Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Young people should take several different kinds of jobs before they decide which career to pursue in the long term.
What do you want to do when you grow up? Almost, all of us have been asked this question by either a family member or a friend when we were young. The answer to this question often keeps changing during growth. Even after growing up, many young adults still confuse regarding their future career. It is common that young people jump from one type of job to the other different one. However, although they could gain more experience from different kinds of jobs, young adults will benefit more to focus on one type of job instead of hopping around due to efficient time usage, career growing for the sake of the career development.
First of all, trying various types of job is very time consuming. Time means life. How to efficiently use time should be the first priority of our lives. In order to pursue different jobs, it is necessary to gaining various training to obtain the skills for the respective job. Besides, job hunting is a very long and tiring process. It could take weeks to months, even years to get the food in the door, not to mention to repeat this process over and over. The people who try different jobs will surely spend longer time before finally settling down. Compare to person who persists in the field from beginning, the time consumed could be three or four folds. Thus, life passes during continuing job turning over.
Moreover, the career develops more rapidly if people stay in one trade instead of jumping among different ones. Education dose not end with the graduation. It is time consuming for career growing due to knowledge accumulation and skills development. The knowledge and skills gained from school are never abundant for a job in reality. Therefore, it could take months and years to gain them from hands on practice. Take my brother as an example. After graduated from chemistry program from university, he entered a laboratory working as a chemist in a pharmaceutical company. He stayed in the pharmaceutical laboratory and continued to improve his skills and knowledge by join the training of the company and taking courses after work. Six years later, when he became a supervisor of his lab, one of his friends joined in his laboratory as a junior chemist. After he worked as a salesman and a teacher, he returned to the starting point where my brother stood six years ago.
Nevertheless, young people could obtain diverse experience from different kinds of jobs. Various experiences will broaden their horizons and richen their lives. For instance, although my brother reached a higher position within the same length of time compared with his friend, all his experience is limited in the Lab. However, his friend collected more colorful experiences, which are not only from a pharmaceutical Lab, but also marketing and teaching. During the process, he met a wide variety of people and made friends with them.
To sum up, although trying various jobs could richen young people’s lives, the advantages of choosing one field and focusing on it far outweigh taking different types of jobs regarding the efficient time use and career development. Young people should conduct career researches regarding their characteristics and interests before entering the society and then persist with their choice. Thus, they could save more time and go further in their career.
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between two university students who met on campus