Job Discussion Forums

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

i have all the material i need (i think) for a lesson on how to write a resume and complete a job interview, however am unsure of how to go about presenting the actual lesson. these are college aged students, large classes, we meet once a week for 100 minutes, and i dont want to give them too much. should this actually become two lessons, one to write the resume and one to do the interview? is this better done as group work? (thinking of the vast number of students in the back rows who, on their own are incapable of lifting a pen or doing anything else in class) would appreciate any help from anyone who's given this type of lesson in the past.

7969

mjlpsu · Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 128 Location: NJ to Shenzhen

Resume writing and interviews would be multiple lessons. Shouldn't be to hard to teach writing the resume, but you should give some extra pointers after first introducing it.. I think Monster.com or one of those job sites has career specific resume formats, etc. As for interviews... roleplaying would work best. Give the students some sample questions a day or two ahead and then interview them (or have them interview each other in groups). Have the other students grade each other in a sense to see how well they do (or think they do).

Yu · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 1219 Location: Shanghai

There is a big format difference between Chinese resumes and American (dont know where you are from but I know where I am from) ones, and students are going to need several sample resumes. You are going to probably need to go over the verbs useful in placing on resumes.
I did this lesson with my students and asked them to turn in a resume to me. Most of them were quite bad. Resumes may take 2 lessons, possibly more.
One thing I did not have when I first talked about resumes were good examples of resumes. The students when they produced their resume for me to look over, I saw problems with formatting and content. Spend more time going over these points.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

thank you for the posts. i know the resume style is different in china, and thats a bit of a problem. i think i may just have them prepare a resume as its done in north america.

i purchased a resume writing book at one time in my life and it was quite good. however there are so many types of resumes available it isnt funny. my resume is the most basic type and i think i may use that as an example. if i want to show them different samples of resumes, i'm going to have to make photocopies in large numbers since i have huge classes. i think that'll just confuse them (some of them) and i dont think i want to do that. i may just explain the fact to them.

at times like this i wish i had an OHP or a projector i could connect my computer to.... we do have that but those classrooms are always fully booked by the chinese teachers.

Yu · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 1219 Location: Shanghai

I also told my students to use the resume wizard from MS word. Most of them will have access to it on their comptuer and it does the formatting for you.

brsmith15 · Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 1142 Location: New Hampshire USA

The resume part is straightforward. It's the intervew that needs MUCH work. First, go over the basic pointers: be on time, dress well, bring a resume, turn your &^%$ cell phone OFF. I heard tell of a instance at a job fair for future teachers in Hangzhou. One girl, during an interview, actually spit on the floor! No kidding.

Tell them to research the company and then be prepared to ask questions. Most young Chinese simply sit there with that rather bufuddled look they all seem to master so well.