Job Discussion Forums

[schminken]

I'm sorry if I am posting in the wrong place. I wasn't quite sure where to put it.

Do any of you have any good ideas for a job interviewing lesson? I have done it different ways and I haven't been happy with the results. I have a 3 hour lesson and am looking for a more creative approach than the "Let's talk about job interviewing, Here's a list of the most frequently asked interview questions, now prepare and let's have a mock interview" approach that I usually do.

There are 21 people in the class. They don't really need to know HOW to do an interview because they already have a seperate course in German about job application/interviewing. I would like to focus more on language but I really don't know what I could do to get them really involved. If I have them role play and critique each other, they lose interest quickly or fail to be critical. Anybody have any experience with something that has actually worked in the classrooms for adults aged 18-27? Some of them have work experience but some do not. Texts? Games?

Thanks in advance!
Schminken

[shenyanggerry]

If they're going to to practice job interviews, shouldn't they start with CV's? Then the 'interviewer' will have a basis to ask questions, the 'candidate' a framework to answer. Each interviewer should be 'hiring' for a specific position.

You could make the jobs real, based on their education and experience. You could make them a joke. i.e. have them apply for a position as a professional athlete.

A word of caution. Be sure you provide a framework of questions. Most people don't have a clue on how to conduct a job interview. It's a specialized skill. Knowing a little about what the traffic will bear, it must be a lot harder than teaching English.

[schminken]

Yes, I know what you are saying. We have already done CVs and Covering Letters. They chose jobs from a job database. The only problem is I would have to use 21 different jobs for the mock interview (based on their CV and Covering Letters). They are all (very) technical jobs and I don't know enough about the details to ask relevant questions.

[been_there]

One thing I've done is to break up the class into groups of four or five and then tell them to come up with a business (if they are having problems, I assign them a business, like a bakery or a Coca-cola factory or a high-tech IT job). At this business, they need a worker. They have to decide what the position is and what the qualifications for the position are. Then they write up a a "Job Opening" notice and tape it up on the blackboard.

Then, I number them off in each group and have "all the number ones" in each group rotate to one of the other groups and interview for the job (so their will be three people interviewing one candidate). Give each person a few minutes to interview (between 5 and 15 depending on ability), then rotate, so they each interview for several jobs. If time is limited, each person chooses one job to interview for, and let each person in the group only interview once

At the end, each "company" decides who they hire and explains their rationale to the class.

[daveryan]

I suggest you might want to concentrate on general questions eg What is it that you feel you can contribute to this post? or, What previous experience have you had that you feel is relevant to this post? questions on team work also nearly always come up in interviews. When I have organised mock interviews (albeit in a totally different proffession). I was fortunate to be able to enlist the help of collegues who would act as interviewers. They would ask the same questions to all the young people interviewed and score their answers 1 to 5 on each question. They were asked to take into account a range of factors, including presentation, in deciding how to grade answers. This is similar to what are known as "Equal Opportunity Interview", which are increasinly common in the U.K.

Anyway good luck. It's sounds like a lot of work for one person.

Cheers
Dave

[Roger]

Schminken,
I envy you as you are dealing with intellectually maturer students than I do in the Middle Kingdom. I did something similar to your task with 20 year olds at a college. I succeeded fairly well!
My suggestion would be:
Have them select a job description (an advertisement), then familiarise themselves to a minimal extent with the ins and outs of such a job; I mean a secretary doesn't know anything about ovens or breweries but knows how to typen and how many words she can type in a minute;
then try to be the interviewer and ask individual students to apply for those jobs to you.
The rest of the class watch and critique the performance of their peers.

[Newfoundland]

One that I found worked was divide them in groups of 2-4 and have them come up with an idea for a business they would like to start. Once they decide on their business tell them they have to go to the bank to get a loan to get start up money. They need to get a financial plan, get all there assets together, figure out how many employees they wil need etc.... Then once they have all that together designate yourself or someone in the class to be the loan officer at a bank and they have to present their plan to the loan officer who eihter grants or denies the loan.

[been_there]

One thing I did when I was preparing for job interviews was to videotape a mock interview and watch myself doing it. Picked up on all my quirks and ticks and consiously eliminated them.

Do some body-language work to.

[schminken]

Thanks for all the great ideas!