Career Exploration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Career Exploration - Essay Example Changes are inevitable. Nevertheless, a career change requires a thorough and critical thinking. This paper explores the necessary credential in the success of my chosen career plan. Also, it tackles the steps in achieving my goal relative to time. Further, this paper discusses the pay ranges, career change, and support system characterized in the three positions that I have personally chosen. Credential Perhaps a Master’s Degree is essential as a strong credential prior to entering the work force in the realm of education. In the success of my career plan, an MA degree might be helpful. According to Kaplan (2008), there are over a million of people in the United States who annually enroll in the graduate programs (p. 3). One of the reasons why people take up an MA/PhD degree is because it provides them the greater advantage over others in the competitive job market. What Kaplan (2008) calls â€Å"career advancement,† persons who have a Master’s Degree possess th e advantage of gaining career position and/or promotion against those people â€Å"with only a bachelor’s degree† (p. 4). The drawback, however, is that a Master’s degree is far from the assurance that one can land a good job or be promoted to a much higher position. Plus, pursuing a graduate program is a difficult and tremendous task. In fact, Peters (1997) compares the students in the graduate school as adults who are â€Å"judged by the standards of the adult world† (p. 6). To my mind, the notion of the â€Å"adult world† as understood by Peters is far from the ideal, child-like, or Utopia-like realm. From here, I seem to perceive it as something monstrous and hideous. In time and with perseverance, nevertheless, I might be able to cope up the challenges salient in the graduate program. And I might land a good job of my liking. Pay ranges The three positions, which I have chosen as my alternative careers in the field of education, have different pay ranges. In the primary education, on the one hand, a teacher receives an annual salary ranging from $30,719 to $54,000 (Bernstein, 2003, p. 466). Meaning to say, a teacher who is teaching in the primary school, particularly in the public school, receives from the minimum monthly pay of roughly $3,000 to the maximum monthly salary of approximately $4,500. In special education, on the other hand, a teacher gets a yearly salary ranging from $33,770 to $ 78,980 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005, p. 297). Finally, a guidance counselor in the field of education receives an annual pay from $25,200 to $71,900 (Bernstein, 2003, p. 394). As a whole, the teacher’s pay greatly varies on his or her academic background (e.g., with an MA degree) and years of teaching. In spite of their differences in pay range, all these positions in the realm of education widely receive similar benefit plans such as paid vacation and sick leave (Eberts & McGowan, 2000, p. 41) Steps to follow In ord er for me to be more fruitful in my career goals, I will take several rational steps. By and large, these practical steps will be either short-term or long-term. In the short-term goal, specifically in one-year plan, I will study and learn the fundamentals associated to my chosen career path. Example of which is the appropriate method in the practice of teaching. In the special education, in particular, teaching methodology is obviously distinct to, say, 5th-grade education. In the long-term goal, specif