Career Development (Career Preparation)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

• complete 30 hours of Work Experience that relates to their career, educational, and personal goals as described in their Student Learning Plans, performing tasks as assigned
• demonstrate a variety of job-seeking and job-keeping skills
• demonstrate and evaluate their employability skills and document them in their Student Learning Plans
• demonstrate an understanding of a variety of management and organizational structures that exist in the workplace
• create personal financial plans to support achievement of their educational and career goals
• use their experiences in the workplace to evaluate personal, educational, and career plans

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Provide various types of job-seeking documents for students to analyse or emulate. For example:
  • résumés (have students prepare two versions of their own)
  • blank and completed application forms (have students give reasons for the use of forms, suggest rationales for particular form features, identify common features and requirements of different forms, and critique the responses in completed forms)
  • portfolios containing work samples (have students critique portfolios and identify where they are best used)
• Have students develop simulation job-acquisition strategies targeting the individuals responsible for hiring for particular types of jobs in specific organizations. Suggest that students begin by researching the organizations to obtain relevant information about their activities and personnel (including who to approach).
• Have students visit a local career-planning centre or Canada Employment Centre to seek out resources related to job searching.
• Ask students to role-play employer-employee dynamics in various situations. For example, an employee:
  • receives a criticism of job performance
  • feels unable to meet all the apparent demands of a job (e.g., deadlines)
  • wants a raise
  • is asked to work long overtime hours
  • slips and falls, sustaining injury
  • feels harassed by a fellow worker
  Debrief by highlighting effective communication approaches and legislation that applies in each situation.
• Invite students engaged in various postsecondary training or study programs to participate in a panel discussion on:
  • financial challenges associated with pursuing postsecondary training or study
  • strategies for financing their studies and stretching their income
  Ask panelists to help students assess and revise their previous (e.g., Grade 10) educational budgets.
• Have students interested in entrepreneurship create business plans.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• After students have studied interview techniques, have them role-play job interviews. Form pairs and give each pair a newspaper advertisement. Assign one student to be the interviewer and the other the interviewee, and provide time for them to prepare. Have students develop a rating scale to assess the interviewees for the extent to which they are able to:
  • ask relevant questions about the requirements of the positions and opportunities for future training
  • clearly and concisely describe their skills and other qualifications in relation to the requirements of the positions
  • convey enthusiasm about the positions
• Ask students in groups to research and report to the class on various services available to finance an education, different financial institutions that offer those services, and the costs and benefits of using each type of institution. After all presentations are complete, have students identify the services they would use from each institution and explain their choices. Note the extent to which they can identify the terms and conditions associated with borrowing money, such as:
  • payment schedules (including the concepts of principal and interest)
  • the difference between equity and debt financing
  • the types of security required by particular lenders
  • Have students assess their portfolios by completing sentence stems such as:
  • The two best features of my portfolio are ­­­­­­­­­­­­­ .
  • To ensure that I covered all my employability skills, I ­­­­­­­­­­­­­ .
  • To make sure that the samples included are the best examples of my employability skills, I ­­­­­­­­­­­­­ .
  • The part of the portfolio that I will improve when I revise it is ­­­­­­­­­­­­­ .

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• Work Experience Handbook: Guidelines, Policy and Best Practices
• Your Boss and You
• Heart Beats
• Not For Sale: Ethics in the American Workplace
• Expanding Your Horizons - A Career Guide
• Choices (Occupations and Education)
• B.C. Life Skills
• Knowledge for Youth About Careers (CD-ROM Version)
• Student Worksafe Modules
• Financial Aid (Choices 95)
• Personal Finance Portfolio