Use the templated form below to help students prepare by documenting what they already know about the job, determining what questions they have, and reflecting on what they learned from the career speaker’s presentation.
What do we know?
This first column should be completed prior to the career speaker’s visit. Guide the students through research relevant to the career speaker. Websites such as O*Net can be helpful to do this research. Depending on the students’ level of independence, this research can be completed independently or as a group. For example:
- Pinpoint the career cluster
- List typical job tasks
- Identify the job requirements
What do we want to know?
After completing the initial research relevant to the career speaker, students will brainstorm questions they want to ask the speaker. Ask the students what they are still curious about. Tell students to think about questions that may not be typically found in initial research but about specific perspectives from the guest speaker.
For example:
- What are the harder parts of your job?
- Is there something about your job role that makes it different from other people in similar job roles?
- Are you in a leadership position in your workplace?
What have we learned?
Depending on the nature of the presentation and specific student needs, it may be beneficial to have the students take notes in this section during the presentation or during a group discussion following the presentation. Prompt discussion on how what the students have learned can relate to their steps in job searching. Ask questions and help make connections between the presenter’s experience and steps the students are taking or will be taking. Examples of reflection questions can include:
- What information did the speaker give you that you didn’t already know?
- Did any of the information the speaker gave you differ from the research that you did?
- After listening to the speaker, are you more interested or less interested in the job?
Career Presentation
Presenter Name: _________________________ Job Title: ___________________________
Contact Information (email/phone number): _________________________________________
| What do we know? (Research) | |
| What do we want to know? (Questions) |
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| What did we learn? (Reflection) |
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