Career choice

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The choice of occupation is the decision to take up or change the occupation practiced or to take up vocational training .

It is an interactive learning and decision-making phase that is subject to certain social conditions and influences and is usually repetitive, the respective result of which contributes to people exercising different professional activities.

history

The civil society of the Middle Ages was foreign to the idea that a person could choose which profession he wanted to pursue. It was customary to continue the family tradition. So the son of a peasant farmer, the son was a baker bakers, etc. In parts of society to think in categories of family tradition is still alive, especially where it is necessary to keep a company owned by the family, but also the nobility , most notably recognizable in constitutional monarchies of the present, in which it is certain that the person who has just been born is very likely to succeed the throne.

Even in the early modern period, visionary scholars developed ideas for a planned and optimizable career choice. The geographer and polymath Johann Gottfried Gregorii, alias MELISSANTES, recommended choosing the profession as early as 1715 after prior self-exploration. The consideration of inclination, aptitude and performance should be compared with the personal temperament according to the temperament theory of Galen .

The possibility (and necessity) of a career choice is a consequence of the freedom of occupation . Up until the 19th century, freedom of choice was restricted by a large number of legal restrictions and professional rules.

In the GDR , there were severe restrictions on the choice of career. There was a "process of supplying young workers" as part of the job management . The school had the task of reconciling the planned needs of the companies and the wishes of the young people. The conclusion of a training contract required the approval of the Labor Office. The implementation of one's own career choice was dependent on political reliability and social background.

Condition factors of choice of occupation

The choice of profession as a decision-making process depends on a large number of endogenous and exogenous factors .

Endogenous factors

The internal (endogenous) condition factors of career choice are those determinants which are based on the individual decision criteria for the selection of career choice alternatives. This includes physical requirements (gender, age), but also aptitude (academic performance), inclination in the sense of the interests of the individual and other endogenous factors such as responsibility and decision-making ability .

Exogenous factors

External (exogenous) factors in the choice of career are those social and economic framework conditions and criteria that are outside the sphere of influence of the young person. The choice of career depends on various areas of life such as family, school and peer groups , but also on the current labor and training market situation.

Five steps to choosing a career

The interplay of endogenous and exogenous conditioning factors forms certain ideas and expectations of the world of work in those choosing a career. A five-step model for career choice could look like this:

  • Self-awareness : What are my skills and interests?
  • Information about the professional world
  • Comparison of self-knowledge and the information gained
  • Limitation of the alternative choices: ranking of preferred occupations, internships
  • Career choice decision: narrowing down to the desired occupation, review of the training market situation.

Accompanying and supporting the process of individual career choice is one of the tasks of the school in its qualification and socialization function .

Preparation of career choices in schools

In addition to the parents and friends, the institution of school, as an exogenous condition factor, plays an important role in preparing for a career choice: schools take the first didactic steps to introduce young people into the world of work.

It is the task of the teachers to strengthen the students' individual abilities such as decision-making ability and personal responsibility and to impart skills that ensure employability. In particular, through the subject of work studies , the students should be brought closer to technical, economic and social basic skills and knowledge. This is done with the aim of enabling the students to make their first career and training decision. The secondary schools and secondary schools, in some cases also grammar schools, organize company internships for this purpose, giving the pupils an insight into professional and work activities that essentially serve to monitor career aspirations, but are also intended to offer insights into other professions (second internships).

Gender-specific career choice

Advice offers

To support the career choice, there are a variety of offers of career advice , training advice and study advice .

As a state institution that offers professional career counseling, the job counseling of the employment agency should be mentioned. The focus here is on a free personal consultation with a career advisor. In addition to a strengths / weaknesses analysis, personal development opportunities, self-information channels and information about the local training market are discussed here. Private companies organize consumer fairs on the subject of career choices or give valuable tips on the subject of career orientation in youth magazines . Career counselors give individual or group coaching in order to work out the strengths of each individual and thus be able to provide targeted support in choosing a course of study and career.

Criticism of the term

Sometimes the term career choice in the sense of a free, ultimately arbitrary choice is rated as inappropriate, since young people are more likely to be seekers who, ideally, would find the job that suits them. A large number of individual, institutional and socio-economic factors must be taken into account that determine the probability of finding. Those who hold this view assume that there is exactly one job for every person that suits them optimally.

Economic and social constraints to which the individual is subject speak against the idea that freedom of career choice (guaranteed in Germany by Art. 12 GG) is guaranteed in practice. Only professional guidance by the state is prohibited . Since labor is a commodity in a market economy, and in general not every supplier of a commodity can be guaranteed to achieve the desired results on the market, an enforceable “ right to work ” would be contrary to the system. There is no such right in Germany, nor is there a legal obligation for the state or the private sector to ensure that everyone who is interested can find a training or job in “their” profession. The more attractive the human capital tied to the individual worker appears to be, the greater the likelihood that its sponsor will achieve its desired goals (typical example: the numerus clausus ). Conversely, young people who have few qualifications must be satisfied with what the labor market has to offer. Anyone entering the training place market must de facto be able to adapt to the requirements of the market.

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Career choice  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ludger Busshoff: Career choice. Theories and their relevance to career guidance practice. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne / Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-17-010865-4 .
  2. ^ Melissantes: Curieuser Affecten-Spiegel ... Frankfurt / Leipzig 1715.
  3. ^ Law on the Unified Socialist Education System of February 25, 1965.
  4. ↑ A. Blasche et al.: Condition factors for choosing a career, teaching material on work, economics and social studies. 2nd Edition. Druck Verlag, Hannover 1985, ISBN 3-925658-09-2 .
  5. ↑ Manfred Tessaring (ed.): Training in social change. A report on the current state of VET research in Europe. Office for Official Publication of the Europ. Communities, Luxembourg 1999, ISBN 92-828-6149-X .
  6. ↑ Lothar Beinke: Career choice. Bock Verlag, Bad Honnef 1999, ISBN 3-87066-753-2 .