The world of work has changed enormously since our grandparents left school to find work. Technology has made massive changes and we are also much more influenced by Europe and the rest of the world.

To prepare for work, you will need to develop your own individual skills and qualities. Some skills will be general, others will need to be job specific and may need special training.

Employers will want to employ somebody who is enthusiastic, rounded and balanced. They will want to know about you as a person. If you make the best of yourself, it will make you feel good. This inner confidence will show through in things that you do, including applying for a job or place at college.

When choosing a career, it helps to know something about the way businesses and companies work. If a business is a large organisation, for example, a large cosmetics company, then there may be many departments within it and each will contribute to its success. Some sectors of business may be:

• Research and development – looking for new ideas, trying to find out what people want
• Marketing – making a product desirable to people, selling the product in the right way, and making people aware that it exists
• Manufacturing – actually making the product.
• Finance – making sure that the business is making money and using it in the right ways
• Human resources – looking after the people in the company, recruitment, training and welfare.

Different companies are run in different ways. Before applying for a job with a company, you should try to find out as much as possible about it and the way it works – look at the company website to find out more about them. Then you are more informed about whether you might like to work for that company.