate cash on hand after every party and that was required by the family at that moment. The second reason was though it was a good profession to be associated with but involve giving lot of costs in the form of time and effort (Asendorpf, J. B. 2003).
There has been a trend of getting into the corporate world after completing professional degrees like MBA, BBA amongst the youth all over the world. Due to the ever increasing globalisation, students from all over the places go abroad for completing their higher education in lieu of getting a job in the country they go for higher studies. Mostly students from less developed countries go to study to developed countries with an
intention of settling and migrating their permanently. In this particular case, where three respondents are probed and rank on different evaluation criteria, their behavior suggests that it is a matter of pride to have more than one offer when they are searching an opportunity so that they can evaluate their options and select the best option available (Keirsey, David 1998). They are certainly overwhelmed if they more than two options to search from and more if the opportunities are closely matched with each other. Again, it is not about having many offers; it is certainly about getting the best job which is right in every sense for them. People have a perception that they would start working in an organisation for initial experience and then would switch over the job after they have enough experience in that line so that avail the benefits of a better job. The organisation view this frame of mind of the young generation negatively as they think that they have invested considerably over a long period of time in the individual and the retu
s of the same should be enjoyed by the organisation for their welfare. It has been seen that job seekers feel that no job or occupation is perfect for them as if they do get into something which they enjoy then it is generally not supported by good wages or compensation and if it has the support of a good compensation or salary package then it would either require a high set of skill set or education and sometimes a requirement of experience so that the organisation hiring gets the perfect match for their maximum welfare (Bess, T.L. & Harvey, R.J. 2001).
The beauty of this society we live in that everything is interconnected to each other and the services of one are required by others. To further explain this point, the following example can be used- if someone has access to funds and wants to fulfill the needs of the general public by opening a institution for films, then he can open up the institute but would need to hire professional actors as he would not be able to do all the things on his own. He would then hire a few actors and following that he would sell the services to the general public for whom ultimately this has been done. He would ask for a price from his customers for their entertainment and would then give out the wages to his employees. Thus, the society is interconnected that someone has the talent to make others laugh or stimulate their emotions. Someone has access to funds so that it opens an institution like this one. Thus, an individual should seek to choose the job wherein he would give his maximum output or efficiency so that he becomes a great asset not only for himself but also for the society as a whole (Be
stein, Penner, Clarke-Stewart, & Roy 2008).
The behavior of the respondents can be explained using the following attributes:
Age: Age plays an important in selection of a career as a person is expected to make rational decisions as he gets older and not get carried away or influenced by his or her peers. Sometimes, in a young age the family decides for the person as to what career or occupation he has to select
Gender: Females are expected to get into an occupation where in less amount of physical effort is required and it is not the case with the male category as they do get thrilled by exciting and adventurous jobs as well.
Family situation: This is one of the most important factor amongst everything as a person is expected to get emotional when it comes to his family and when he sees that the family is under pressure, then he would make decisions which would leave apart his own interests and would look for opportunities where in the family gets the support financially (Fu
ham, A., & Crump, J. 2005).
Income: Income is what people are working for in their everyday. Even the basic necessity of life is bought by the virtue of money or income. People are in constant pursuit of a healthy and a rich standard of living for which they need a steady income and thus it heavily affects their respective decision of selecting a job where in they get eluded by an offering which promises them of making their dreams come true in life (Pittenger, D. J. 2004).
Ethnicity: Many recruiters are seen asking during their selection cycle or during an interview about their ethnicity, their religion, caste and origin as these factors do tend to affect the attitude and belief of the individual. It has been seen that the origin and the conditions have been brought right from his childhood has a great impact on what kind of occupation he selects for the times to come.
Personality refers to psychological classification of different types of individuals. They are different from personality traits of an individual as a personality trait embodies a smaller grouping of behavioral tendencies. People are introverts or extroverts and thus they choose to go into different types of occupation as an extrovert is more likely to be engaged in activities of public speaking and meeting people, meeting potential clients is a very important attribute of making and winning business in today’s generation. Being able to handle and encourage healthy conversation is yet another personality trait that the employers are looking for are which certainly affects the decision making process of the individual when carefully selecting amongst many options available for different occupations (Zeisset, Carolyn 2006).
Conclusion
Every day in our life we see people of different age groups, different shape and size, wearing different clothes and doing different jobs. This certainly adds a lot to the beauty of the world we are living in. The difference in the appearance is not the only factor, they have differences in their personalities and they way they make decisions in their lives and also how they make certain decision in their life. Many a times it is seen that people are seen complaining about their current occupation and expresses their desire to change it very soon as and when they would get a chance. Personality traits are no doubt temporary sometimes and people do become impulsive when they see an immediate opportunity in front of them and tend to make immediate and short term resolutions to their problems. Overall, this report has indicated why people choose to get into different occupations even though some of them are high paying and more secure, it all gets down to what the circumstances and the mental frame of the person is at that moment of time when he happens to take the decision. It also highly depends on what are the interest and skills of the individual is regarding the occupation he seeks to get into.
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