Preparing Your Students for the Real World: Let’s Get a Job!

Are your students clueless about what they want to do after high school?  They can’t wait to graduate, but have no idea what they are going to do next.  Or are your kids like ours and think they will become famous YouTube stars?!  I hate to break it to them but the odds of becoming famous via YouTube are extremely small.  Well, they need our help, guidance, and support!  Our students often think that they are expected to go to college because that’s what everyone else is doing.  School isn’t for all students and if they complain about school now, then why would they want to go to college?  Let them know that it’s okay not to go to college – college isn’t for everyone! Instead, set up the job seekers for success by preparing them for the skills they need to get a job.  The Career Readiness resource will help your students plan out, organize, and prepare for their future in the workforce.  

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR FUTURE JOBS

So many of our students ask us for help getting a job, whether it’s during the school year or when they are ready to graduate.  We love using our Career Readiness resource in our speech and language sessions with these students. Our Career Readiness packet has everything a student needs to refer to during the job application process, as well as step-by-step guidelines of what they need to do to get a job.  

TOP 6 SECTIONS OF THE CAREER READINESS RESOURCE:

Every section of this resource is important, but we wanted to focus on the top 6 that we thought were the most beneficial and effective for preparing and applying for jobs. 

1. Career Exploration. Career Zone is a place to explore different careers based on the students strengths, skills, and talents.  My Next Move helps students find out their interests and how they relate to the world of work.  They may be paired up with a dream job that they didn’t even know existed.  After exploring, your students will be able to complete a graphic organizer to organize the information about a specific job they are interested in.  They will become more familiar with job responsibilities, education/training needed, job outlook, wages,  etc. 
2. Soft Skills. Soft skills are personal habits and traits that shape how you work; on your own and with others.  These skills will help you secure and keep a job.  Most soft skills can be applied to our students’ traits and habits in high school.  After reviewing the key soft skills, students will be able to reflect on and evaluate their soft skill behaviors.  They will analyze the skills they are good at and the skills they need to improve in.  People with good soft skills finish projects on time, ask good questions, communicate appropriately, work at an expected pace and adjust to situational demands; however, people with limited soft skills fail to attend to detail, perform only a preferred portion of a task or fail to meet deadlines.  
3. Resume writing.  When it comes time to put together a resume, some of our students have a lot of blank sections and it looks empty.  This is due to the fact that they were never involved in the school community.  Stress to your freshman the importance of joining clubs, activities, and teams so they have something to showcase and present to a future employer.  Two different graphic organizers are provided to help your students gather the information needed to create their resume.   
4. Filling out an application.  All job applications have similar questions.  So no matter which application you choose, make sure your students are familiar with the questions and how to answer them.  After students fill out the mock application in this resource, they will feel more confident completing a job application on the spot. 
5. Following up.  After sending in a job application, it’s okay to wait, but let’s not wait forever.  Teach your students to follow up with a future employer via email or phone call.  The graphic organizer provided in this resource can help them to write a follow-up email.  We also love role playing with our students when it comes to follow-up phone calls.  Practice using the script provided or create a script of your own.  Make sure to rehearse with a teacher or classmate prior to making any follow-up phone calls. 
6. Interview.  Review and practice the common interview questions.  Prepare students ahead of time so they know how to respond to these questions when asked.  It’s also a good idea for your students to write a list of questions they can ask the interviewer.  This shows that they are highly interested in the position and want the job.  Here is another great opportunity for some role playing.  Students can practice responding to interview questions with the teacher, or pair them up with a partner and they can take turns being the interviewer and interviewee.   

After completing the Career Readiness packet, exploring different careers, and breaking down the job application process, your students will feel more confident when they apply for a job and go on their first interview.  And you will be so proud of them when they tell you they ‘nailed it’ and got the job!  What will you do to help prepare your students when getting a job?