Most worthwhile careers require some kind of specialized training. Ideally, therefore, the choice of an occupation should be made even before choice of a curriculum in high school. 1 , most people make several job choices during their working lives, partly because of economic and industrial changes and partly to improve their position. The “one perfect job” does not exist. Young people should therefore enter into a broad flexible training program that will 2 them for a field of work rather than for a single 3 . Unfortunately many young people have to make career plans 4 benefit of help from a competent vocational counselor or psychologist. Knowing 5 about the occupational world, or themselves for that matter, they choose their lifework on a hit-or-miss basis. Some drift from job to job. Others 6 to work in which they are unhappy and for which they are not fitted. One common mistake is choosing an occupation for its real or imagined prestige. Too many high-school students—or their parents for them—choose the professional field, 7 both the relatively small proportion of workers in the professions and the extremely high educational and personal requirement. The imagined or real prestige of a profession or a white-collar job is 8 good reason for choosing it as life’s work. Moreover, these occupations are not always well-paid. Since a large proportion of jobs are in mechanical and manual work, the 9 of young people should give serious consideration to these fields. Before making an occupational choice, a person should have a general idea of what he wants out of life and how hard he is willing to work to get it. Some people desire social prestige; others intellectual satisfaction. Some want security; others are willing to take 10 for financial gain. Each occupational choice has its demands as well as its rewards.