Make a selection Health Math Science Social Studies Literacy Tips - Colleagues Tips - Activities Tips - Training Click here for a printer-friendly version of this activity. Go! Requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader How Do I Get a Job? Preparation Steps Credits Preparation Grade Levels: 7-12 Prerequisite: Activity 1 and Activity 2 require use of a computer lab with Internet access. The group leader should preview all Web sites listed in the activity beforehand and bookmark them on each computer in the lab. Materials: Students will need: access to the Internet and a library for research access to computers with desktop publishing software (e.g., a word processor) Group Leader will need: copies of the Interview and Résumé handouts for each student Internet-connected computers with the following Web sites bookmarked: - NEW YORK VOICES - http://www.thirteen.org/nyvoices/highlights/all_stars.html - IN THE MIX - http://www.pbs.org/inthemix/ tape of the IN THE MIX episode "Interns and Volunteers: Giving and Getting Back" Academic Goals: Children will: learn from other teens engaged in employment programs research volunteer, intern and employment possibilities identify employment fields create an employment plan practice interviewing techniques create a working résumé Social Goals: Children will: share employment stories receive and give feedback role play real-life employment situations collaborate with their peers on a common project appreciate community involvement Steps Introduction (20 min) Ask if anyone in the group has ever been a volunteer, an intern or an employee. What did they do? How did they become involved? For example, did they have to submit a résumé? Did they have to interview? What did they learn from their experience? Tip: You may want to give some volunteering or internship examples if your students are not familiar with this. Have a group discussion about careers. Use the following questions to guide the discussion: What types of careers are you interested in? What are your dream jobs? What kind of education would you need to prepare you for these careers? What types of volunteering, internships or entry level jobs can help you reach your career goals? Ask the group if they know what a career path is. Explain that a career path is made up of the steps you take to reach your career goals. Give examples from your own experience, if possible. Ask them if they have ideas of what their own career paths might look like. Discuss how volunteering or interning can help build toward career goals. Stimulate the discussion by asking questions such as: Is it realistic to think you'll start your career with your dream job? Do you think it will take time? What kind of steps do you think you can take? Can you identify someone whose career path you admire? What makes you admire his/her path? What steps did he/she take? Ask the students what careers interest them, and list the careers on chart paper. Under each career, write the contributing student's name. Activity 1: Volunteering/Interning (40-60 minutes) Cue the IN THE MIX tape to the point about four minutes into the video when a young woman says: "Next up, learn how a young graffiti artist got the chance to intern at Polygram records designing album covers." Play the video, stopping just after a young man holding a camera says: "I'm an English Major at Columbia and I enjoy music so I'm doing a lot of music work at IN THE MIX." Then, ask the students if they (like Fernando) have hobbies, talents or passions that can lead them to enjoyable careers. Point out how Fernando turned his hobby as a graffiti artist into a possible career path. Then, ask students to consider how their hobbies might lead to careers. Did the video make them think about possible new career paths? You can help the students by giving them examples of some careers that stem from hobbies, such as: Hobby Profession writing stories, blogging, asking questions journalist (TV, radio, or newspaper) shopping, sewing, reading fashion magazines fashion designer, fashion critic making home movies video producer, director, actor, screenwriter music - playing, mixing, listening music critic, sound production/editing, musician organizing friends and events event planning, fundraising talking on the phone, encouraging friends to do or see something publicist, salesperson, marketing Go back to the chart paper with the list of careers and allow the students to change or add to their original career choices. Referring to the list, ask the students what types of volunteering or internships can help them make the first step on their chosen career paths. In small groups, have students use the Internet to research volunteer, internship or job opportunities in their area related to their career interests. Then, have them make a list of the possibilities that most interest them. Activity 2: Interviewing (45 min - 1 hour) Tell the students that they are going to watch a clip from NEW YORK VOICES about a group that uses drama and performance to prepare young people for necessary job skills like interviewing and public speaking. Play the five-minute clip, located at http://www.thirteen.org/nyvoices/highlights/all_stars.html. Note: If you have a large-screen projector, this can be a whole-group activity. If not, have the students work in pairs to watch the clip independently on their computers. This should take no more than ten minutes. In a large group ask the following questions about their experiences being interviewed: Have you ever been interviewed? Were you the interviewer, or the interviewee? What kinds of questions were you asked? What kinds of questions do you think a future employer might ask you? How do you think you should behave in an interview? What should you wear? Do you think you should ask questions of potential employers? What kinds of questions? Should you do research on the organization or job position before the interview? What kind of research? Think of some ways you can find information? Tip: It could be helpful for the students to hear about your job interviewing experiences. Explain to the students that they will be practicing their interview skills through role play. Using chart paper, come up with a list of "respect rules" for giving feedback. For instance: no put downs no interrupting during the role play be positive make sure to recommend improvement offer praise Explain that there will be three roles: an interviewee, an interviewer and an observer. Each person should play each role during the exercise. Tip: It is recommended that you do one role play in the large group and model how to give feedback. Another tip is to use the model called "One, Three, Two." In this case, at the end of the interview, the interviewee and the observer tell the interviewer "One" thing they did well, "Three" things to work on and end with "Two" more things they did well. It's important that they give constructive criticism; explain that they should say "work on this" instead of "this was wrong" or "you should do this." Finally, after hearing feedback the interviewee should assess him or herself and should state one thing he/she wants to work on and one thing he/she did well. Divide the students into groups of three, according to similar career interests (from the introductory activity). Use the Interview handout sheet and have each group role play an interview and provide feedback. Repeat this three times so that each person has a chance to play all roles: interviewee, interviewer and observer. Activity 3: Culminating Activity: Résumé Writing (one or more sessions) As a large group, have a discussion about résumé writing. To begin ask the following questions: Have they ever seen a résumé? Does anyone have one? What is the purpose of a résumé? What information should be included? Ask them to think about the NEW YORK VOICES video clip - what did they learn about résumé writing from the young man in the video? Replay the clip as necessary. Have students record (on paper or on the computer) all of their work experience - even if it was only one day of volunteering. For each item, students should list: what they did their responsibilities how long they did it Using the résumé template handout as a guide, have the students take what they wrote down and make it into a résumé. Tip: Direct students to the following résumé-writing Web sites for assistance: http://www.resume-help.org/ http://www.write-a-resume.org/ http://www.jobstar.org/tools/resume/index.cfm Follow up Activities Have the students contact the organizations they researched in Activity 1 to pursue an internship, volunteer position or job. Call a local youth employment or volunteer agency and ask them to speak to the students about opportunities. Contact local professionals to speak to the young people about their career paths. Credits This AFTERSCHOOL EXCHANGE activity was developed by Ellen Lenihan, Ed Online Content Producer and experience afterschool educator, in connection with the Thirteen Web site NEW YORK VOICES and the PBS series IN THE MIX. < Back to Afterschool Exchange Activities & Tips main © 2003-2006 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved.