5-1 Looking for Employment

​What Did Confucius Mean by This Statement?

About 35% of the time you are awake during your lifetime is spent at work. Knowing this much of your waking time is spent at a job makes it extremely important to learn and understand as much as possible about the jobs you hold, the salaries you make, the benefits your jobs offer, and the taxes you pay. In this chapter, you study employment basics so that you can become an educated employee. You won’t have to wait years to use the information you learn here. You will be able to apply this knowledge while you are searching, applying, accepting, and working at a job, whether it is in a part-time or full-time capacity. Many people start working full time in their early to mid-20s, and continue working until they are in their 60s or 70s

How Do People in Different Stages of Their Careers Find Employment?

​Examine the question!

Many students take on after-school and summer jobs. Sometimes these are not related to their eventual career choice—they are ways to make income to meet the expenses of being a teenager. Many students find out about these jobs by signs in store windows, the school guidance department, online postings, and word-of-mouth.

When choosing a career, you usually choose a field of interest. You then need to develop skills in that area. Your career will be based on the training you receive in college, trade school, or on-the-job as an apprentice. All electricians, lawyers, teachers, plumbers, actors, doctors, dentists, and so on had to learn their trade before practicing it. How do you go about looking for employment in your field? You look at ads on online job and company sites, you connect with networking groups in your field, and again, word-of-mouth.

There are many Internet employment sites available to job seekers. These ads cover all types of employment, from summer jobs for teenagers to careers in all fields. You will find it helpful to learn the special shorthand that is used in employments ads. There are many abbreviations that are special for individual fields. Some commonly used abbreviations are shown in the table.

​View sample job resumes for the career you intend to pursue online.  what were some of the positive skills and abilities or knowledge you need in order to be success.  

 

Write a paragraph discussing the things that caught your attention.

Class Discussion

​Interpreting Employment Ads, computing salaries, and employment agency fees

Math Response

Julianne found a job posting on an Internet website. The job pays a yearly salary of $41K. What is the weekly salary based on this annual salary?

Type answer here

Correct Answer: 788.46

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Karen found a job with an annual salary of $67.3K. What is her monthly pay rounded to the nearest dollar.

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Check your understanding

Math Response

Karen found a job that pays an annual salary of $67.3K What is her monthly pay rounded to the nearest dollar?

Type answer here

Correct Answer: 5608

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Math Response

Dylan took an applicant-paid job through an employment agency. The job pays $395 per week. Dylan must pay a fee to the employment agency. The fee is 20% of his first 4 weeks’ pay. How much money must Dylan pay the agency?

Type answer here

Correct Answer: 316

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Math Response

The Alpha Recruitment Agency is advertising a high-profile employer-paid job as vice-president of IT operations. The fee is 25% of the first month's pay. If the job pays x dollars annually, express the agency fee algebraically.

Type answer here

Correct Answer: 104

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Video Response

A plumber’s trade print publication charges $13 for each of the first four lines of an ad, and $7.50 for each additional line. Express the cost of an x-line ad, c(x), as a piecewise function.

Open Video Recorder

Math Response

An online job-search site charges employers fees to post job listings. Their price list is shown in the table. The prices per posting decrease as the number of postings increase. What is the percent savings if an employer decides to post four jobs as opposed to one job?

Type answer here

Correct Answer: 11

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Math Response

JobFind charges employers x dollars to post a job on their website. They offer a 16% discount if 20 or more jobs are posted. If 31 jobs are posted by a specific employer, express the cost of the 31 postings algebraically.

Type answer here

Correct Answer: 26.04x

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Draw

Jane’s Printing Services charges $29.95 to print 200 high-quality business cards. Each additional set of 100 cards costs $14. Express the cost, r(x), of printing x sets of 100 cards as a piecewise function.

Draw

An online bargain print service charges $p for the first 200 business cards and $x for each set of 100 above the first 200. Express the cost of the cards algebraically as a piecewise function.