Advantages
Since transportation is as essential to the nation as agriculture, you will experience a higher degree of job security working in it than in many other businesses. Unlike some industries that may lay off many employees or close down altogether during economic recessions, a carrier may be forced to retrench somewhat, but not to the extent that many harder-hit firms might.
If you like to travel, you may find a position that will enable you to do so. Even though you hold a desk job in an airline, bus, or rail company, you may enjoy free travel privileges along with other fringe benefits. Best of all, this business has glamour because travel can be stimulating and fun.
Disadvantages
On the other hand, transportation is a seven-day a week, around the clock business. This means you may be assigned to work the night shift (4:00 p.m. to midnight) or the graveyard shift (midnight to 8:00 a.m.), to say nothing of Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Furthermore, if your job involves working on buses, planes, trains, ships, trucks, or other vehicles that travel long distances, you may be away from home a lot. Because air, marine, and ground transport runs year-round in every kind of weather, you can anticipate encountering all types of weather conditions and occasionally dangerous travel conditions.
Educational Training
If you think a career in transportation is for you, learn all you can about that branch of the industry and the jobs that interest you. Find out what education or specialized training is required, so that you can start preparing yourself as soon as possible. Discuss your ideas with other people whose judgment you respect, or preferably, someone in the industry.
To summarize what has been said before, transportation jobs require one of four levels of educational training:
- High school for unskilled entry positions, such as cleaners, custodians, food handlers, mailroom clerks, and drivers.
- Technical or vocational school for mechanics, secretaries, book-keepers, pilots, and seamen.
- Undergraduate degree for many entry positions in supervisory or professional positions.
- Graduate degree principally for professionals, such as engineers, lawyers, librarians, computer specialists, management specialists, and public relations practitioners.
Regardless of the educational requirements of the job you are contemplating, start today to chart your future so that you can make it happen. Lack of money need not discourage you or keep you from pursuing a career that calls for technical or college training. It is quite possible you can obtain a scholarship, loan, or grant, earn some of the money while you are studying or find other types of financial assistance.
Seeking Your Career
When you are ready to start your job search consider the following suggestions:
Read one or two books on how to find a job. Ask your school or public librarian for recommendations.
If you are still in school or college, ask the guidance counselor or someone in the college personnel office for job leads and advice.
Tell everyone you know about your job hunting goal because they may hear of openings.
Register at your state employment security office and at private employment agencies.
Study the help-wanted advertisements in your local newspapers.
Visit the offices of transport operators where you hope to find work and ask if you may file an application. Write to the out-of-town companies.
Five Career Tips For The 22nd Century
In 1996 Labor Secretary Robert Reich gave the following career tips to the millions of young men and women graduating from schools and colleges:
- Regardless of whether you clean the office or work at a desk, become computer literate.
- Continue your education after graduation to keep your skills sharp.
- Catch on to the Web. Earn more money from your expertise, not from accumulating seniority.
- Network with others in your specialty or profession to sharpen your skills.
- Tomorrow's workers will function as teammates. Therefore learn to handle all the positions on the team and win as a team, not as an individual.
The Future Is Yours
Few industries offer the variety of job opportunities that transportation does. Most importantly transportation is a business that places an awesome responsibility on you. For example, a nut that is not properly tightened, an under inflated tire, or a restraining block of wood not removed from a wing joint could be the cause of tragedy. During the years ahead, the lives of many men, women, and children could depend on how carefully and conscientiously you perform your duties. As you can see, this is a career not to be undertaken lightly.