Careers & Employment: Credo Reference

Background – industry today There are three types of industry:

primary industry – this involves jobs that are to do with harvesting raw materials such as mining, fishing, and farming

secondary industry – the people who work in this industry use the raw materials to make things like cars, food, and furniture

tertiary industry – the people who work in tertiary industry provide services such as banking, nursing, and teaching.

The number of people involved in each of these industries has changed over time.

High school students face a variety of significant developmental tasks, and one of the most important is preparing for and choosing a vocation. Career development is actually a lifelong process that begins long before high school and continues through retirement, but high school is a key transition point in this process. High school students are at a stage of exploration: preparing for work, learning about possible occupations, and deciding what they will do after high school. Many factors affect the career development and decision-making process.

In a narrow sense, career refers to a long-term sequence of jobs or positions within an occupation or organization that usually entails movement up a status and salary hierarchy. In a broader sense, however, career is a description of a person's life history.

EMPLOYMENT CAN BE categorized in many ways: blue-collar versus white-collar, full-time versus part-time, year-round versus seasonal, permanent versus migrant, skilled versus semiskilled or unskilled, unionized versus nonunionized, experienced versus apprentice. Classifications by type of work can be reduced to four basic categories: professional, service, industrial, and agricultural. (Jobs related to transportation and communications might be placed in each of the four categories, while those related to mining, logging, and the exploitation of other natural resources might be categorized as either industrial or agricultural. Government employment would fall largely under service.)