Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 20 Preparing for Your Career 603 Critical Thinking 1. Imagine that a company has three partners who share equally in the company’s debts and profi ts. After several years, profi ts are declining, and two of the partners want to dissolve the company. The third partner is convinced the company can be profi table again and does not want to dissolve the company. How could the partners resolve this disagreement fairly? 2. Suppose you own a company that makes toys for small children. Before selling each type of toy, you have it tested professionally to be sure it is safe and that it will not break under normal usage. A customer contacts your customer service department claiming that the toy she bought broke the fi rst time her toddler used it. What should you do in this situation? Communicating about Engineering 1. Work in small groups to generate a list of questions to ask a successful entrepreneur. Create questions that will help you set up your class-based business. Then all groups share their questions and answers with each other. 2. Working with one other classmate, role-play a job interview. One of you should play the interviewer and the other play the job applicant. Then reverse roles. Develop strategies for successfully completing a job interview. Which position do you think is more challenging? Why? STEM Applications 1. Math. Suppose you are operating a store to sell headphones. Your total overhead costs are $10,000 per month. You sell an average of 1,000 headphones every month. Each headphone costs $50 to make. If you marked up the price by 20% and sold 1,000 headphones, you would make $10,000, because 20% × $50,000 = $10,000. Since your operating costs are also $10,000, you would not make any profi t. Calculate how much you would have to charge to pay yourself a salary of $20,000 per year. 2. Technology. Throughout this chapter, the point has been made that new technologies provide new career opportunities. However, technology plays a larger role. Investigate how technology has affected the process of searching for, obtaining, and keeping a job. How is job hunting today different from job hunting 50 years ago?