A Winning Hand
	Introduction / Task / Process / Evaluation / Conclusion by Dianne Leonards and Joyce Valenza

 

Images from Free Foto.com

Introduction

Welcome to Career Central.  Most of us have dream jobs.  This activity will give you the opportunity to explore a number of jobs, even jobs you may think you'd hate. You'll explore your talents, personal preferences and maybe even discover a career you never before considered.

Your task

1. Create two lists:

• List #1 should be three careers that you would absolutely love to have.

• List #2 should be three careers that you believe you'd absolutely hate!

2. Word process your lists. Print two copies. Keep one and give the other to Mrs. Leonards.

3. Take the Work Interest Quiz and the Princeton Review Quiz

4. Print two copies of your results (List #3).

5. Open Microsoft Word and write a paragraph describing how you feel about your results from the two quizzes.  Do you feel the quizzes accurately understood your interests?  Do you feel they are guiding you in the right direction?  Why?  Email your paragraph to Mrs. Leonards.

6. Select a job from each of your three lists.  Now it's time to research! 

7. Use these Websites to help you explore your three careers.

• Occupational Handbook http://stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm
• Career Browser http://cbweb9p.collegeboard.org/career/bin/career.pl
• Career Explorer http://careerexplorer.net/careers.asp
• Michigan Occupational Information System http://mois.org/clusters.html#cluster01

Use the notetaking organizer to help you collect your information. When you have finished collecting information on all three careers, hand your three organizers in to Mrs. Leonards.

8. Use the information you've collection to prepare a trading card.  You will need to summarize your information into meaningful, concise bullet points!

The FRONT of the card should include the following information:

• A picture representing the job (Try visiting searchtip.html and click on "Image Searching.")

• The job title

The BACK of the card should include the following information:

• a brief description
• education
• salary and benefits
• physical demands
• job outlook
• working conditions (indoors, outdoors, stress factors, people contact/isolated, etc.)
• possibility of advancement

You will be using Microsoft Publisher's postcards to create both sides of your trading cards.

Proofread! Your finished product should be free of errors. We will be printing your "perfect" projects in color and using them for class activities and presentations.

Evaluation:

• Each finished card is worth 25 points. For a total of 75 points! Consider

• Have I successfully summarized the important information?
• Are my cards free of errors?
• Are my cards attractively designed?

• Notetaking organizers: 15 points each
• Email paragraph: 20 points
• Three lists of careers: 5 points each

Conclusion:

The average person will change jobs more than seven times in his or her life. What you think you may want to do for a living now, may change over the next five years. Your interests and aptitudes can help guide you in making informed choices. You may be surprised that jobs you never considered may be right for you. Remember you will spend most of your waking hours at work. You might as well enjoy it!

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