1 I think they would look funny if you didn't capitalize them.
2 Yes, you capitalize them--and the tense is irrelevant.
My job was capitalized, but not because it was a job. "English teacher" has the capital E because it's a proper adjective. In English, BOTH the proper noun (England) and the adjective from that proper noun (English) are capitalized.
Conversely, "math teacher" is not. Names are proper nouns, so names are capitalized: John Smith. Titles are capitalized when they are used as part of the name: Board Chairman John Smith, President Ahmadinejad, etc. However, when it's not part of the name, it is not capitalized: I spoke with the board chairman and the president yesterday.
Thus, when you speak of your jobs that you have held, they will not be part of your name, so they will not be capitalized. The one exception is that in American English, our President of the United States is always capitalized: "I spoke with the President yesterday" means I spoke with Barak Obama yesterday.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.