Our Career Services Department frequently visits most of the career core courses; Human Relations, Info Literacy,Critical Thinking, Career Management and Internship. This gives the students the opportunity to gain some familiarity with us and visa versa. It gives us credibility as well as their better understanding of what we're all about. I always ask what their major is and emphasize the opportunities in that field. Students frequently doubt themselves relative to making the right career decision and this interaction helps to alleviate that doubt. Most importantly, it gives them an opportunity to ask questions, if they feel comfortable asking in the class, or a contact for them to ask one on one questions.
Hi Lore, Sounds like you have a good program with field trips and job search skills. You might want to create a list of 20 things that the student should be able to do or know related to employment readiness and awareness and skills like interviewing, creating resumes, etc. Even with a 12 week program there can be placement and career awareness and skill building built into every classroom session. You'll be surprised how you increase placement and job retention. Best wishes, Susan
In our 12 week beginning level program, we already have a field trip to several speciality hospitals so that students can see various types of practices that they may be interested in. We already have the students prepare a resume. I think we will now add some job searching skills and interviewing techniques. I will suggest to the instructor to develp a role playing activity for job interviews.
