Occupation Paper Review

            I have written a term paper concerning my desired position in the auto parts and accessories industry.  This assignment was a requirement for my Sociology 330 class.  The assignment was to choose an occupation that I would like to obtain at some point in my career.  This occupation did not have to be the first position I get out of college, but any position that I would strive for at any point in my career.  I then had to apply three concepts from class that would affect this career position and the path to get there.  The three concepts that I chose to concentrate on were rationalization, networking, and competition among workers.  I also had to conduct an interview of someone that was in the industry that I chose for a desired position. 

            The job that I selected as my career goal was to be the Operations Manager at BorgWarner is Seneca, SC.  This position will take a considerable amount of time to achieve.  There are many steps, promotions, and training requirements that will have to take place before acquiring a position of this stature.  During this time the concepts that I have chosen to concentrate on will definitely affect my ability to get to this level in my career.  The time it takes to achieve the position and my ability to keep the position will be the main factors that are affected by these concepts.

            Rationalization, networking, and competition among workers are the three concepts that I chose to concentrate on in the assignment.  Rationalization is a systematic method of dealing with situations and problems.  This will affect the amount of time that it takes to achieve the position because of the required steps that will be in place that have to be satisfied.  Networking is a working system of meeting new people as well as keeping in touch with people that you already know.  This is a very important concept, and can be considered as the most important concept of the three that have been discussed.  Who one knows, or who one doesn’t know, can have a great affect on their ability to move up in their career.  This is most evident in the attempt to offset the required steps associated with the rationalization aspect of the career.  The more influential people that I know will make a difference in the ease of discovering and obtaining new job opportunities.  Competition among workers is the third and final concept that I considered in my career path.  This concept will play a role mainly in the acquisition portion of my career.  Competing against other applicants for a position opening will be tough, but once achieving the position this will not be as evident.  There may be some competition among workers after achieving a position, but it seems that most employees tend to work together in the attempt to achieve common goals.

            I also had to conduct an interview for this assignment.  I had to interview someone who worked in the industry that I had chosen for my career goal.  This interview came from an employee at BorgWarner in Seneca, SC.  Mr. Erby Fielder was kind enough to provide me with the interview for this paper.  This interview was a very successful one, and gave me great insight to the way that the concepts would affect my career path.

            This paper gave me a different perspective to look at my career from.  This perspective was from the sociological point of view.  Rationalization, networking, and competition among workers are concepts that were applied in this paper, and they helped me to understand some of the less obvious factors that will come into play throughout my career.  This assignment was very informative and helped to prepare me for different aspects of my career path.