Weekly Insight 12

            Before Thanksgiving break the class presentation from the Elementary group was fun.  It was great to see how they implemented nontraditional jobs into a lesson plan for a career day with that population. Additionally, I learned a lot from the reading in Chapter 11.  While my group (Higher Education) offered resources on where to look for employment online, we did not go over how to search for employment online.  These skills are definitely needed to help the naïve job seeker. 

            Not only did the Elementary group integrate nontraditional career education into their lesson plan, they were also presented by women! I may be a bit biased in saying this, but I really liked that they had a female military pilot.  In addition, they also had a female chemist.  I do not remember having a career day at school, but if I did have one to participate in, this group’s career day would be the one. The activities presented were at the grade level presented. The activity in the hallway for stereotypical careers by men and women was a great way for kids to see that careers can be done and enjoyed by either sex. Additionally, the oobleck activity can be a great chemical experiment for all elementary ages.  Who doesn’t love to mix a good concoction?

            While my group did not go over how to search for employment online, we did offer the resources to do so.  If that were an actual workshop, where we had an hour and a half to present, we would have been able to offer the skills of online job search.  During my stint as a stay at home mom, I wanted to go back into the workforce, but was ambivalent on my employability because I had been unemployed for an extended period of time. I am unsure of other locations, but Lancaster does have a lot of staffing agencies.  Had I not known of the staffing agencies, I would have gone to our local Career Link.  They have workshops that give clients the skills needed to obtain “the top 10 needs of job seekers, according to their own ratings, are (1) selling yourself, (2) preparing for a typical interview, (3) writing a resume, (4) self-assessment skill, (5) salary information, (6) budgeting until a job is found…” (Brown, 2012, p. 239)  Given these skills, a client would gain more self confidence and skills necessary to have a successful interview.

Brown, D.  (2012).  Facilitating the global job search: Employability skills and placement services. Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development (10th ed., pp. 234-254). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.