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Career Choice
Confused about a career? You're not alone. Few young people know what they want to do when they leave school. Three teenagers wrote in and told us how they made up their minds.
JIM
I recently completed an online careers questionnaire. According to the results, I'm not very good at science or maths (which is true, because I get terrible school reports!), But I'm imaginative and I love to create. I have lots of patience, but I'm also a bit of a perfectionist. Well, that's very accurate. My family is always complaining that I take too long to do things, but I want things to be just right. The website suggested quite a few careers. Some of them, like writer or architect, I don't really find interesting, but one suggestion was perfect: model maker. It had never occurred to me, but model makers work in all sort of places- TV and film, architect's offices and museums to name only a few. Making models, you see, is my hobby. In fact, these days I'm making a model of the Parthenoon with 3,000 matchsticks. Tomorrow I'm adding the last few details and it will be ready!
LIA
I've always been good at languages. I love French and German and I go to a language school two evenings a week, but this year I'm also having lessons at home to prepare for exams in the summer. I know that people who study languages often become teachers, but I don't want to teach. You have to be very patient to be a teacher, and I'm not really patient enough. My dad is a teacher and he comes home very tired every day. A translator is another job for people with language skills, but that doesn't appeal to me either. You have to work long hours on your own translating books. It sounds dull! I'm quite outgoing and I like to have company, so that wouldn't suit me. I spoke to our careers officer at school and she came up with a great idea: interpreter. Interpreters meet people and travel. My mum saysthat interpreters can earn a lot too. It sounds great! Anyway, I'd better stop. My French lesson starts at six.
NEIL
A few weeks ago, I was watching a programme about zoos and I realized that a zoo-keeper would be a good occupation for me. I don't get on with people very well, but I adore animals. I own five pets and I spend most of my free time with them. In fact, while I'm writing this on my computer, Dean, my pet hamster, is walking all over my desk and Spike, my cat, is keeping my feet warm! Anyway, I've known for ages that I wanted to work with animals. My mum is a vet, but that needs lots of study at university. I'm not very hard-working at school (my parents are always moaning about that!), so I don't think I'd get the grades you need to become a vet. Zoo-keepers, on the other hand, don't need to study so hard. You just need to love animals!
