Today we will talk about a marketing initiative that mixes sparking the student’s interest and introducing them to new careers via related projects. In our day to day lives, we are exposed to an array of careers, that overall, stay the same through our growing years.
In our daily lives, we are in contact with doctors, nurses, police people, fire people, teachers, politicians, pharmacists, and many other jobs that are part of daily interactions. Outside of being exposed through movies, or online activities, students may not be aware of the full amalgam of careers that are available until they start their college careers. While guidance counselors provide career tests and guidance in high school, students still need more exposure.
The idea behind this initiative is to do a series of field-specific workshops. Let’s take technology, healthcare, and manufacturing as an example for these information sessions. During the workshop, an introduction to the field, an overview of a career-research website, career research, a list of careers, and a field-related project is done. For the first activity, the students will work on a field-specific project. For example, for a healthcare information session, students can do hands-only CPR; for a technology session, students can explore digital literacy; in a trades workshop, students can learn how to use a specific tool.
After the first activity is completed, students will then learn about the field, possible careers and career paths. A list of careers in this field will be reviewed (you can tailor the list to careers available at the college only or expand it to include others that fit within transfer paths). The second activity will involve learning about a career-research site, and students will select a couple of careers from the previous list that they do not know or want to learn more about. Then the career-research site will be used to learn about career paths, skills needed, type of tasks done, salary, and job information. This exercise serves two purposes, to introduce the student to careers within that field, and to teach them how to research careers of interest.
Closing
Workforce Warrior is an education blog, created by a workforce development professional with 20+ years in all areas of workforce development and college programming, including admissions, advising, career services and program development. The goal of Workforce Warrior is to pass on the knowledge collected over the years to fellow workforce and college professionals.
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