CAREERS and INCOME

Finding the career that's right for you can be a daunting process, and you may feel like you are getting lost amongst it all. If you do happen to feel this way, keep in mind that you can always choose to change direction and follow a different career path later on in your life. It is not uncommon in this day and age for someone to have experienced more than one career. The most important thing to realise is that whatever career you do, it must be one that you enjoy doing!

1. Let's start by building up your background knowledge on the time periods and career terminology used in Consumer Arithmetic. Using the weblinks below, complete your worksheet on Consumer Arithmetic - Background Knowledge. You may find that you know some of the answers to the worksheet already!

     (a) Date and Time Conversions at http://www.asknumbers.com/DateTimeConversion.aspx

     (b) Career Terminology at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Xw70MKjMuZgC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=wage+salary+commission+overtime+bonus+loading+description+and+examples&source=bl&ots=RIa-n8PiKV&sig=mi1oZxVuk9mTdYw1eIdUsvz4GSE&hl=en&ei=9w7sSpSBFNTykAXY5t2IDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

2. Next we shall work on your mathematical conversion skills of calculating weekly, fortnightly, monthly and annual earnings from a range of income sources. Using the help of the weblinks below, complete your worksheet on Consumer Arithmetic - Income Calculations and Conversions.

     (a) E-How and related "How To" links at http://www.ehow.com/how_4742422_biweekly-hourly-pay-monthly-pay.html

     (b) OnlineConversion at http://www.onlineconversion.com/incomecalc.htm

     (c) Example Questions and Worked Solutions at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Xw70MKjMuZgC&pg=PA13&dq=consumer+arithmetic+earning+money++year+9+intermediate+mathematics#v=onepage&q=&f=false

3. Congratulations! You are now ready to investigate different careers, income and employment conditions using the weblinks below. Remember - you must investigate at least 10 different career paths in terms of their income and employment conditions. You must also be able to calculate the earnings for each career over a week, fortnight, month and year. You may also want to start thinking now about which career paths you prefer and the reasons why you prefer them over others.

     (a) Job Search at http://www.jobsearch.com.au/AdviceCentre/WageandSalaryInfo/tabid/147/Default.aspx

     (b) Award Wages at http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/NSW_State_Awards.html

     (c) CareerBuilder at http://www.careerbuilder.com/

     (d) CareerJet at http://www.careerjet.com/

     (e) Career Profiles at http://www.collegegrad.com/careers/index.shtml

     (f) Monster JobSearch at http://jobsearch.monster.com/

     (g) Salary Expert at http://www.salaryexpert.com/

4. The final task you must undertake is to fill out the worksheet entitled My Career Path Preference List. This involves placing the 10 career paths you have investigated into an ordered preference list (from your most preferred to least preferred), providing justifications for your positioning of each career path on the list.