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10-22-19 — Students Apply for Unique Jobs
Oct. 22, 2019 ~ The job market is full of unique and interesting jobs, even if you’re a fifth-grader in search of something part time. Representatives of the district’s Human Resources Division visited Central Elementary School recently to hold interviews for some very important job openings at the school.
“The goal behind the activity was so students could have a leadership role in our school,” Principal Brandi Leggett said. “We brought in the Human Resources Division so our students could have the real-world experience of completing an interview.”
Whether they were interested in the opportunity to give school tours to visitors, or felt their niche was as a personal stylist to display lost and found items, all fifth-graders had myriad jobs to consider. Other options were grounds crew, gym duty with primary grades, news crew focused on daily announcements, Spanish-English translator, and various delivery roles. There were dozens of choices, and competition for each job.
To land the ultimate job, students first had to understand the responsibilities of each position.
“Instead of just assigning jobs or letting students pick one, teachers had students identify which jobs appealed to them, then they prepared to get this job,” Leggett said.
“I prepared my class by having them write resumes and practice interviewing each other,” fifth-grade teacher Lindsay Croft said. “We began with personal interest type questions for interviews, then students looked at a sample resume and created their own.”
The students sought teacher input on their resumes before conducting practice interviews with the same questions they would hear in their official Human Resources interview. Leggett said many students were surprised they would actually interview with a Human Resources professional.
“The students were very prepared, polite and engaged in the interviews,” said classified staffing specialist Kirsten Dannen. “Any time you can give students real-world experience it brings the lesson to life.”
Staffing support manager Shelly Longstreth quickly saw how prepared students were for their interviews.
“I think this was a fantastic way to build confidence as well as establish good interview practices prior to heading into a ‘real’ interview someday,” Longstreth said. “They were a fantastic group of kids! I can’t wait for our district to get to hire these students someday!”
The interviewers’ notes went back to the teachers for final review before the “hiring” process.
Fifth-grade teacher Niccole Miller summed up the experience: “Students definitely learned some great life skills from this opportunity that already lent itself to some great real-world discussions.”