Senior Experience: Find Your Placement to Begin Your Journey

This week, we will focus on applying for and securing our Senior Experience positions for the 2016-17 school year.  At this time, we have less than three weeks before you have to go out into the working world and begin your internships or jobs.  In order to prepare, I am going to outline the requirements for the internship opportunity at Premier Medical and discuss how you can prepare for a job interview.  The internship posting will be found in Edmodo and the link for your application, which will be a Google Form I create, will be available on Wednesday.  By Friday, everyone in the class will have a plan of action for your Senior Experience placement.  Please see below for a breakdown of our weekly tasks:

Tuesday:

Clear Target: We can create an effective employment profile

When class begins, you will need to list at least three possible Senior Experience positions you feel you could fill in the next three weeks.  Those of you who have your internships secured will list them and share out exactly how you earned them.  Hopefully this sheds some light as to how the rest of you might be able to acquire your positions. 

In order to prepare for your applications and interviews, different students who work part-time jobs will explain how they got hired at different places, such as Hardees or Baskin Robins.  We will discuss common interview questions, how to answer them, and when to mention that you wish to utilize your position as a placement for your Senior Experience (hint: it doesn’t come up when you’re interviewing or immediately after they hire you).  We’ll role play a few scenarios and prepare for our job applications throughout our double period.

Wednesday:

Clear Target: We can create an effective employment profile

Today we’ll review the information required to apply for the internship with Premier.  We’ll review our own competencies and see how closely our work with the academy and our extracurricular activities align with the knowledge, skills, and abilities that the employer wants in a job applicant.

During class on Wednesday, I’ll outline 10 common interview questions that you may encounter, along with strategies for answering them effectively.  After our discussion, I’m going to put a few of you on the spot to try and answer these questions to the best of your ability.  As a class, we’ll analyze and critique your answers to prepare you for when the real thing happens. 

Thursday:

Clear Target: We can create an effective employment profile

First, if we have not yet completed our interview lesson, we will finish that up in the beginning of the period. From there, Thursday is going to be a work day. During class, you will work independently on the following projects:

1.    Finalize your resume (if necessary): Try to include a QR code in your contact information (header) on your resume.

2.    Apply for job openings: With our time in class, you will identify different jobs that are available or reach out to different offices where you wish to intern/work.  You will make use of online job searches, reach out to local businesses, and determine potential destinations for your Senior Experience. Once you’ve found the job postings, use what you learned in class to apply for your desired job/internship.

3.    Refine your portfolio: Those of you who wish to work for Premier need to have a strong understanding of the artifacts you currently have in your physical portfolio.  Be prepared to use them in your answers to some of the behavioral questions you might be asked on your interview. 

4.    Update your personal website and blog: To date, you should have two blog entries completed and published, five tabs/pages built into your personal website, and some awards or certificates loaded in the appropriate page of your site.  If this is not yet completed, please make the necessary updates.

By the end of the period, I expect all of these projects to be complete.  This requires you to work diligently, so remain focused and commit to finish strong.

Friday:

Clear Target: We can analyze and critique a business interview

Today we will conduct interviews for all the students who wish to apply for the internship with Premier.  Any student interested in the internship should have completed the application (Google Form) and be prepared for an interview in class.  Students should dress appropriately, have a resume available to share with the interviewer, bring a portfolio that can be highlighted throughout the interview, and have a list of references available if necessary. 

During the interview, students will fill out the Interview Critique Form by highlighting things that went well, what could have been done differently, and explain why they would or wouldn’t hire the interviewee for the position.  Today’s class will hopefully be helpful for everyone as they prepare for their interviews.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me in class or email me.  My goal for this week is to have everybody set up for interviews for their Senior Experience so they can have their placements secured by 9/16. You are a strong group and I’m confident we will meet our deadline.