Question

Directions:

You are asked to prepare a short piece of writing indicating the two career paths you have chosen to research for your Career Development Research Paper, and what types of research strategies you will use to complete the assignment. You have the option to research two potential entry level positions you may obtain upon completion of your degree, or you can research career ladder opportunities you may be interested in.

You will compose a proposal in the form of a career-appropriate letter. Please include the following headings in business letter format:

Introduction: Discuss the two career paths you have chosen to focus on and whether they are entry-level positions or career ladder positions. Please include how you chose these two options from the wide variety available to you, and why you chose the focus you did.

Statement of Focus: Identify the criteria you will use as a basis to compare the two positions in the final essay. Some of the examples discussed in class include:

Salary trends

Potential for growth

Educational requirements

Lifelong learning opportunities

Job duties

Methods: Define the primary and secondary sources you will seek out when gathering information on this topic. While sources such as Occupation Outlook Handbook are a good place to get started and can be used, you need to find references that go further in depth on the job descriptions you are interested in. Where might you start finding these?

Limitations: What obstacles do you anticipate facing while researching your topic?

Conclusion: Based on the comparison of the two careers you will present, what do you think will help you choose one position over the other as a future career choice? Which of the criteria are the most important to you at this initial phase of research?

Answer 1

Here's my answer in a business letter format.

Subject: Deciding between 2 career paths while also analyzing the research methodology

Hello Sir/Madam,

Introduction: I am currently pursuing my bachelors degree in marketing and as near the end of my course, I realie its about time I start thinking about the kind of jo opportunities available in the market and what kind of roles would be best suited for my aptitude and personality. Given marketing is the field that I have always been interested in (and have had the good fortune to pursue), I have decided to make a career in the same field by looking for an entry level position in a marketing firm (which implies that I do not wish to seek a job in a field totally unrelated to my studies, and hence I am not looking to follow the career ladder opportunities that are available out there).

Statement of Focus: The entry level positions I have identified as potential destination are Business Development Executive (B.D. Exec) & Marketing Assistant. There are a few criteria I have in mind that can help me choose one of these 2 roles. Salary can be one of them as the B.D. Exec role is an out an out sales role and will involve incentives in addition to the base salary (the incentives of course only kick in subjject to my meeting the sales targets). A Mktg. assistant on the other hand only earns a fixed income but has a lot less field work/running around to do. The other point to be kept in mind is the potential for growth in both the roles, which I feel is more or less equal in both cases (it all comes down to the individual in the end as there's ample scope of growth in both the roles). Educational requirement is not a relevant criteria as my degree qualifies me for both the roles. Speaking of lifelong learning, the role of a marketing assistant affords more such chances as one gets to work on various projects with different clients/obectives, thus making the experience an ever changing one. A BD Exec role is more or less all about meeting the defined sales targets, something that can get very mundane after a point. Thus, this can be an imporatnt criteria given one's penchant for learning while deciding between the two roles.

Methods: In order to figure out which role suits me more, I would like to do as much research as I can. This will not only include the Occupation Outlook Handbook which is a good place to get started, but also other sources such as the news to gauge the current job market scenario, reaching out to friends/family in relevant roles to get their suggestions on the challenges/advantages of the two roles, talking to other employees via social media, LinkedIn etc., & attending job fairs.

Obstacles: The only obstacles I feel I might encounter is unwillingness on part of people to help out. Even this, I am not really worried about as you will always find someone who is willing to guide/mentor you and give you the right picture.

Based on everything I mentioned above, I feel what will help me decide in picking on job over the other is the alignment that will exist between my individual strengths & aptitude and the responsibilities/opportunitieas that these jobs entail.

To me, the most important criteria during the initial phase of research are opportunities for learning (as this will ensure I stay on top of my game and never grow discontented on the job) & job duties(since these need to be in line with my aptitude). These 2 criteria will go a long way in singling out the ob I would like to take up at the start of my career.

The other criteria do not carry the sae weightage for reasons I have already discussed earlier.

I am quite excited to get started on findiing my dream job and looking forward to a glorius career.

Thanks & regards.