student as a job | TeachingKidsBusiness,com

Student as a Job™

This program has been created to help students think differently about the roles of students in school. This will help students use their experiences as students to understand connections between school and business and to prepare for jobs in business.

The intent is to have students read through this curriculum and participate in the activities to;

learn new concepts, engage in thinking about school and being a student differently,
make the connection between being a student and having a job in business to help school become more relevant,
take more responsibility and ownership in learning through self-directed learning,
ask questions of yourselves & others and realize that as students you are gaining valuable skills and job experience that will help you in the future.

This program can be enhanced by the involvement from a parent, teacher, or other kids.

This is part of the BPP™ (Business Preparing Program™) which is a business certification program for kids. Please support the social venture of TeachingKidsBusiness.com by paying for this curriculum. Proceeds go towards further developing programming to help prepare kids for business. We are in the business of teaching kids business.

Key outcomes are; finding creative ways to gain job experience, preparing for business and entrepreneurship, learning relevant future jobs skill, changing attitudes towards learning, building confidence in the future, skill development, self-directed learning, interdisciplinary learning and developing a résumé/CV. By engaging kids in business preparation, we will plant the seed for future business and entrepreneurial success.

Overview of what is covered

What is a job?
What is a non-paying job?
What is job experience?
What is preparing for business?
What is a student?
How are you performing in your job as a student?
Why do we go to school?
How can being a student in school be thought of as a job?
What are some job responsibilities you have in school as a student?
How does your résumé/CV develop through school?
How do school experiences and skills learned in school help you prepare for business?
Understand how interviewing students will help you prepare for business.
Updated your résumé/CV.
Reflect
Practice

What is a job?

Many kids will want to get a job to be able to buy things or save for future expenses such as school. Many parents want their kids to get jobs at some point in time to help contribute to buying things kids need or would like and to become independent.

A job is an activity, often a regular activity and often performed in exchange for payment. A job is a responsibility you have to get something such as earning money, satisfaction or experience.

What if you considered every activity you do as a job?

Activity: What is job?

Think of the many activities you do in a day – Examples; brushing your teeth, getting yourself dressed, organizing things for school, completing school work, managing responsibilities in your home, looking after a family pet or other family members. These activities can be considered jobs and therefore you currently manage many jobs in a day.

List the many activities you do daily, weekly, and monthly.

What is a non-paying job?

Often, we think of money or getting paid when we think about jobs. While we think of money, we may not think about the job experience and the many ways we can benefit from doing jobs. Most people would not think of spending time at a job that may not pay money.

What if you did jobs for reasons other than money such as generating valuable experience to prepare you for better paying jobs? We are not suggesting people should have to work at jobs in business for no money but there are times when the work you do does not generate business revenue or the work at a job is not for a business. You may also consider a job for a short period of time to help you develop and prepare for other paying jobs.

Think of jobs you would do without being paid with money? Examples; brushing your teeth daily, helping around your home, giving advice to someone on what product to purchase, volunteering with a non-profit organization or playing on a sports team etc.

If you consider activities as jobs, then you will realize you do many non paying jobs each day. Each of these jobs develops your skills and experience.

At high-school and college age, explore “intern jobs” for experience and the opportunity to better understand what you might like to do as a job, but do your research to understand the business offering the job and the job being offered.

What is job experience?

Once you have a job and perform the responsibilities of a job you begin to develop job/work experience. As you work in a job you get experience. Conventional thinking has been that it is better to hire people with job/work experience then not. Job experience demonstrates that a person is capable of doing a job and therefore will need less training and in general will have a faster impact on the business.

Job experience is needed in many cases to get a good job. Many students apply for entry level jobs which do not expect too much experience but if you have job experience you will have more chances of getting the job. If you better understand the experience you have, you will present yourself well and be more likely to get a job.

Job experience helps you learn to do jobs better and prepare you for more challenging jobs.

A goal of this course is to help you take your role as a student and create job experiences which will help you get future jobs. If you think about your student hours as job experience hours, then you will create significant job experience. On average there are approximately 185 days of school per year and approximately 5 hours of school per day which equates to about 185 x 5 = 925 hours of school student experience per year. Most jobs are approximately 50 weeks x 5 days per week x 7 hours per day = 1,750 days per year. Therefore, as a student you accumulate over half the experience time as a full time worker. The key is to make the most of this experience and learn as much as possible.

When you interview for a job talk about how you managed your student career or job as a student. This will impress the person you are interviewing with and will give you a better chance of getting the job.

What is preparing for business?

All this discussion about jobs and job experience is to help you prepare for business.

So, what does it mean to prepare for business? Consider that we all interact with businesses throughout our lives. We purchase and consume (eat, drink, wear, enjoy) products and services from businesses.

Most people will have to work in a business to provide for themselves (buy food, clothing, and other needs). Most people will have a job in business in the future.

Preparing for business is:

Being aware of the many businesses around you.
Learning how to be a customer to make informed decisions on purchases from businesses and how you can influence businesses.
Developing a foundation of skills and a résumé/CV to obtain a job in a business.
Understanding the basics of business. Business is practiced around the world and the basic principles of business are similar.
Realizing that business can be considered a competitive game learned at any age. Preparing for business can be seen as learning about business as you learn a game – develop skills, practice, learn how to play and compete to win. All of these aspects of a game apply to business.
Doing research on business to understand what makes them good, how do they differentiate themselves and what are they good at.
Understanding yourself – what interests you, the skills you have and finding a good fit for you to balance the type of life you want. Your want to prepare for the right job for you.

What is a student?

You are a student and you know yourself well but have you really asked yourself what being a student is really about.

Dictionary definition of student;

A person who is studying at a school or college.

Denoting someone who is studying to enter a particular profession.

A person who takes an interest in a subject.

Do you fit into any of the dictionary framework for the meaning of what a student is?

You clearly study in a school or home school. Hopefully you have found subjects that interest you in school. Beyond school you can be a student of other subject matter such as sports or music. You can be a student outside of school and learn so many interesting things. Try and learn something every day!

Do you know the particular profession you will be entering so do you know what you need to study to prepare for this profession? Some students know what job they want or the profession they want but many don’t know and should not be expected to. Those that know may change their minds as they learn more about other jobs/professions and subjects. Therefore, being a student for many is exploring different subjects to begin to figure out what interests you and the skills you have and are interested in developing which are necessary for certain jobs.

Most schools do not make the connection between subjects and jobs and may not know what skills specific professions require. There are many jobs and many skills required for all possible jobs therefore it is difficult for schools to tailor the needs to each student. It is important for you to explore jobs and understand the skills and subject matter you will need to learn and if your school does not offer this then find ways to prepare yourself.

You may take an interest in a specific subject or several subjects. The dictionary definition of a student may be suggesting that a student will likely take an interest in a subject and become a student of that subject or learn about the subject specifically.

What do you think a student is? Are you really being a student?

Think about being a student as;

A time in your life when you can focus uninterrupted time and invest time on you (once people begin working full time it is difficult to find the time to study).
Learning to think and learn.
Developing as many skills as possible.
Exploring subjects and identifying what you are good at and what interests you.
Learning about and developing yourself using the resources available from your school.

To excel at something first requires you to understand what you are trying to excel at. It will be worth the time to think about being a student to help you manage being a student.

How are you performing in your job as a student?

In most schools marks/grades are important and you should learn to get the marks/grades you need to move on to what you want to do in life. Unfortunately, student performance tends to be judged on marks/grades but you can keep score in other ways. Performance can and should be measured a number of ways and you should honestly assess your own performance.

Beyond the marks/grades, think about other ways to keep score of what you have learned and how you are developing – skills, experiences, character and as a brand. There are many important things learned that are not reflected in test scores.

Think about:

Keeping track of the feedback given to you and by teachers, other students, and parents. Ask for feedback from others – How am I doing? What do I do well? What are areas of opportunity for improvement for me?
Skills you are developing – interacting with others, social, network of people and friends.
Noticing what interests, you in school, what you feel you do well and explore it more.
Developing a résumé/CV. This is a great way to keep track of your development.

In business there are a number of ways to determine how people perform. There is normally a formal or informal review of performance over the course of each year. There is a trend to do more informal feedback on a more regular basis so the person doing the job knows how well they are doing. Businesses will take steps immediately to address performance as businesses need to deal daily with challenges such as competition, supply issues and changing demands from the marketplace. Businesses need to know how well they are performing and manage the performance of employees in order to succeed.

In business there are performance considerations such as:

Getting the job done well – not just getting it done but doing it well and on time. Doing what you are required to do and hopefully being incented to do more than you are expected to do.
Professional development – Skill assessments and training required to determine areas of improvement are important investments businesses make in employees. School is professional development made to help develop knowledge, skills and experience.
Collaboration is essential in business. Working well with others is important for the business to run smoothly and to succeed as a team. In school you learn to work as a team within your class and hopefully on projects and other activities.
The goals of a business are normally financial, competitive and community based goals. Schools have goals in regard to managing a budget, attendance, graduation, test results and teacher development.

There are similarities between students’ performance and job performance as an employee in a business.

As a student you progress in levels/grades on an annual basis. In business people progress in their career based on learning a job and doing it well which provides opportunities to advance to other jobs.
As a student you are measured on your performance in class and with your test results. In business you will be measured on your performance in your job responsibilities and other contributions to the success of the business.
As a student you are developing your education, skills, and experience résumé/CV to help you get a job in the future. In business the same criteria is used when looking for a job. In both cases you are developing your r sumé/CV to develop as a person and to communicate your abilities and experiences.

Activities:

Think about your performance as a student and ways to better prepare yourself with skills and experience to excel as a student.
Consider developing your own personal performance review to see how you are doing in your own mind.
Create your own version of a résumé/CV to reflect on and importantly celebrate your successes!

Why do we go to school?

You probably have not thought of the many reasons why you go to school. You start school at around five years of age and continue year after year until you leave school and get a job or take on other responsibilities in or out of your home. For many kids, school is part of the growing-up process. Another way to think of school is as personal development or an investment in you – an investment of your time, teachers, schools and parents to develop you physically, mentally and emotionally.

Here are some reasons why you go to school;

Your parents have told you school is important and is something you need to do.
To learn and develop yourself in many ways.
To meet other kids and develop friendships.
In many countries it is a legal right to attend school and often the law requires children of certain ages to go to school.
To help prepare people for success in life.
To gain knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.
Education is often a key requirement to getting a job and to help you prepare for business.
Working parents do not have the time to educate their kids in traditional school programming and depend on the school system to provide education for their kids.
To learn how to learn. This may seem obvious, but many people have not thought about the many ways to learn. Have you thought about good ways for you to learn? Have you realized that some teaching approaches (ways to learn) do not work well with you? Have you learned how to learn?
Explore techniques on how to learn; describe it aloud, create an image to recall, explain the process to someone else, develop a logical flowchart or diagram or think about it to yourself. Research the many teaching techniques on how to learn and help yourself find the best ways to learn as a student. Once you develop the skill of how to learn you can then apply this to learning many interesting things in and out of school.

It is a good approach to ask yourself why you are in school as a student. Once you understand why you are a student and what you are trying to accomplish as a student then it is easier to be a student.

Activities:

List the reasons why you think you are in school.
Ask your parents why you go to school.
Ask teachers why you are in school and learning school materials.
Think of ways to learn outside of school.
Think about changing the way you think about school.

How can being a student in school be thought of as a job?

The simple answer is to consider your role as a student as a job. Treat being a student as a job and learn to manage this job well. This will change the way you act as a student and will improve your performance as a student. A change in the way you think about being a student can change your attitude towards learning which is a key factor to doing something well.

If we think of being a student as a job and understand more about jobs then it will become clearer that being a student in school is similar to a job and should be considered one of your first jobs. The interesting thing about thinking about being a student as a job is that you will learn in new ways and begin to make education relevant to a future in business. Once you realize that your success in the future is connected to how well you learn the job of being a student then you are well on your way to preparing for success in business.

You may also realize that being a student may not be the best use of your skills and therefore you will learn to succeed by developing other skills which are not taught in school. An example of this is often athletes and musicians who develop skills outside of school. There are also many successful entrepreneurs who did not fit in or succeed in overly structured school systems. There are also people that are interested and talented in subjects that are not taught in school. Therefore, as you develop as a student in school, you can also develop as a student out of school.

School is clearly an activity that you do not get paid to attend or paid to learn at least in the short term. Hopefully school will help you learn about various subjects to eventually get a future paying job.

What are some job responsibilities you have in school as a student?

Job responsibilities are general tasks/activities you should do in performing a job. To do a job it is important that a job is explained in a job description and the responsibilities you are expected to assume are also identified.

The role/job of a student has certain tasks/activities students need to complete and responsibilities students need to assume.

Activities:

Think of the many activities you do in your school classes as a student.
Think of the times you are asked to do things such as answer questions, do class work, work with others, do homework, think about subject matter, and solve problems.
Consider these activities and things you do as a student as job responsibilities or the things you need to do in the job of being a student.

Examples of job responsibilities as a student in school;

Learn the subject matter you are taught.
Develop skills to improve your performance as a student.
Show up for class on time and motivated to learn.
Listen to what you are being taught.
Participate in class.
Take direction from teachers.
Ask questions and explore subject matter further.
Take on the role of a student – manage being a student.
Take ownership in your success as a student – find the best ways to engage yourself in investing time and resources in your personal education development.
Figure out what it takes to succeed as a student.
Determine the resources you need to succeed.
Train and manage your body to be alert, healthy and ready to learn.
Work with teachers and other students as required.
Make the most of your time in class and out of class to learn when possible. Develop time management skills to balance your life – school work and extracurricular activities.
Make mistakes and learn from your mistakes.
Learn to take responsible risks.
Determine the best ways you learn and find ways to accept and make the most of other learning/teaching approaches.
Communicate with others such as your parents on your challenges and progress in school.
Represent your school in your community individually and/or through teams and groups.
Learn the material that is presented to you to move on to the next level in school – progress as a student.

Activities:

Think of additional responsibilities you have as a student. Don’t limit the role of a student, learn to expand the role, take on more responsibility and make the most of your time as a student.

How does your résumé/CV develop as a student in School?

Every experience you have and everything you learn helps develop you as an individual. As you learn, and gain experience your skills develop which helps you think and react to situations differently. The more you learn and the more experiences you have will develop your résumé/CV with skills and experiences. Skills are needed to have experiences and experiences will develop your skills. The two are very connected and are equally as important. Skills which you cannot apply to experiences are not nearly as valuable as skills that you can apply well. The key is to develop skills and then test the use of the skills and further develop them by applying them in experiences.

An example of applying skills in experiences is to think of skills in sports and how skill development will allow you to experience the sports in a successful way. Consider your favorite sport and think of one skill needed in this sport. Think of your skill level when you first tried the skill. Think of the best people in this sport and the skill level they have. You will quickly realize that they worked hard to develop their skills and the more game situations (experiences) they have the better they are able to apply their skills.

Skills can be improved and taken to different levels. Skills as in sports or learning music or playing video games start with the basics which can be worked on and further developed to play or experience the skills at different levels.

The following are examples of several components to develop in your résumé/CV as you develop as a student and learn to manage the student job as you would any other job;

Education;

Education is an important part of a résumé/CV. Education demonstrates that you can learn and have demonstrated success in learning. The type of classes/courses you have taken demonstrates that you have learned subject matter which could be relevant to doing a particular job.

Keep track of the subject matter you learn. List the type of classes and the things you learn in these classes. Also keep track of your out of school learning such as online courses.

Activities:

There are significant accomplishments in your overall education. Learning to read and write are noticeable accomplishments and there are many other important accomplishments which may not be as noticeable to you or others.

Identity other moments in your education in which you believe you have learned important lessons.
Set goals and accomplish what you can achieve.
Training;

The meaning of training is the action of teaching a person a skill or type of behavior. Every job has a level of training which covers thing like safety, rules, what resources are available to you, computer access and facility tour etc. There is a lot of training that happens in schools that may not be called training. Everything you do in school can be considered training.

Job training are often specific things companies will teach employees to help them perform their jobs better. Companies want to avoid wasted time and want to make sure employees are familiar with the companies’ systems, how to find the resources needed to do the job well, learn the many steps to do a job and be safe in the work place.

Examples:

Safety training for severe weather is an example of important training that could save lives in a time of crisis. Fire drills are also training.

Activities:

Think of situations in which people took time to explain or demonstrate something to you from learning class materials, how to cross a street, riding a bike, hold a pen, how to pack a lunch, how to dress for school etc.
List activities you have been trained in.
Identify things you would like to be trained in.
Think of ways you can improve the training you have had.
Identify ways to get the training you need or would like.

Basic skills are developed in school; (life skills)

The subjects you are taught in school can be considered basic skills you learn. The knowledge you gain from school classes should be considered skills. The approach you take to learning should be considered a skill – how you process information, find content, remember things, how you present information and how you work with others. Everything you do in school is a skill and everything you learn is a skill. Now you should realize that you have many skills. At some point begin to think about and list the many skills you have.

Even the disruptive students have specific skills which may not be good for the class but could serve them well in certain jobs in the future. Someone who is naturally funny in class has a unique skill which can be applies to a variety of jobs beyond a comedian.

The more you learn the more skills you develop. The more exposure you have to others who have skills will help you develop the skills they have. You will learn good and bad skills from other students. The people you choose to be friends with will impact the skills you develop. You can learn skills from observing other people.

For example; thinking is an important skill and as you are exposed to more subjects in school your thinking skills will be enhanced with greater perspective or looking at things differently and with more experiences.

Subject matter skills in school;

Communication skills: You learn to present ideas and discuss topics with others.
Writing skills: You learn to write and to express your thoughts in writing on paper, a computer or tablet etc.
Language skills: You learn to speak a language(s) and develop a vocabulary of words to speak or write with.
Health: Many schools teach you about the importance of physical activity, nutrition and how to take care of your body.
History: Many schools teach about history of your country and other examples of things that have happened in the past to learn from. Many skills can be learned from studying the past.
Science: You will become aware of the environment and the impact it has on you and the impact you have on the environment. Noticing the environment and the way you interact with it is a skill. There are many fascinating things to learn in science.
Math: There are the obvious skills of adding, subtracting and multiplying numbers but there are many other skills such as thinking and problem solving which are developed in math.
Character development: Schools try to teach respect, responsibility, compassion, integrity, honesty, fairness and how to be good a citizen. These character traits and others are worth exploring further to understand the meaning of character and the how to develop these excellent qualities.

Activities:

Go through each of the skills identified above and think of how you have developed these skills to demonstrate your skill level.
Identify the classes or subjects you take in school, the kinds of skills needed in each and the skills you have learned.
Think of the kinds of activities you do in these classes – each activity is a skill.
Think of the many skills you have which you use in these classes which you came to school with -you come to school with many skills which you apply to school and you continue to learn and further develop skills outside of school.
Smile and feel proud of the many skills you have even if your marks/grades do not reflect your skills.
Think of ways to improve the skills you have – set goals to improve certain skills.

How do school experiences and skills learned in school help you prepare for business?

You now realize that being a student can and should be considered a job. You understand that job experiences help you prepare for other jobs in the future. We realize that one important thing businesses do is to provide jobs for people like you and your classmates in the future. All of this new thinking should help you better connect being a student with jobs and business.

One of your goals in life is to become independent by getting a job and providing for yourself in the future. On a daily basis you learn from activities in school, you learn about yourself from what you are good at and what you enjoy learning or how you like to spend your time. An important part of preparing for business is to understand yourself, invest in yourself, to develop in ways that builds skills which can be applied to things you want to do to become independent.

Every skill and experience you develop will help you shape into a person who will be a good fit for certain jobs in businesses.

The following are examples of important ways you develop as a student to help prepare for a job in a business.

An important part of school education has been the process of gaining knowledge. Knowledge is facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. Knowledge helps you prepare for business.

Take a moment and think about these questions;

Do you have more knowledge as a 5 year old then a 3 year old? Why?
Do you see many 5 year old running businesses? Why not?

Knowledge increases over time and is gained partly through school, family, your own research & reading, and experiences in your daily life. The amount of knowledge you gain is related to; your attitude towards learning, the amount of time you dedicate to learning, how effectively you learn, and how you apply your learning.

A conventional classroom school is one alternative of sharing knowledge with students and for you to learn. You also learn outside of school in your experiences in daily life and from the activities you choose to spend your time on. If you learned to balance your time differently you could find a better balance of doing things you enjoy to do and hopefully spend time learning while enjoying your time.

The knowledge learned from your classes in school helps you understand your community and hopefully the broader world. Businesses need this same knowledge to develop and sell products and services. Businesses need to have knowledge of their customers and the areas they operate to make the right business decisions.

Activities:

Think of things you have learned in school. (take short or longer time frames to get started)
Think of the things you really enjoy learning.
Think of the things you have difficulty learning.
Try different learning approaches to see what works better for you. Try questioning things, inquiring more, and trying to find answers to questions. Try reading and then thinking about what you read – discuss what you read in your own mind and/or with others.
Responsibility.

Responsibility is to do with; having a duty to deal with something, fact of being accountable for something and the opportunity or ability to act independently and make decisions without authorization. Responsibility means it is up to you to make something happen, take the blame for something you did wrong or accept praise for something you did right.

There are many excuses why kids are not good students and why kids do not do well in school. Many of the excuses are difficult to change but you can control the level of responsibility you take towards being a good student.

Learn to take responsibility such as going to class each day, learn your lessons, do your homework, and contribute to the class and other activities related to the school. Consider the success and failure as a student within your control and find ways to help you succeed.

Take responsibility for being a good student and use your time to develop yourself for a successful future in and outside of school.

The responsibilities you learn to take on as a student in school are like job responsibilities in a business. The quicker you understand the meaning of responsibility, how to become more responsible and the better you apply it will help you dramatically improve your performance.

Consider the meaning of leadership as a practical skill, regarding the ability to “lead” or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations.

There are many ways you develop leadership skills in school by; taking control of your education, setting a vision of success and to engage others to help you succeed in school.

Consider taking on a leadership role in your school classes to change attitudes towards education to engage others to have a better experience in school. Help lead change and you will develop leadership skills and enhance your overall education.

Take a leadership role in asking questions such as why and how and try and find ways to help others make education more relevant.

Take on leadership roles in your school community.

Examine the leadership qualities of your school management and teachers. Learn from the way they lead the school and classes.

Take direction from others.

Learn to take direction from others such as your teachers. Consider your teachers as managers who oversee your school education. Your teachers are managers who you report to each day which are like managers in business.

You should learn to work with and for a manager to accomplish goals. A key goal in business is to be successful in making money and having a positive impact on society. A key goal of a school should be to provide an excellent education to students which will help prepare them to make money in business in the future and to lead a life that has a positive impact on society. Once you understand the goals teachers and the school has, then you can work with them to accomplish common goals. By managing against goals, you will work well together and be more satisfied with the outcome.

Learn to work with others – collaborate with others.

A key to business is working with others and performing at a high level to help the business succeed. Businesses compete against other businesses locally and in many cases internationally. It is critical to learn how to work well with others in the business. You will need to learn how to do your job well and how to perform well with other people.

Think about working well with your teacher to learn the material presented to you. Help your teacher teach you. If you perform well and your teacher does his/her job well, then you both will succeed. If you both succeed, and others take the same approach then the school will succeed. This is an important lesson for business. If all the people doing jobs work well together and are excellent at their jobs, then the business will be more likely to succeed.

Research the meaning of collaboration and find ways to develop this skill as it is very important to have in business. Find ways to demonstrate to others that you collaborate well with people.

Social development – interpersonal skills.In your role as a student you learn to get along with others. You learn to interact and work with others. You learn to socialize with others. You learn to talk about things and share your experiences with others. This takes the development of interpersonal skills to interact with others.

In business you will work with a team of people to support the business. Your interpersonal skills are very important to all businesses.

Do some research on the meaning of interpersonal skills and set goals to improve them such as your listening and communications skills.

Learn management styles by considering your teachers as managers.

Teachers manage you and each teacher will have a different management style. Teachers will ask you to do things in certain ways, motivate you to act appropriately and get your work done, encourage you and discipline you if you are not doing a good job. These are all similar management styles in business. Each teacher will manage you differently as people in business will manage you differently.

Think of the different ways each teacher teaches your classes. Think of the different ways teachers help you or teach you individually. Some teachers are more; available, organized, knowledgeable then others and some are knowledgeable but do not communicate the subject matter as well. Some teachers will show you how to do things while others will help you find the answers on your own. Some teachers will be very demanding, and others will try and make it easier for you.

You can learn good and bad management styles from observing the people who manage you. You can develop your own management style and practice it on the way you interact with teachers and other students – develop your own management style.

Develop your own management style and evolve it over time and in different situations. Yes you do manage many situations and you do it a certain way – you have a management style.

Other considerations.

Rules. Businesses have to follow the law and other types of rules. You have been exposed to many rules in school. Think about the rules you follow as a student. Assess how well you follow rules, how you would change the rules and other rules that are needed for students.
Procedures. Schools have many procedures to deal with many situations which may arise. You have been exposed to fire drills and many more procedures which are also used in business.
Training programs. Many businesses will send you to training programs in a class environment or online classes. Think of your school classes as training to prepare you for experiences.

Understand how interviewing students will help you prepare for business.

An interview is a conversation where questions are asked, and answers are given. The word “interview” refers to a one-on-one conversation with one person acting in the role of the interviewer and the other in the role of the interviewee.

Interviewing yourself and others will help you realize the skills and experience you have as a student. In addition you will develop interviewing skills which will be helpful when you are looking for a job.

What if you were running a business and needed to hire someone to help your business? There are a number of ways to find people and when you do it is important to speak with them to; understand their skills and experience to determine if they would be capable of doing the job and if they would be a good fit for the job and the business.

Since your current job is being a student let’s go through the process of interviewing you to see what type of student you are.

Activity:

(A) The following are a list of possible questions you should ask yourself to determine what kind of student you are;

Are you a good student in school? Explain what a good student is to you.
What does it take to be a good student?
Do you have a passion to learn? What do you like to learn about?
How well do you compete with other students? Are you closer to being the best or the worst student in your classes?
Do you show up for class prepared and ready to work hard? What do you do to prepare for school? What is your routine outside of school that helps you prepare for school?
Do you focus and learn in school?
Are you self-motivated or do you need to be pushed to learn?
Do you work well with other students and your teachers? How have you demonstrated this?
Do you take your job of being a student seriously?
When you are asked to do a job for a business how can you demonstrate by using examples as a student in school that you can do a job well?
What goals do you have as a student?
What is your education plan? (level of education and the courses you will study)

(B) Develop a list of questions.

Beyond the questions above consider other questions you would ask a student to determine the kind of student they are. If you asked yourself these questions would you hire yourself over others in your class at school?

Select a few individuals and think of interview questions to ask them. Develop questions to help you understand how well they would do in a job situation or how well they did as students.

Which people in your class would you hire based on the questions asked?

(D) Interview your parents, neighbors and people who have jobs.

(E) Explore jobs (online job sites) and practice interviewing for these jobs

Think of different jobs and think of the type of skills and experience people would need to do these jobs.

Research jobs of interest to you on online job search sites such as www.workopolis.com, www.monster.com. Also examine companies that have jobs available. Try and understand as much as possible about these businesses. Make a note of jobs and companies that interest you and further develop your interviewing skills for the day that you apply to these companies for a job.

Update your résumé/CV.

Now that you have gone though this course and identified skills and experiences you have as a student in school; take the time to track your development by updating your résumé/CV to create a score card of your development.

Learning is a lifelong journey. Think of ways to keep improving your skills, gaining more experience, and developing yourself as a brand. You will discover that if you take time to think about this lesson you will continue to learn and develop yourself in many interesting ways.

Be proud of the skills and experiences you have gained so far. You are only limited by the opportunities you are given but the ones you create are limitless.

Reflect

Think about what you have learned in this program. Try it again and think of it as you learn and have experiences. Each day you have new experiences and you will further develop your skills. Each day you can learn something new.

Thank yourself for taking the time and interests to further develop you.

Practice

To practice is to perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly to improve or maintain one’s proficiency. A great way to learn is to practice. To improve skills and learn you should practice.

The material you just read is an opportunity for you to think differently about being a student. Make time to take responsibility and a leadership role in creating learning experiences and the development of skills through the activities you choose. Practice at learning to make yourself a better student who excels at your student job.