STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:

When you pull a random puzzle piece out of a box, there is only one place that it fits. A career doesn’t work this way. Any specific career may fit into any number of industries. For example, if a student has an interest in building and maintaining computer systems, they could definitely choose to work for a company within the information technology industry. But there are great and well-paying jobs available to these students in the education industry, the public service industry and agriculture.

 

While students will be focusing on exploring how their top career choice might fit into the local career field, make a point to remind them that sometimes it helps to think with a wider, industry mindset rather than focusing on a specific job.

 

To begin, divide the class in half. Half of the class will be employers and half will be job-seekers. Each employer will be assigned a specific jobsite. Give each student either an “Employer Sheet” or an “Employee Sheet,” and assign each employer to circle a different jobsite from the list. Have each employee circle a different career path from the list. Across four different rounds, ask that all employers connect with one employee to talk to. Both students should work together to find work that the employee might be able to do at the employer’s jobsite, and record that on their sheets. For example, an employer whose jobsite is a high school might say, “Janice can work on my jobsite as a technology worker.” Janice, whose career path is web designer, might say, “I can work at the high school as a technology worker.”

 

It is okay if students cannot come up with a job for an employee to do at a jobsite. It is also okay if they don’t know specific names of jobs, or even if they imagine jobs that you’re not sure even exist. The idea is for students to be brainstorming ways that careers might fit into different industries.

 

After the fourth round, allow students to share their employee/employer connections as time allows. Also, discuss career paths that were easy to place, difficult to place and anything else that stood out to the students.
 

DIGGING IN:

Discuss with the students who they think the biggest employers are in town. Who employs the largest number of people? Who do they think has the most job openings right now? Does this mean the same thing? Why or why not?

 

Then, share with the class the list of Major Employers on the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Alliance website at:

 

intoolkit.com/dcemployers (https://muncie.com/site-selection-data/major-employers/)

 

Discuss how many the students identified and those they might have missed. Do they know people who work for some of these employers? Are there employers on the list that they’ve never heard of?

 

Encourage students to think about their top career choice. Is there an employer on this list that they think could be a good fit?

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INTO ACTION:

With the list of Major Employers in the Delaware County area as a springboard, students are going to work on developing a profile of a local employer that they think would be a good fit for the career they are interested in.

 

Students’ employer profiles should be a unique research project that includes the following:

 

•  name of the employer

•  address of the employer

•  employer’s website (or link to chamber of commerce page)

•  at least three sentences explaining what the employer does

•  at least three sentences explaining why the student feels the employer would be a good fit

•  two additional interesting facts about the employer

•  a local estimate of how much someone would make in that job (students can find this by searching the career on onetonline.net)

•  a photo and/or other graphics to represent the employer.

 

Students will probably need the remainder of the first day and two additional days to finalize their profiles. If students complete these earlier than this, take time to offer students an opportunity to present their profiles in class. These profiles might also provide material for in- or outside of class display.