Career chats: Every industry has surprising realities
About this video
Professionals share surprising realities about their industries. A nurse didn't expect so many bodily functions to clean up, a lawyer explains that law is mostly reviewing documents, not dramatic TV moments, and a designer learned that art can be a well-paid career, not just the 'starving artist' idea.
You'll be able to
- describe ways real jobs differ from what people expect.
- explain the 'iceberg' comparison for hidden work.
- question stereotypes about careers using evidence.
Key words
- Reality
- What something is actually like, rather than what people imagine.
- Grunt work
- Basic, repetitive tasks that are necessary but not glamorous.
- Starving artist
- A stereotype that artists can't earn enough money to live.
- Motion design
- Creating moving graphics and animation, often for films, ads or apps.
Transcript
(bright guitar music) - Yeah, there's a lot more bodily functions that I didn't know I would be participating in, that I would be cleaning up after, prior to starting this role. I, honestly, like I said earlier, I didn't have a lot of healthcare exposure prior to this.
I was working mostly in retail and customer service, so in my first semester of nursing school, it was kind of a big wake up call.
- Fixing law is not like "Suits." In "Suits," a case wraps up in like 45 minutes. Practicing law is kind of like the iceberg, like the really sexy, made-for-TV moments. Those are like the tip of the iceberg. But then, you know, most of the iceberg is buried underneath the water.
And a lot of the grunt work, and the reviewing documents, and the reviewing cases, those are the majority of the work.
- I was under the belief when I was in college that fine art or art in general as a medium, as a way of make making a living was not, didn't make financial sense. I always thought it was, I thought of like the idea of a starving artist, you know? When in reality, because graphic design, motion design is all part of the entertainment industry, there's a ton of money, and there's an entire career to be made there.
I wish someone would've given me some reassurance to let me know that, you know, a career like this existed, that it would be okay. (bright guitar music continues) (bright guitar music continues)
Video © Khan Academy, used under CC BY-NC-SA. Watch on Khan Academy. Puzzicle is not affiliated with Khan Academy.