Kloof High School

Life Orientation Grade 12

Chapter 4 Summary
Career and Career choices

Learner: __________________________
LO teacher: _________

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Chapter 5: Careers and career choices

Unit 1: Commitment to a decision taken

Key
1.1 Commit to a decision taken words
Now that you are in Grade 12 you should prepare for your life after • decisions —
school. You may decide to continue with your studies at a higher resolutions
education institution or apply for a job. You should make decisions to make up
based on your interests, strengths, weaknesses, skills, abilities, and your mind
personality and commit to them. about a
choice after
There are minimum requirements for entry into the job market and considering
courses offered in the higher education institutions. Find out what different
these requirements are. Before you decide if you want to apply for a options
job or a course of study, find out more about the availability of jobs • commit — to
that you could do, study fees, availability of financial aid, promise to
accommodation, transport and how to apply. do
something;
You may have decided on your future career path, but a decision to work very
alone does not lead to much. You have to act on your decision. This hard to do
means you need to make an effort to apply, get all the necessary something;
forms and organise all the requirements for next year's choice. to not give
up
You have to apply this year — preferably as early as June. It is too late to wait for
your Grade 12 results before you apply. Most institutions look at your Grade 11
results. They give you provisional acceptance, but final acceptance depends on
your Grade 12 results. Once you get your results, let them know and send them a
certified copy of your Grade 12 certificate.

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1.2 Job or course application for additional or higher education
Job application
You may have decided that after Grade 12 you want to join the job market. Before
you apply for a job, make sure:
• This is really what you want to do and is not someone else's decision.
• You have gathered as much information as possible on various options.
• You have researched jobs in detail so that you know, for example, what
qualifications are needed, what you will do, your hours of work, what you will get
paid, and how you will get to and from work.
Many jobs now require you to apply online, send an email with your CV attached, or
download application forms. Jobs may be advertised on job sites or on companies'
websites. (See 1.4 in this chapter for sources of work or study opportunities.) You
may have to do an online test to see if your personality, interests and abilities fit the
job. Some companies, Anglo-American, for example, let you apply via SMS, once
you have registered with them.

Resource: Application hints

Whether you are applying online, via email or by post or fax, do the following:
• Write a covering letter — keep it short; give an overview or summary of your
abilities and qualifications; make sure these fit the job you are applying for;
emphasise why you are right for the position.
• Make sure you have all the information you need, such as your CV and letters of
reference, before you start filling out the application. Make your application easy to
read — don't use fancy fonts or colours; don't type in all capital letters. If you are
writing, do so neatly and clearly.
• If you are attaching your CV to an email or uploading it to an application site, make
sure it isn't a big file, full of pictures, which will take a long time to download.
• If you have a funny personal email name, such as PartyDude@[Link],
change it. Get yourself an online email address such as Gmail, and give yourself a
more serious name, preferably your own name.
• Read the job advert very carefully so that you don't ask questions that have
already been answered in the advert, for example, 'How much will I earn?'
• Make sure you provide all the required documents, such as a CV, references, or
copies of your exam results.
• Carefully check your spelling and grammar. Do not use abbreviations and SMS-
speak, such as TIA (thanks in advance), TYVM (thank you very much). Errors give
a bad impression and show carelessness.
• Send your application to the right person.

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Application for a course at a higher education institution or for additional
education
Maybe you have decided that after Grade 12 you want to study at a higher
education institution such as a university, or you want to apply for additional
education such as a short course. Research the courses you could study and the
institutions that offer these courses. Consider: • Are there other courses that
would suit your interests and skills better?
• Just because an institution is close to where you live, doesn't make it the best
place to study your particular course.
• What fees will you have to pay?
• Does the institution have a good reputation, offer value for money, and are its
courses recognised? Find out from the South African Qualifications Authority
(SAQA), the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), and the Council on Higher
Education (CHE).
• If the best institution for studying your course is far away, where will you stay?
• Are you thinking of studying a course at a particular institution just because your
friends are?

1.3 Skills for final action

You have researched various courses you would like to study, the institutions that
offer them, or jobs you would like to do. Now you have to put your skills into action
to find out about the availability of funding, completing forms, accommodation, and
travel arrangements.

1. Availability of funds
Money is often one of the biggest barriers to following your dream career. You need
to be practical and take action in advance to make things happen for you, before
you register. That means you must work hard at school so that your marks are
good. You can then apply for various forms of financial help:
• Bursary — if you have good marks or don't have money to pay for your studies.
• Scholarship — from a company, business, or municipality; if you did well at
school.

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• Student loan — from a bank or Edu-Loan ([Link]), which you will
have to pay back.
• Learnership — you earn while you learn; contact the Sector Education and
Training Authority (SETA) for the sector in which you would like to follow a career.

2. Complete forms
Whether you are applying to study or for a job, the principles of completing forms
remain the same. Make sure you have all your information ready. Fill in the forms
accurately and clearly; don't leave out anything.

When completing forms always consider the following:

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

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Study the example of sections of a university application form on the next pages.

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3. Accommodation and travel arrangements
If you are going to get a job or study further, consider where you will stay and what
the advantages and disadvantages of each option are.

Table 5.1: Accommodation options

Places to Possible advantages Possible disadvantages
stay
Home Cheap; get food and Parents still treat you like a child; may not
your washing done have a quiet place to study
Residence, Close to campus; May not like your roommate; many
hostel don't have transport distractions; far from home; costs
problems
Share a flat Freedom and space, Costs; distractions and parties; have to do
or a house share the cost of rent your own housework and feed yourself;
annoying housemates
A room Cheap rent, your own Cramped, no room to study and difficult to
space cook your own food

What travel arrangements will you have to make? For example:

• Can you get to your job or the institution easily by walking, taking a taxi, catching
a bus or a train, riding a bicycle, or driving a car?
• How much will transport cost you?
• If you stay far from home, how will you get back for the holidays and family
events, and how much will it cost you?

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1.4 Locate work or study opportunities

1.5 Requirements for acceptance and possible challenges

Whether you are applying for a job or a course, make sure that
you know what the requirements for acceptance are. Do not
apply for jobs or courses if:
• you don't have the necessary marks, qualifications or
experience
• you haven't completed the applications properly, fully, and
accurately
• you have missed the due dates.

Possible challenges include:

• the availability of funding
• not being able to follow your first choice of study programme
because it is full
• transport and accommodation
• responsibilities at home
• having to rewrite some subjects so that you can qualify for a course
• the lack of jobs that interest you or for which you are qualified
• institutions that offer the course you want to study are far from home
• the language of instruction at your HEI is not your home language.
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Plan for these challenges! Make sure you have a Plan B in case things do not go as
planned. For example, if you do not have the right number of points to follow a
degree course, consider doing a certificate or diploma course in the same area.

1.6 Strategies to achieve goals

Revise what you know about setting SMART goals from Grade 11. Your goals
should be:
• Specific — exact and not general
• Measurable — you can see when you have achieved your goal or made progress
towards it.
• Achievable — you can reach this goal; it is within your abilities; it is possible
• Realistic — your goal is practical and sensible
• Timely — you can achieve it within the time you have set yourself.

Once you have set your SMART goal:

• Make an action plan to achieve it.
• Carry out your action plan. Key
• Evaluate if you have achieved your goal or how far you words
still have to go. • unemployment —
being without a
Unit 2: Reasons for and impact of unemployment job, joblessness
• recession —
2.1 Reasons for unemployment downturn, slump,
decline
Unemployment means there is no work, and no income.
There are many reasons for unemployment. It is a worldwide challenge. South
Africa is not the only country to have a high unemployment rate. However, reasons
differ from country to country and from time to time.
In South Africa, the greatest number of unemployed people is between the ages of
15 and 35.
32,1 % in 2024.
In a population of 51 million, 8,5 million South Africans are out of work. Young
people are badly affected, with more than half of 18- to 25-year-olds unemployed.
This means that youth unemployment is a serious problem in South Africa.
Unemployed youth make up 72,396 of unemployed South Africans.

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Unemployment causes poverty and poverty leads to unemployment

When there are many unemployed people, fewer goods are

produced and fewer services are provided. Unemployed
people don't have money to buy goods or use services.
Investors become scared to invest their money because
they may lose it, as not enough people will buy their
goods or use their services. Investors decide not to
expand their businesses, or they retrench workers.
Some may even close down their businesses before
they lose a lot of money.

For example, if there are many unemployed people, there will be less money
available to spend on luxuries such as holidays, travel, hotel accommodation and
eating out in restaurants. There will be less money to shop for luxury goods such
as gifts. So hotels, restaurants and gift shops may go out of business. This leads
to further unemployment, because the people who work there, will then also be
without work.

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2.2 Impact of unemployment
The impact or effect of unemployment is damaging; it causes great harm and
despair. With no work, there is no income or money. Without money, people can't
provide for their basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter and transport.
Unemployment affects the unemployed not only financially, but also personally and
socially.
Unemployment also affects the employed, the community and the country. Often,
the unemployed lose hope, self-respect and motivation. This often leads to family
conflict, divorce and abuse. Frustrated parents are stressed and get irritated with
their children; they worry about where the next meal will come from. The
unemployed are vulnerable because they are easy targets for drug pushers and
human traffickers. The unemployed do not pay tax, which means there is less
money for government to spend on education, hospitals, police and roads, for
example.

The effects of unemployment include:

• Poverty
• Hunger
• Homelessness
• Lack of education and training
• Substance abuse
• Physical and mental health
suffers
• Crime
• Exploitation
• Human trafficking
• HIV and AIDS
Unemployment leads to frustration and protests for basic services.
• Child abuse
• Lack of self-esteem
• Exclusion and loneliness
• Not feeling like a citizen of South Africa

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 Cycle of Unemployment

Unit 3: Innovative solutions to counteract unemployment

3.1 Volunteering, part-time jobs, community work, entrepreneurship and

informal jobs
It is very important that you never lose hope, or feel that because there are so many
unemployed young people, that you will never get a job. Now is the time to motivate
yourself to do as well as possible at school, so that you can go to university, take on
a learnership or attend an FET college. By now you should have realised that there
are not many jobs for school leavers; you do need to get further qualifications.

However, if you are in a situation where you are not able to learn new skills
immediately after Grade 12, or have a qualification but can't find work, then it is up
to you to use your skills to find an alternative to a formal job. The worst thing you
can do is sit at home, get depressed, join a gang, abuse substances, and lose all
hope. That will just make you even more unemployable.

If you do volunteer work, or any work you can find such as part-time work, or
become an entrepreneur and do informal jobs, you will gain very valuable work
experience. Your CV will look better, because you would have gained some
experience. So the chances are better that you will get a formal job sooner.

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Volunteering
Volunteering means you help others. You give of
your time and skills to others. You do not expect
payment. Volunteering makes you feel good
about yourself because you are doing something
for somebody else. This builds confidence. It
also allows you to explore your interests, abilities
and skills. This might make it easier for you to
choose a career.

Volunteering is not only about helping people. You can also, for example, volunteer
to clean up rivers or beaches, or work at an animal shelter.

When you volunteer, you usually get a letter or a certificate to state what kind of
work you did and for how many hours. You can add this to your CV because now
you have work experience, and have shown that you are willing to help make South
Africa a better place.
Key words
Part-time jobs
• counteract — If you work for a short while or for part of a day or week, you have
cancel out, what is called a part-time job. You can gain a lot of experience
work against through part-time jobs, because you can have more than one job
• entrepreneur at a time. For example, you may get a job to help with directing
— a person spectators to their seats at soccer matches. This job is only on
who sees the certain days, so it is part-time. You will build good experience,
opportunity to and become skilled in different aspects of work. In addition, you
start a will earn an income while you build your CV.
business or
offer a service
Community work
Community work means you do something to benefit your community or a
community in need. It is also a form of volunteering, but you concentrate on the
needs of your community. The work is usually paid for by government or an NGO,
or a religious-based organisation. For example, you may help to feed orphans, or
you may help to make a community peace garden.
Entrepreneurship employ others. There
To be an entrepreneur you have to see a need and are many successful
provide a service or goods that people need. This is a entrepreneurs in
great way to earn money while you look for other work South Africa.
opportunities. If your entrepreneurship leads to success,
you may turn this into your day-to-day job and also

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 Key Informal jobs
words Informal jobs are usually short term. For
• informal
example, you may wash cars, do
gardening, sell newspapers, make
jobs — jobs
clothes, or sell fruit or sweets at the taxi
where you
rank or next to the school. Some people
work for
prefer informal employment due to its
yourself
flexible hours. The flexible hours allow
• formal jobs
them to balance family responsibilities.
— jobs
Other people find that this is the only
where you
work they can do to survive.
work for an
employer,
and have a
job contract
3.2 Financial and social viability of entrepreneurship and other employment
options
Entrepreneurship and other employment options may be the best way to earn
money. The more jobs that are created the better for everyone. We cannot expect
the government to provide all the jobs; each citizen has to try to create jobs and
work opportunities for others. We live in a country where formal jobs are scarce,
but where there are many opportunities in the informal sector.

Entrepreneurship: How to draw up a business plan

Your business plan sets out your goals for your business. It explains how you will
achieve your goals; it gives a practical strategy. It outlines how you will sell, market
and finance your idea.

Your business plan should include:

1. A short accurate summary of your business, idea or plan. This is called an
executive summary.
2. An outline to explain what your idea is; why it is different, special and unique; what
service or goods you will provide, where and when; who your target market is; and
from where your business will operate.
3. Briefly indicate the structure: who will run your business; who will do what; how
many people are involved; whether they are partners or employees.

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4. Explain what your target market looks like:
what their needs are; who your clients and customers will be; where you will find
them; how you will keep them.
5. Explain your finances: how much start-up money you need; where you will get
it; what all your expenses will be; how much money you will make a profit.
6. Design an action plan to describe how you will advertise, market and sell your
services or products.
7. Know the legal requirements. What municipal and governmental rules and
regulations are required? What are the income tax implications? What types of
permissions and safety certificates do you need?
8. Describe what you already have to start with, for example, a place to work from, a
telephone, people to help you.
9. Add a SWOT analysis: briefly describe the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats of your business plan, as an appendix.
10. Go out and implement your plan: just do it!

3.3 SARS tax obligations

Income tax is the government's main source of income. Income Key
tax is a tax levied on all income and profits received by a words
taxpayer. This includes individuals, companies and trusts. It is • income tax —
every citizen's duty to pay tax. Without income tax, there will be government's main
no services, such as roads, hospitals and schools, and the source of income
government could not function. • SARS — South
African Revenue
Services
When you earn a salary, part of your income is taxed. This
• tax threshold —
means that when you look at job application adverts, the the level of income
amount you see is not the full amount you will earn, as tax will at which you begin
be deducted. to pay tax
SARS requires all those receiving any form of employment noncompliance —
income, including those below the tax threshold, to be not doing
registered with SARS to help reduce noncompliance or tax something that is
officially or legally
dodging.
required tax
dodging —
Even if you are an entrepreneur or an informal worker, you have avoiding paying tax
a duty to pay income tax if you earn more than R63 556 a year.
If you earn less than this or are unemployed, you are said to be below the tax
threshold. Our government is making it easier for small business and
entrepreneurs; you don't have to pay the same amount of tax as big corporations.

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But do your citizen's duty and pay tax! If you don't pay tax, you contribute to
unemployment because the government can't create employment opportunities as
there is not enough money to do so.

3.4 The impact of corruption and fraud on the individual, company,

community and country
Corruption and fraud are ways of getting money, privileges and power dishonestly.
Corruption is the misuse of public power and money for private benefit. It is the
abuse of public office for private gain. For example, corruption is using an official
position, rank or status, for your personal benefit. Fraud is getting money by
cheating, stealing or doing dishonest deals.

Corruption is the enemy of self-improvement, nation-building, service delivery and

good governance. The negative effects of corruption are not only economic, but
also social, political and moral. Corruption affects the individual, company or
government, community and country in harmful ways.

Forms of corrupt behaviour include: Key words

• bribery - paying for an illegal favour • corruption —
• influence peddling - the illegal practice of using one's dishonesty, misuse
influence in government or connections with persons in of public power and
authority to receive information or benefits money for private
• stealing public resources - taking what belong to all, for benefit
yourself
• fraud — to swindle,
• nepotism and cronyism - the appointment of family or
scam, cheat or
friends to positions of authority, regardless of their
deceive
qualifications
• cronyism —
• favouritism - giving special treatment or favours to those
favouritism shown to
who do not deserve them
friends, regardless of
• extortion - obtaining money or favours through force or their qualifications
threats.

Impact of corruption on individuals

Corruption affects the poor individual the most. For example, corruption increases
the cost of public services. It also reduces poor people's access to housing,
electricity, water, health care and documentation. It makes poor people feel
powerless and cheated. It is easy to lose hope when there is corruption, because
unfair advantages are given to those who can pay.

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Impact of corruption on companies
Corruption leads to people not trusting officials who
take bribes from them. People within the company
also start to mistrust one another. The company or
government gets a bad name. People think that the
only way to get services from that company is
through corruption. The company may have to
spend a lot of money on putting controls in place to
stop corruption. This money could have been better
spent on social responsibility programmes.

Impact of corruption on communities

The community is also affected. People may believe that the only way to access
services, jobs and opportunities is through bribery. If bribery becomes common,
others in the community will think that corruption is a normal way to get what they
need. People will start distrusting each other because corruption leads to some
being unfairly advantaged. For example, if people have been on a waiting list for
housing for many years, and then another community member pays a bribe to be
put first on the list, this is unfair and leads to the breakdown of good community
relations.

Impact of corruption on the country

Corruption has a negative effect on the country. This is because service delivery will
not be at its best, unemployment will be increased, institutions will not develop,
income generation through taxes will be harmed and donors and investors will not
put their money in a country that is corrupt. Money that was meant for projects and
job creation will be lost to corruption and so social development will not take place.
Corruption limits economic growth. It promotes poverty as there are fewer jobs and
more inequality. We cannot reach the goal of a better life for all if resources meant
to improve the lives of the poor do not reach them.

Example of the impact of corruption on the individual, company, community

and country:
Rudy bought his driver's licence from a corrupt traffic official. He did not know all
the rules of the road and how to control his vehicle. He thus became a danger to
the community. He boasted about it to his friends, and they said: 'Oh, we will also
buy our drivers licences instead of taking the test!' Rudy started believing that
bribery was the only way to get what he wanted. He bought an old minibus that
was not roadworthy. He bribed an official at the vehicle testing centre to give him a
roadworthy certificate.
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Two weeks later, Rudy was driving too fast and lost control of his vehicle. It
overturned and all 15 passengers were killed. The community was in mourning;
South Africa lost 15 productive citizens. Rudy was arrested and was sent to jail for
a long time.

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