On the QT Newsletter, Collaboration via Group Mind Maps
Attachment: Mind Mapping
May 11, 2010

Did you know? Progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality, asserts Scott Page in The Difference. That is why in today’s fast-paced, highly competitive, increasingly complex, global economy the ability to work collaboratively is an essential workplace skill. Businesses are on the lookout for collaborative employees to help them solve problems and create innovation. As finals approach, you can help your students study for their final in your course as they build their collaborative skills via a group mind map. This effective collaborative process will give them an opportunity to share their thoughts, expose them to diverse points of view, and make additional connections as teams work to blend and build a course mind map.

Try this:

Ask students some questions about how they study for finals.

How do you generally study for finals?
What study secret has helped you reach a successful outcome?
Who has used mind mapping as a study tool? How?

View this 2-minute video that explains the why and how of mind mapping.
Distribute Mind Mapping for Finals activity and review the directions.

Give students time to create their own individual mind maps.
Then have them form small groups to combine their mind maps into one group mind map.

Share/Post group mind maps for students to review. (How are these maps the same and different?)
Discuss what students learned from both the individual and group mind mapping and how/why they would use this tool in the future.

Stay Tuned: As we finish this year’s QT series, Hire Me, we want to remind you that the QT’s reside on the WBLConnections.Com website along with a number of on-line student lessons that support and extend the QT’s. We hope having access to this bi-weekly newsletter containing career information, resources, and exercises has benefited to you and your students. As we make plans for next year, we would really appreciate your feedback on how you have been using the QT’s and the topics you would like to see us address in the future. In the meantime, the QT team would like to thank you for your support and wish you a restful and relaxing summer.

Quik Quote: … by working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved … Moral of Stone Soup

On the QT Newsletter, EI Matters
Attachment: EI Confirmation Statements
April 27, 2010

Did you know? Emotionally intelligent employees are more productive, more likely to meet goals, and have greater rates of retention. While “technical skills” are essential, in the today’s workplace “relationship skills” are the new currency. Employees must not only know what to do (the task), but how (through relationships) to do it. In her book, The Smart New Way to Get Hired: Use Emotional Intelligence and Land the Right Job, author Lisa Kappesser contends that employers are opting to hire and move up employees with high emotional intelligence even over candidates with more experience. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is defined as one’s ability to understand and effectively manage one’s own emotions as well as a capacity to understand the emotions, needs, and concerns of others. Today’s activity will introduce students to EI and give them an opportunity to explore some of their positive self-management skills — an important component to emotional intelligence.

Try this:
Ask students a few questions. Find out what they already know about EQ.

What does IQ stand for? (Intelligence Quotient)
What does EQ stand for? (Emotional Quotient)
What is the difference? (IQ measures intellectual ability/EQ measures capacity to perceive, assess, & manage the emotions of one’s self and others.)
Why would EQ be important to employers? (Employees with high EQ are more productive, effective, and successful.)

View Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, as he takes about 5 minutes to introduce and explain emotional intelligence.
Review some of the important information in the video clip.

What are the four areas EI? (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Empathy, Social Skills)
What happens in schools that have EI programs? (Behavioral problems decrease and academic success increases.)
What happens to a person’s EI as he/she grows and develops? (Unlike IQ, EQ is an acquired skill and grows as person learns and practices EI skills.)

Distribute the activity EI Confirmation Statements and review directions.
Share some of your confirmation statements and ask students to share theirs.

Add an Experience: Have students identify 2 or 3 skills from the self-management activity that they would like to work on for a couple of weeks. Suggest they list things they are going to DO to improve or build those skills. Then have students report back to the class on the skills they worked on, and read their new confirmation statements. In addition, students may want to take an EQ self-assessment quiz to get a better handle on their EQ.

Quik Quote: It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head — it is the unique intersection of both. David Caruso

Click here to print your lesson guide.

Stories are Important
When employers interview job candidates, they do not want more data — they want them to tell their stories. They don’t want long and involved tales; they want short, engaging, and compelling stories that tell them why they should hire this candidate. Telling a story adds the color, context, and realism to help an interviewer appreciate the skills and experience a job candidate brings to a job. So, if you want to increase your chances of landing that great job, learn to tell your story because stories make you memorable.

• Why does Penelope Trunk, career consultant, put “Tell a Story” as her first step in Acing a Job Interview?

Listen and Learn
Road Trip Nation helps students define their own road in life by giving them an opportunity to go out and listen to successful people’s stories. Students learn a lot about the people they interview because those interviewees share interesting and honest personal narratives. One of the best ways to learn to tell your story is to listen to other people’s stories and to analyze the elements that made the story meaningful and memorable. Listen to at least two of the stories below and *fill in the chart on your student guide.

• Warren Brown: Owner of Cake Love listened to the voice in his head to find and follow his passion.
• Trelise Cooper: Fashion designer battled through her fear to design and sell her own creations.
• Pam Gaber: Founder of Gabriel’s Angels embarked on a journey of self-discovery to help herself and others.
• Morris Reid: Legislative Advocate enthusiastically worked his way up from “purse” duty to personal assistant to the US Secretary of Commerce.

Compose Your Story
Every story we tell gives people an insight into who we are. Stories are revealing. So, before you tell your story, it’s a good idea to figure out a few stories that emphasize the qualities you have that will help you to excel on the job. Is it resilience, courage, persistence, creativity … ? Remember that the interviewers do not want to hear your life story. They don’t want a list of your accomplishments; they can get that information in your resume. They want to hear about the specific moments in your life where you made a difference. If you want to show how you used your problem solving skills, you might tell a story like this one:

Last year I got an internship in the marketing division at XYZ newspaper. I arrived on the scene filled with energy and enthusiasm, but the morale of the news team was anything but optimistic, and for good reason. Subscriptions were dwindling and advertisers were pulling their ads and moving them to the Internet. There was talk of lay-offs. I knew the newspaper had a lot to offer the community and I wanted to help. Fortunately, I loved technology and I had experience blogging and tweeting. I thought we could use these electronic tools to bring in new readers. I talked to the director of marketing and asked him about getting some of the featured writers to start blogging and twittering. He thought that was a good idea and so he had me work one-on-one with two feature writers to build blogs and start tweeting. Once the other reporters saw the positive response from blogging and twittering, they were willing to try it. Over a couple of months, we began using electronic media to support and extend the printed-paper. The paper picked up readership and the reporters found yet another way to reach and build circulation. *Write down at least three ideas for your story. Using one of your ideas, write a short draft of your story. (about 100 words)

Practice Your Story
Once you have spent some time writing out your short 1-2 minute story, the best way to develop and improve stories is simply to tell them to someone. There is something in the telling and retelling of stories, researchers have found, that allows us deeper understanding and a better memory of the events and lessons. The better the storyteller understands and believes in his/her story, the better the listener will connect and find meaning in the story. Ask someone to listen to your story. *List 3 people you would like to tell your story to.

He who tells the stories rules the world. — Hopi Proverb

On the QT Newsletter, The Power of Story
Attachment: A Success Story
April 13, 2010

Did you know? Stories engage. Stories resonate. Stories teach. And stories motivate. Stories are how we communicate and connect with others in the most meaningful and memorable way. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, writes that in a world where facts are available at lightning speed, the ability to place facts in context and deliver them with emotional impact is one of the six essential skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. Today’s activity uses story to introduce students to some of the qualities and traits it takes to land a job and build a career. Rather than telling students what to do or how to act to be successful, Morris Reid shares his journey from his college campus in Akron, Ohio to the White House in Washington DC. See how Reid’s compelling narrative engages your students as it delivers an important message via a story.

Try This:

• Ask some questions.
  What’s your favorite story?
  Why do you think we like to hear stories?
  How do you think stories help us learn?
• Distribute A Success Story activity. Explain that they are going to view a short 7-minute video clip and then answer a few questions.
• View Morris Reid’s story and complete the questionnaire.
• Discuss students’ responses focusing on Reid’s positive traits and qualities as well as his ability to deliver his story.
• Assign the online lesson, Go On the Road for a Good Story, to introduce your students to the elements of a good story.

Add an Experience: To help your students learn more about the elements in a good story, ask them to seek out and listen to stories. Have them find a workplace story, a family story, and a story they hear from a friend. Ask them to come to class prepared to discuss the stories they heard and what they learned from each one. Finally, give students a few minutes to move around the class and tell one of their stories to several other students.

Quik Quote: There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories. Ursula K. LeGuin, American Author

On the QT Newsletter, 5 R’s of an Apology
Attachment: 5 R’s Activity
March 30, 2010

Did you know? People who can’t apologize at work may as well be wearing a T-shirt that says, “I don’t care about you,” contends Malcolm Gladwell. Unless students are prepared to change jobs on a regular basis and replace their friends every few years, learning how to apologize is an essential skill. While an apology is simply an expression of regret at having caused trouble for someone and a promise not to do it again, delivering an effective apology is not easy. Because everyone makes mistakes, learning how and why to apologize with sincerity and clarity is vital to developing and maintaining positive relationships both in and out of the workplace. Effective apologies allow people to move forward, restore broken relationships, and build pathways for personal growth. Today’s activity will introduce your students to the “5 R” formula for a confident apology as they learn to say, “I’m sorry.”

Try this:

Write this Elton John quote on the board: “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.”
Ask some questions:
Do you agree or disagree with Elton John? Why?
Why do you think it is difficult to apologize?
Do you believe apologies are valuable? Why? Why not?

View this 3-minute video clip from John Kador, author of Effective Apology … Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust.
Review Kador’s information.

How does Kador define apology? (Willingness to value the relationship more than the need to be right.)
Why do we hold back on making apologies? (Don’t know how or when to do it … apologies are difficult.)
How has the perception of apology shifted in the last 10 years? (Used to see apology as defeat, weakness, vulnerable…now as character, confidence, integrity)

Distribute 5 R’s activity and review instructions.
Discuss student responses in small groups or as a class.

Have students identify what they learned and how they will apply it in their lives.

Add an Experience: Have students test their apology quotient, review their scores, and be prepared to discuss what they learned from the quiz. In addition, call on students to apply the 5 R’s in a real situation. They may choose to watch and rate the Tiger Wood’s Apology, analyze what Toyota had to say in its defense, or reflect on a personal apology they have delivered or received. Have them briefly define the situation, what happened, and then use the 5 R’s to rate the effectiveness of the apology.

Quik Quote: Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word. Sir Elton John, British Songwriter

On the QT Newsletter, Getting LinkedIn
Attachment: Getting LinkedIn
March 16, 2010

Did you know? LinkedIn, the online professional social media site, has more than 60 million members, and its enrollment is growing by one person every second. While your students may be well established on Facebook and enjoy spending time tweeting, LinkedIn can help them find jobs and make valuable connections as they seek to find their way in the world of work. In this tough economy, LinkedIn gives college students an opportunity to build a strong online identity, develop and grow their network, and show off their best work. Spending a few minutes of class time to review and discuss some LinkedIn options will help your students as they set out to launch their careers. In addition, it will provide you with a great tool to stay connected to students and share their career journeys. Follow the quick and easy outline below, to explore some of the LinkedIn resources for college students.

Try This:

Ask students how many of them belong to LinkedIn. (If you use LinkedIn, share your experience.)
How long have you been a member?
How do you use the site?
How have you benefitted from your LinkedIn membership?

Distribute the Getting LinkedIn activity, and review the assignment.
View the 5-minute video, LinkedIn Grad Guide.
Stop after each section of the video to discuss and respond to questions about the different sections.
Recommend organizational and/or college groups students that might join on LinkedIn.

Add an Experience: Completing a sharp LinkedIn profile is a big undertaking. It takes an average of 4.5 to 9.5 hours to compose a good profile. Suggest students download the LinkedIn Profile Guide to lead them through the process. Then encourage students to get together in small groups outside of class, to discuss and share their profiles. This activity will not only give them ideas to adjust and improve their profiles, but it will also help them establish quick connections with other students. LinkedIn is a great tool, but students have to work it, to make it work.

Quik Quote: As the largest and most vibrant professional social network, LinkedIn provides a wealth of opportunities for job seekers and ambitious young professionals. Lindsey Pollak, Getting from College to Career

On the QT Newsletter, It’s a Brand You World
Attachment: It’s a Brand You World
March 2, 2010

Did you know? It’s a brand you world … Whether your students are entry-level job candidates or mid-career changers, building a powerful personal brand will help them stand out from the competition. In fact, in today’s job market, having a strong personal brand has become an urgent priority. Building a personal brand is all about identifying and developing the skills, talents, and personal qualities that make a person unique. A personal brand must be authentic and reflect the passions and drive of each individual. In the face of a weak economy, a strong personal brand can be the ticket to landing a great job. Today’s activity will quickly introduce your students to branding, and help them get “in touch” with their brand.

1. Ask students about branding.
   What corporate brands have been visual at the Olympics? Ralph Lauren, Coca Cola, McDonalds …
   Who has a strong personal brand? Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn …
   Do you have a brand? Do you think you need one?
2. View this video clip from Brenda Bence, author of How YOU are Like Shampoo. Then, ask some questions:
   What is the first step in personal branding? You need to define your brand by figuring out what you stand for.
   What is the second step Bence recommends? Communicating your brand in your actions, reactions, looks, sounds, and thoughts.
   What is the third step that is important in branding? Protecting your brand …
3. Distribute It’s a Brand You World activity, review the directions, and give students time to complete the activity.
4. Share your branding responses and ask students to share some of theirs.
5. Assign students the new interactive lesson, “Build Your Brand … Online.”

Add an Experience: Last week PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) launched “Personal Brand Week” via the Internet, to help college students differentiate themselves in a crowded job market. They provided tools, recommendations, and tips to help students begin developing their professional brand. To extend today’s branding exercise, have students complete the first activity, the one PwC considers the foundation, the Elevator Speech. Have students prepare their elevator speeches and set aside time in class to have students move around the room and give their pitch to at least three students.

Quik Quote: To be outstanding, you must stand out! William Arruda, Branding Guru

Click here to download and print your lesson guide.

Whether you are seeking an entry-level job or you are a mid-career changer, building a powerful personal brand will help you stand out from the competition. In fact, in today’s job market, having a strong personal brand has become an urgent priority. Building a personal brand is all about identifying and developing the skills, talents, and personal qualities that make you unique and then communicating that brand to others.

A powerful online presence is essential in building and maintaining a brand. Social media sites like Linked In, Facebook, and Twitter can have a big impact on how you create, communicate, and sustain your brand. Here are a few ideas on how you can leverage these popular social media sites to best represent you.

Set up a Google Alert
As you set out to build or grow your online brand, Google your name and make sure the results are positive. If you don’t like what you see, go in and clean up your image. Then set up a Google Alert, a free service, to notify you whenever your name is cited. This will help you monitor and maintain your online reputation.

What did you learn about your brand when you Googled you?
Describe the Google Alert you set up.

Use the LinkedIn Grad Guide
GradsLinkedIn.Com will give you some great ideas and tools to build a strong profile, grow your connections, and collect and post your best work. Watch the 5-minute video explanation. If you follow their three steps to get linked in, you will be using one of the most powerful online resources to launch and sustain your brand.

How does this site differ from the general LinkedIn site?
What are the advantages offered in “Build the Good Word”?

Explore Facebook Apps
Facebook needs no introduction. Your profile on the world’s most popular social networking site reflects your personal and professional brand. So, you may want to review or update your profile and consider changes to develop a better online image. In addition, why not use some of the Facebook apps to extend and support your Facebook opportunities?

Does your Facebook Profile differ from your Linked In Profile.
What Facebook app would be most helpful to you?

Tweet Wisely
While many people use Twitter to share ramblings, like, Having a hamburger with friends this afternoon, clever Twitterers are using this media to enhance their personal brands, build informal relationships, and even to find jobs. Consider following leaders in an industry that interests you to see what you can learn.

Whom would you like to follow?
How do you think Twitter could help build your online reputation?

Keep Up
Social media is changing every day. You need to stay alert and informed about changes that can help you build a better brand. For additional, information about personal branding, on and off-line, check out the information offered by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on their “Week” webpage. Print and review the Top 10 Online Branding Tips for Students.

What 2 tips are most relevant to you?

On the QT Newsletter, Jobs with a Cherry on Top
Attachment: Jobs with a Cherry on Top
February 16, 2010

Did you know? In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot, or talented foreigner for faster, cheaper, “and just as well,” vanilla doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and cherry you can put on top … contends Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind. It’s all about the ability to imagine new services and unique ways of combining talents and skills to produce more and better. It’s all about using one’s creativity to generate added value. Creativity and innovation are skills students must develop to live, learn, and thrive in today’s global knowledge economy. With our classrooms filled with students clamoring to find jobs or to move up on the job, today’s activity calls on them to think creatively by identifying and combining their individual talents and skills into new configurations and encouraging them to add a cherry on top!

Try This:

1. Write the opening quote from Daniel Pink on your whiteboard and ask students about their chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and cherry.
2. Distribute today’s activity, Jobs … with a Cherry on Top, review directions, and have students complete the exercise.
3. When finished, have one member of each team describe their team’s product or service.
4. Ask students to explain how they will use what they learned today in their everyday lives.

Add an Experience: View Tina Seelig’s video and discuss how her students used their skills and the opportunities to create unique products and services. To take today’s activity into a “real” world learning experience, give your students the same challenge Tina Seelig gave hers. Ask them to compete to see how much money their team could earn with only $5.00 and 2 hours. Provide some significant and meaningful motivation, extra credit, replace another assignment … to get your students to accept the challenge. Have competing teams report their results at next week’s class session.

Quik Quote: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Einstein

On the QT Newsletter, A Great Beginning!
Attachment: Making Learning Relevant Activity
February 2, 2010

Did you know? The demand that majors translate into jobs is changing the college classroom. This interesting and insightful New York Times article, “Making College Relevant,” reports that students and parents alike are increasingly focused on how the information and skills students are learning in the college classroom will help them in the workplace. In response to these growing concerns as well as the new economic and global realities, many instructors are adjusting their curriculum to reflect the changing world. Taking the time to help students identify how classroom lessons relate to workplace success, will go a long way in helping students value what they are learning and make it more relevant to them. Today’s QT activity calls on students to review employers’ expectations and link these to your course curriculum.

Try This:

Ask students some questions.
What relationship do you see in the skills you are learning in college and those you need to succeed in the workplace?
What do you expect from this class?
How will this class help you in your career?

Distribute this “Make Learning More Relevant” activity, review the directions, and have students complete the assignment.
After they have finished, ask students to make 3 quick connections.

Turn to the person on your left and discuss responses to questions 1 & 2.
Collaborate with a classmate who is wearing the same color shirt or shoes, to share responses to questions 3 & 4.
Change again and partner with someone you do not know, to identify workplace skills you practiced in this activity.

Share responses about the value of this quick exercise.

Add an Experience: Encourage your students to connect your course to the workplace by attending a professional organization meeting, or a student chapter of a professional organization. In addition, identify and promote events on campus or in your community that link the subject matter in your course to careers. Dr. Kate Brooks, college instructor and author of You Majored in What?, tells students … The more places you go, the more people you meet, the more experiences you accumulate, the better prepared you will be for a variety of work situations. This semester, can you get your students out doing some wise wanderings?

Quik Quote: Not all who wander are lost. J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

On the QT Newsletter, Mentors Matter
Attachment: Mentoring Worksheet
December 1, 2009

Did you know? Research indicates that mentored individuals perform better on the job, advance more rapidly within the organization (i.e., get promoted more quickly and earn higher salaries), and report more job and career satisfaction. Eric Schmidt, CEO Google, cited "getting a mentor" as some of the best advice he ever received. Schmidt goes on to say that because we can’t see ourselves as others see us, we need mentors to give us perspective. In addition to workplace guidance, mentors can be particularly helpful when searching for an internship or a first job out of college. Regardless of where your students are on their career journey, just beginning or experienced professionals, discussing the advantages and logistics of getting a mentor offers them positive insight and resources in challenging times.

Try this:

If you had a positive mentoring experience, share this with your students.
Ask questions about mentoring to determine what your students already know.
What is a mentor? (experienced person willing to help guide and advise)
Why is a mentor important? (provide insight, perspective, contacts)
Where could you find a mentor? (through friends, social media connections like Linked In, school alumni)

View and discuss this (one-minute) How to Find a Mentor video with Jack Canfield.
Distribute the Mentoring Worksheet and give students a few minutes to complete.
Have students work in small groups to write and practice a short mentoring pitch with each other.
As a class, make a list of how/where students can find potential mentors.

Add an Experience: Don’t let them put it off. Ask students to make a mentoring contact and set up a mentoring meeting before the next class. Suggest that they use their mentoring worksheets and contact the person(s) they would like to have as a mentor, and to draw on their “mentoring pitches” to approach possible mentors. Remind them that even if their contact declines to be their mentor, and a few will, these candidates will be flattered they were asked. Finally, you may want to offer extra credit to students who complete this assignment and share their experience with the class.

Quik Quote: Successful people turn everyone who can help them into sometime mentors. John C. Crosby, The Uncommon Individual Foundation

On the QT Newsletter, Lost Generation?
Attachment: ROAD to Success
November 17, 2009

Did you know? While unemployment is ravaging just about every part of the global workforce, the most enduring harm is being done to young people who can’t grab onto the first rung of the career ladder. With an unemployment rate of over 18%, 16 to 24 year olds are frustrated in their efforts to find jobs. Many of CCC students are discouraged and disheartened because they are unable to begin the careers they once enthusiastically pursued. While we know that in time the economy will improve and our workforce will flourish, instructors can enlighten and energize this forlorn group Business Week has dubbed “The Lost Generation.” By providing relevant career information and resources, offering creative career possibilities, and focusing on the value of persistence, instructors can reduce students’ fear and anxiety by encouraging and supporting them to take positive action steps to move forward on their career journeys. The activity outlined below is a good place to begin or extend the career conversation. It provides students with a simple tool to address and overcome obstacles that are keeping them from getting a “good” job. If you want to help your students get on the ROAD to success, try this quick and easy exercise.

Try this:
Share a frustrating job search experience you had and how you handled it.
Ask some questions.

With high unemployment, how are people finding jobs?
What obstacles are people running into in finding a job?
How are job hunters dealing with their job search frustrations?

Explain that you want to introduce them to a tool to help them tackle the obstacles or roadblocks that keep them from getting on their career path.
Distribute the ROAD to Success activity and have students work in small groups to discuss and respond to the three situations.
Come back together as a group and discuss some of their ideas.

Add an Experience: The “D” in ROAD urges students to develop partnerships to help them reach their goals and overcome obstacles. Author Richard Lieder contends that job seekers accomplish powerful goals and overcome obstacles by looking to others for advice and suggestions. Students can find great job resources and connections right on campus. This week encourage your students to make a connection with the career center to find out about the services they offer. In addition, suggest that they discuss obstacles that are keeping them from getting a job they want with several people they respect and trust. Ask them to share the outcome of these experiences at the next class.

Quik Quote: Obstacles don’t have to stop you … Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. Michael Jordan

On the QT Newsletter, Interview with a Ring
Attachment: Interview with a Ring
November 3, 2009

Did you know? When employers want to narrow a pool of job candidates, they frequently use phone interviews to screen applicants. In phone interviews since both parties are deprived of visual cues, interviewers must rely on how a person sounds to make important hiring decisions. According to Psychology Today, people can estimate a speaker’s height, weight, and age from a person’s voice as accurately as they can after viewing his/her photo. Consequently, within a few seconds of hearing a candidate’s voice, the interviewer has formed a mental picture of the job seeker. Since so much is riding on the sound of their voices, give your students an added advantage by helping them evaluate their sound and add energy and enthusiasm to their voices. After all, it is not so much what they say, but how they say it.

Try this:

• Explain that in today’s workplace, many employers are doing a telephone interview before inviting applicants in for a face-to-face interview.
  Has anyone experienced a phone interview? What was it like?
  What are some of the advantages to a phone interview?
  What are a few disadvantages to a phone interview?
• Have your class view this WSJ clip (3:45 minutes) “Acing a Phone Interview” and ask questions about tips from the video.
  Why should you look in a mirror? (reminds you to show emotion)
  What is a benefit of walking around during the interview? (adds energy to your sound)
  What are two things you want to avoid? (interrupting the interviewer and long responses)
• Distribute the activity Interview with a Ring. Explain that since so much depends on the sound of their voices, this activity will help them evaluate and improve their sound.
• After students complete the activity, come back together and discuss what they experienced.
• Suggest/assign the short online activity Interview with a Ring for additional tools and resources for successful phone interviews.

Add an Experience: A voicemail greeting tells job recruiters a lot about the communication savvy and sensitivity of a prospective candidate. Students often forget to pay attention to the little detail of how their voicemail message sounds when they start filling out job applications. Employers will definitely pay attention, though. If a voicemail message sounds unprofessional, recruiters will just hang up without leaving a message, and the job applicant will never get a chance to interview with them. Encourage your students to listen to their voice mail greetings and if they do not sound professional, to record a new one.

Quik Quote: Within 7 to 12 seconds of hearing us speak, people form lasting impressions about us … our capabilities, intelligences, even about how we look.
Susan Berkley, Voice Coach

When employers want to narrow a pool of job candidates, they use phone interviews to screen applicants. Phone interviews often feel overly casual and detached. Consequently, many job seekers fail to prepare and practice for these critical interviews. While it is highly unlikely that you will get a job from a phone interview, you will not be invited to a face-to-face interview unless you do well on the phone. Just click through the sites below, and in no time you’ll boost your phone performance.

Four-Minute Review
David Snell, an ABC news correspondent and communication coach, offers some great advice on How to Ace a Telephone Interview. Listen to what he has to say and then answer these questions on your lesson guide.

What is one advantage/disadvantage in a phone interview?
Why should you stand up?
How will looking in the mirror help you in your interview?

Four Opinions from Clemson
Clemson University’s Career Center has some interesting suggestions from four experienced career counselors. Each offers a unique perspective and advice for the phone interview. As you scan their suggestions, reflect on what they have to say. On your lesson guide, answer these questions.

Expert #1: Where should you do your phone interview?
Expert #2: How could you avoid doing a phone interview?
Expert #3: What should you say if you are asked about your salary expectations?
Expert #4: How should you prepare for the interview?

Four Sounds
Even though you shine on paper, within a few seconds of hearing your voice, the interviewer will form a mental picture of you. Your voice speaks volumes about you. So, to get a better idea of how you sound, record your practice answer to one of the questions you expect the interviewer to ask, then listen to yourself. Did you speak too fast or too slow? Is your pitch too high or too low? Is your voice volume too loud or too soft? Do you sound too nasal or too gruff? Read “What Your Voice Says About You” and get some quick fixes to improve your sound. On your guide, record how you feel about your voice and one thing you will do to improve your sound.

Four More Tips
The Interview Gurus offer tips on phone interviews. There are actually 10 tips they put forward and some of them you have come across before. However, look at what they have to say about what you should have on hand before the interview, why you should put a smile on your face, why you should not use your cell phone, and why what you wear matters. As you peruse their suggestions, think about four tips you would offer a friend who was preparing for a phone interview. On your lesson guide, write down the advice you would give a friend about his/her phone interview.

Within 7 to 12 seconds of hearing us speak, people form lasting impressions about us … our capabilities, intelligences, even about how we look.
Susan Berkley, Voice Coach

On the QT Newsletter, A Creative Problem Solving Tool
Attachment: Brainstorming
October 20, 2009

Did you know? IDEO is the leading design and innovation firm in the world. IDEO helped Apple create its iconic mouse, Crest design its “neat-squeeze tube”, and most recently spearheaded Bank of America’s “keep the change” campaign. IDEO has a unique and creative problem solving process their world-class idea mongers follow to keep them at the forefront of design. One of the problem solving tools used each day at IDEO is brainstorming. In fact, brainstorming is practically a religion at IDEO. If you want to give your students an added advantage in today’s workplace, try this activity to help them develop their brainstorming prowess.

Try this:

*Give each student a piece of gum to chew before beginning this activity. (Optional … but way more fun)
Divide students into groups of 3 to 5 and distribute this Brainstorming worksheet to each student.
Have students follow the instructions on the worksheet and give them about five minutes to organize and complete the assignment.

After 5 minutes stop them and ask them how they did.
How many ideas did your team generate?
On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being best, how well did your team work together?

Explain that they are going to watch two 1-minute video clips.

Video 1: How Not to Brainstorm
Review what this team did. (played it safe, too embarrassed to share, only one idea, killed stupid ideas, didn’t listen, didn’t take notes, gave lots of details)

Video 2: How to Brainstorm

Review what this team did. (captured all ideas, deferred judgment, built off other’s ideas, made it visual, shared wild ideas, headlined, went for quantity)

Discuss advantages of brainstorming, and why it is an important tool for creative problem solving.

Why wasn’t team 1 effective?
How would you feel if you were working on team 2?
Why do you need to follow rules when brainstorming?

Add an Experience: Encourage students to practice brainstorming in their personal lives and in the workplace. Suggest that they try out brainstorming with their families when they are looking for a weekend activity, or in the workplace to generate ideas to help solve a problem. It doesn’t have to be a complicated problem — just one that could use some new insight. Give students extra credit, or at least another piece of gum, if they will take a minute at the next class meeting and explain what they did, what happened, and how it made them feel.

Quik Quote: Effective brainstorming sessions aren’t random and haphazard … they follow a certain structure that’s proven to elicit good ideas.

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

While there is a lot of bad economic news and dire job loss predictions, there is reason for hope. There are areas of job growth and exciting new industries and careers that are growing. While you may need to get a job now, you will also want to keep exploring good job opportunities and developing new skills so you will be ready to thrive in the workplace of today and tomorrow. In this activity, you will look at 60 jobs in four high growth industries. One of these jobs could rock your future!

View Hot Jobs in a Weak Economy

To get started, view this four-minute video, Hot Jobs in a Weak Economy, and listen to the advice Alex Hockman has to offer. He will give you some clues about where to expect job growth and a few strategies on how to find and grow a good job. On your guide, write down Hockman’s three tips for finding a job.

Scan the Top 60 Jobs that Will Rock the Future

This interesting article on the Businessweek’s Business Exchange, offers some extraordinary and exciting descriptions about jobs of the future. They explore four major areas of job growth including Health Care, Science and Engineering, Environmentalism, and Digital. We will use this article to explore job opportunities that might interest you.

In the … And Beyond section of the article, they list an additional ten jobs you may choose to explore. Your future is bright and filled with options and opportunities. If you came across a job that interests you, and you want to learn more about it, check with your campus career center. Remember, tomorrow belongs to those who prepare today.

On the QT Newsletter, Jobs to Rock Your Future
Attachment: Jobs to Rock Your Future
October 6, 2009

Did you know? As California’s unemployment numbers continue to climb, our students must look to new careers and industries as they seek to uncover fresh opportunities in the workplace. While once thriving employment sectors like finance and manufacturing dwindle, there is job growth in health care and education, new hot jobs in information technology, and jobs in energy and the environment are predicted to triple over the next decade. We need to encourage and guide our students by helping them focus on these new opportunities and identify the skills and resources they need to participate in Jobs that Will Rock the Future! To support your students on this journey, identify and share new educational/training programs on your campus as well as areas of job growth in your community. The activity outlined below will help you begin the conversation.

Try this

View the first three to four minutes of this interview, Jobs of the Future, and ask a few questions.
• What industries are growing?
• Why are skills important?
• Where are many Americans getting their education and training?

Distribute Jobs to Rock Your Future activity guide, review the directions, and give students a few minutes to complete the activity.
Discuss and share their responses in small groups or as a class. (Answers: 1/c; 2/g; 3/f; 4/h; 5/a; 6/d; 7/e; 8/b)

• What jobs interest you?
• Why are there so many jobs in health care?
• How can someone get a green job? (Your campus career center can help students with this one.)

Make a list of things students are doing to prepare for the jobs they want.
Assign the online lesson, Jobs to Rock Your Future, for additional ideas and resources.

Add an Experience: We need to help students get the information and resources about the best jobs and the skills needed to get those jobs. Now is the time to inspire and motivate our students to stay in school and earn the certifications and degrees to participate in a robust recovery. Contact your career center and ask them to do a Hot Job or Future Jobs presentation to your class.

Quik Quote: The 1,200 community colleges in the U.S. are especially suited to helping students adapt to a changing labor market … they are smaller and able to tack quickly in changing winds.

Try This:

Ask students questions about job searching.
How did you get your first/last job?
What is one job search strategy that has worked for you?
Why are personal contacts helpful in finding a job?

Explain that networking is a great way to find a job.

Networking is all about talking to people.
It is about leaning to make more face-to-face contacts by asking and responding to simple questions.

Distribute and review this How to Make Smart Connections activity, and give them time to complete the assignment.
Discuss and have them share their responses to the activity.
Assign Networking … Because Relationships Matter if students need additional networking information.

Add an Experience: Challenge your students to use their new conversation skills to make some personal connections. While many of them are great at making electronic connections, ask them to meet and have face-to-face conversations with three different people before the next class. Ask them to use the FORM strategy to find out something interesting about each person. Encourage them to make different kinds of connections that include people of a different generation, someone with an unusual occupation, or a person with a different ethnicity. At the beginning of your next class, have students share what they learned from this experience.

Quik Quote: Job seekers must significantly expand the quality and quantity of their networking efforts to find unpublished jobs. Toni Bowers, Head Blog Editor TechRepublic

• If you were on a job interview, could you present a persuasive response to one of the most frequently asked questions, “Why should we hire you?”
• Distribute this student activity guide, and explain that they are going to view a video clip, Hire Me, to see how one college grad tells how he would add value to a company.
• After the video, have students jot down 10 reasons why they would/would not hire Alec. (You may need to view the clip a second time.)
• Call on students to share their responses, and add some of Alec’s inferred skills/qualities students may not have noted.
  i.e. positive body language, sense of humor, willingness to travel…
• Conclude by asking students to consider Alec’s example, and then fill in their list of “10 Reasons to Hire Me.”

Emphasize that whether or not students are looking for a job now, they should be gathering and documenting their experiences and achievements.

Add an experience: Invite a human resource manager from a company in your area to speak to your class. Ask the manager to be prepared to explain to your class how the job recruiting process has changed from an employer’s perspective, and what students can do now, to prepare to get the jobs they seek now and in the future. Give students information about the speaker ahead of time, so they can do some research on the company and come up with questions they would like the representative to address. If getting a speaker to class “in person” is problematic, you may want to try skyping them.

Want More? If your students want information and resources on conducting a job search, check out the online student activities at CareerClues.org or Ace Your Job Interview, here. These activities have student guides to complete; some instructors attach extra credit to these assignments.

If you were planning to take a road trip across the United States, you would not get where you wanted to go unless you had a plan in place to help you reach your destination. You could use a GPS to keep you on track. Then if you got off course, your GPS would immediately adjust the route to keep you going in the right direction. Goal setting works the same way. When you set goals for yourself, they let your brain know where you are headed. Then your conscious and subconscious mind get to work helping you reach your destination. Believe it or not, your brain needs goals to get going. To engage your brain you need to make SMART goals.

Why goals?
You may not be convinced that you need to set goals or that you need to write them down. However, studies have shown that people who not only set goals, but also write them down are more likely to reach their goals. Mark McCormack, in his book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, tells of a Harvard study that found that graduates who wrote down their goals were considerably more successful than those who did not. Stacy Chadwill outlines seven reasons we should write goals.
On your activity guide, write down your most important reason/s for setting goals.

What do you want?
If you are having a tough time deciding on your goals, think about the things you want from life. Create a picture of what you want to achieve. Author Christine Comaford explains how a dream board helped her mobilize her energies to achieve the goals she wanted. What pictures or other visual images would help you focus your energies and motivate you to achieve your goals? Make a “dream board” of the pictures that speak to you. You could create your own visioning board via your phone or use a commercial app like this one.
On your activity guide, describe the pictures, ideas, and quotes you would put on your dream/visioning board.

How do you write goals?
The SMART goal setting strategy is one of the best and quickest ways to write effective goals. View this 2-minute video clip to get a review of what it takes to write a SMART goal.

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On your activity guide, define the SMART goal acronym.

Now you have the why, what, and how of goal setting, write down a course goal, a personal goal, and a career goal on your “Get SMART” guide and make each one SMART. Then begin to take action to get where you want to go. After all, if you know where you are going, you can’t get lost.

Did you know? The most important day of the entire semester is the first day of class, because it sets the tone for the semester. Most students will enter your classroom motivated and enthusiastic about a new beginning, yet feeling a bit overwhelmed. This is a great time to introduce them to the SMART goal setting strategy. This simple but powerful tool helps students identify their goals and make them specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely. In studies where students write their own personal goals for a course at the beginning of the term, reflect on those goals as the course progresses, and review the goals at the end of the course, both student and faculty satisfaction improves. Goal setting is a critical component of success, and one you can quickly introduce using the activity outlined here.

Try this:
Ask students what they “want” from this course.
Share your goals and expectations for the class.
Explain that one of the best ways to turn wants and expectations into reality is to make them into SMART goals.
Distribute this SMART Goal Course Planner and review the SMART goal acronym. Then, give students time to complete the worksheet.
Review their responses and provide contact information on college support services that could help them reach their goal. (Tutoring center, study groups, test prep sessions, career counseling, financial aid, job center …)

Add an Experience: Assign students the online student activity, Get SMART. When they return to class with their Get SMART guides, give them a few minutes to share their goals and the strategies they are using to make those SMART goals a reality. Continue to give students feedback on how they are doing in class, and encourage them to overcome the obstacles that get in their way. (You may want to encourage students to look at this new vision board app, 99 cents, to help them stay focused on their goals.)

New “Hire Me” Series: As economic times and conditions continue to shift, this year’s On the QT series will provide you with the latest information about what employers are looking for as they make “new hire” decisions and ideas, resources, and activities to help students develop job search skills and strategies to land the jobs they seek. Look for your biweekly editions of On the QT!

Did You Know? This year, On the QT delivered 16 short, active learning exercises with a workplace focus. Our goal was to provide you with just-in-time learning activities to get your students thinking about how the skills they are learning in the classroom help them succeed in today’s turbulent workplace. In these tough economic times, we hope you will continue to explore and use the QT resources during the summer and into next year.

Try This:

• Review and select QT activities in your summer or fall classes: How to WOW Employers!
• Assign QT online student lessons: Five new lessons to help students get ahead in these tough times!
• Explore the interview section to learn more about the students, faculty, and entrepreneurs who are making a difference.
• Download free resources, booklets, or individual activities.

As we end this semester and our series on skills to help students survive and thrive in tough times, take a look at some interesting insights from our millennial’s … how will they deal with a world that, at least in economic terms, has suddenly been turned upside down? We look forward to connecting with you in late August for a new QT series! Please take time to let us know how you are using the QT and what additional topics/skills you would like to see us address. We wish you a safe and happy summer!

Regards,
Susan Coleman and the QT Team

Did you know? In these tough times, college students, like others, are accumulating large amounts of credit card debt and dramatically impacting their credit history and their FICO scores. Many students are using their credit cards more than usual in these difficult financial times and may not realize the long term consequences of their debt. They need to understand how to check and maintain a good credit history and build a FICO score that will work to their advantage. In today’s activity, you have an opportunity to introduce students to some of the tools they can use to monitor and protect their credit.

Try this:

Ask students some questions about credit history and FICO scores.
How many of you have ordered and reviewed your credit reports?
What is a FICO Score?
How many of you know your FICO Score?

Show this 3-minute video clip, Do You Know Your FICO Score?
Distribute copies of this How to Change Your Score activity adopted from resources at What’s Up in Finance.

Explain the activity and stress the fact that you don’t expect them to know the numbers, you want them to guesstimate how each of Angela’s actions will impact her FICO score.

Review and discuss answers. Ask students if anything surprised them about the way her score changed.
If students want more resources about establishing good credit, assign them the online lesson, Fiscal Fitness, at the WBL Connections site.

Add an Experience: Because close to 20 percent of all credit reports contain errors, ask your students to go to annualcreditreport.com, the only government mandated, credit reporting agency operated website and order their credit report. With proper identification, students will be able to view their report immediately. Encourage students to review their reports and highlight any discrepancies. In addition, if they want help reading their credit report, suggest they download the free booklet Understanding My FICO® Score. (Students will not get their FICO score without paying an additional fee … only the credit report is free, but the booklet explains how to read a credit report.) In the next class, discuss what they learned from their reports and how they intend to use the information. In addition, suggest that they work through the credit inquiry and repair process themselves and NOT hire a credit repair service.

Quik Quote: Many employers run credit checks on potential new hires before making them a job offer.

Did you know? Nationwide, college students are using credit cards more and more as a financial crutch. You want to maintain a good credit history because you will pay lower interest rates on loans, reduced insurance premiums, and it can even help you get a better job. Companies look at your credit history every time you apply for a loan, finance a car, rent an apartment, buy a cell phone, apply for a credit card, or take out a mortgage to buy a house. Employers often look at a potential employee’s credit history to help them measure his/her level of responsibility, reliability, and integrity.

After watching the video, how did Nick run up his credit card debt?

Credit Costs: Most of us have no idea of how much credit is costing us. So to begin, take a crash course on how credit cards work. After you review the information, take the six-point quiz and record your score on your activity guide. Then investigate the case files to figure out just what happened to Emma, Byron, Kevin, and Maria when they bought their digital musical players.

Why did Emma, Byron, Kevin, and Maria pay such different amounts for the same digital music player?

Review Your History: Your credit report is a report that details your current credit and how you’ve managed your credit over time. Because close to 20 percent of all credit reports contain errors that can have dramatic financial consequences, you need to check your credit report annually. You can order a free credit report each year from the this government site, annualcreditreport.com. After you get your report, carefully review it and dispute any errors in writing. The free booklet, Understanding My FICO® Score contains sample letters for you to follow. Federal law mandates when credit is disputed, companies must resolve the dispute in a timely manner — within 30 days.

When do you plan to order and review your credit history?

Know the Score: Establishing a good credit history will earn you a good FICO Score. Going forward, your credit score might be much more important than you think it is. While credit reports are compiled by three companies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. The information in these reports is presented differently, and these organizations also calculate their own credit scores (Equifax has ScorePower, Experian has a PLUS score and TransUnion has its VantageScore). However, it’s your FICO score, compiled by the Fair Isaac Company that is the all-important number. This score is derived from the information provided in the above mentioned reports and ranges from 300 to 850. You usually have to pay a fee to get your FICO score.

What are three benefits of knowing your FICO score?

Live within Your Means: It is challenging to use self-discipline and not be too ready to whip out your credit card to buy the things you want if you cannot afford them. However, when you begin to pay attention to your finances, make an effort to get out of debt, and begin saving for the future, you will feel more in control and a lot less stressed. For a fun way to save each day to consider the Latte Factor.

Use the latte calculator and figure out what a daily savings could mean to your future.

Did you know? As the overall volume of e-mail increases, the overall volume of other kinds of communication drops. E-mail and texting are convenient, easy to use, allow employees to stay in touch with loads of people, and enable them to accomplish huge amounts of work together. While companies surely depend on e-mail and IM, they are finding that e-communications increase the likelihood of conflict and miscommunication, because they fail to convey the nonverbal messages that add nuance and valence to our words. Consequently, employers want employees and new hires to be skilled communicators, able to choose and use multiple mediums to send their message. While many of our students are prepared to meet these communication challenges, they often begin striking the keys without considering their options. This activity will encourage your students to communicate with more than their fingers.

Try this:

• Tell your students that employers want to hire job candidates who are good communicators … that means the ability to use the best communication medium to send a message.
• Discuss some of advantages and disadvantages of electronic communications.
• Distribute, review, and have students complete What’s the Right Medium for Your Message? (There are no right or wrong answers … )
• Share the challenges and problems you and your students have encountered because you chose the wrong medium.

Add an experience: To follow up and increase students’ awareness of communicating face-to-face and on the phone, have your students complete Sound Advice. This voice evaluation exercise will help them understand more about the importance of how they sound and give them a simple tool to measure and modify their voices to sound their best. For additional information about the activity or to review similar exercises check out — Everyone Has a Customer to Serve.

Quik Quote: Radicati estimated that business users sent/received on the average of 156 emails a day in 2008.

Did you know? In today’s tough economy, employers are looking for prospective employees who can help them stay afloat … they want to hire people who can boost revenue, increase productivity, or cut costs. As employers sift through the flood of applications spawned by this recession, they depend on resumes to help them quickly identify their best prospects. To bolster your students’ chances of landing that good job, get them focused on ways to craft a resume for turbulent times. Regardless of their status — employed, unemployed, or full time student — encourage them to be proactive and begin or continue revising their resume to reflect their accomplishments. As students work through the quick exercise outlined below, they will identify the best ways to quantify and capitalize on their skills and experience.

• Ask students some questions about their resumes. How many have one? When was the last time you updated it? How would you rate it?
• Discuss the fact that a good resume is clean, detailed and on point, while a bad one is distracting, sloppy, and irrelevant.
• Explain that employers want to see at a glance the facts, the numbers, the time lines, the quantitative data that qualifies them for the job. And when job candidates persuasively describe and document their accomplishments, they will stand out from the crowd.
• Distribute today’s activity, Six Words to Skip, based on this article, and review the directions.
• When students have completed the activity, have them share, in a small group or as a class, their best responses.

If your students need more help with resumes, suggest that they complete an online lesson at CareerClues.org — Resume Help, or check out activities outlined in the Career Clues Booklet.

Add an Experience: There are a couple of experiences you may consider offering students to help them build their resumes. Contact your campus career center and find out about their Resume Workshops, like this Resume Development Workshop presented twice a month at Saddleback College’s Career Center. In addition, call the human resources department of an employer in your community, and invite someone on their hiring team to speak to your class about the challenges employers face when evaluating resumes and the recommendations he/she would offer students to help them write resumes that win interviews.

Quik Quote: Boxing was the only career where I wouldn’t have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume. Sugar Ray Leonard, retired American Professional Boxer

Did you know? This tumultuous economy and the crisis in the financial sector have had a devastating impact on the job market … Recruiters are cautious about making hiring predictions as many remain uncertain what will happen to staffing levels within their organizations over the next six to twelve months. Even though some employers are hiring, the competition for jobs has dramatically increased. Many students are arming themselves with the technical skills needed to land a good job. Yet they may have overlooked one of the most highly prized qualities employers look for … a strong work ethic. In fact, work ethic ranks 2nd on the list of qualities employers seek in new hires — a very close second to the number one requisite: communication skills. Whether your students are currently employed, seeking part-time, summer, or full-time employment, they need to understand what work ethic means, and be prepared to demonstrate behaviors that exemplify this attribute. This short activity will get students discussing work ethic and some of the ways they can define and demonstrate this quality in the workplace.

Try This:

1. Ask students to name the top five qualities employers seek in their new hires. List their responses.
2. Explain that according to a 2009 NACE Employers’ Poll, the top quality or skills were: communications skills, strong work ethic, teamwork skills, initiative, and analytical skills.
3. Discuss the 5 skills and ask them if they would do well in an interview where they had to demonstrate or describe their work ethic.
4. Distribute the How Would You Rate Your Work Ethic activity and ask students to answer the questions.
5. Have students share their responses to the last question. (If a potential employer asked you to describe your work ethic, how would you respond?)

Add Experience: With the unemployment rate climbing, students are going to have to be resourceful and creative to make the best use of their summer vacations. Divide your students into teams and have each team research “summer work” possibilities to share with the class. You may want a team to focus on finding and reporting on great volunteer opportunities, while other teams might research the options via your local ROP program, California Conservation Corp., entrepreneurial opportunities, or other employment prospects.

Quik Quote: Research shows that 85% of people who lose a job do so because they lack good work habits, rather than lack appropriate job skills.

Did You Know? In these tough economic times employers are looking to employees who have the ability to weather adversity … they need and want employees who are resilient, people who can adapt quickly, change directions, and bounce back. They want workers who can solve problems, focus on the positive, support their teams, and maintain job performance. When the going gets tough, employers want a resilient workforce. Besides helping students succeed in the workplace, resiliency is one of the most important qualities students need to cultivate in these challenging economic times. In fact, there is a strong correlation between resiliency and academic performance. Today’s activity will help your students get their arms around what resiliency looks and acts like and some ideas on how to build their resilience.

Try this:

Write the word resilient on your white board and ask students to define the term.
Share a short story about a time when you, or someone you know, bounced back from a difficult situation.
Ask students what qualities help a person build their resiliency.
Distribute the Personal Resiliency Worksheet. (It is a portion of the Resiliency Quiz by Nan Henderson.)
After students have completed the activity, ask volunteers to share personal qualities that have helped them deal with difficult situations.

Add an Experience: The way we learn best is through experience. Getting students out of the classroom and connecting with others will help them relate to the information to what they are learning in class and apply it in real world situations. Today’s experience assignment prompts students to learn more about resiliency via an interview. The directions and information are included on this Resiliency Interview assignment sheet. By making this short assignment, students will learn more about resiliency, build their communication skills, and improve their networking abilities — top skills employers seek. (This activity is an abbreviated version of a resiliency assignment by a UCSB professor.)

Quik Quote: Drs. Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman (2006) found that the correlation between self-discipline and achievement was twice as large as the correlation between IQ and achievement.

Did You Know? In today’s densely interconnected workplaces, working with others — closely, creatively, globally, and productively — drives organizational and personal effectiveness. Whether working virtually or face-to-face, today’s employees must possess the skills needed to work well on teams. Employers want people who embrace team concepts and can make team results happen. According to a survey reported in How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today’s Global Economy, 82% of employers say colleges and universities should place more emphasis on teamwork skills and the ability to collaborate with others in diverse group settings. Today’s activity will introduce your students to Bruce Tuckman’s developmental phases most teams pass through – forming, storming, norming, and performing. Understanding more about team dynamics will give students an advantage as they set out to find jobs in today’s highly collaborative workplace environment.

Try this:

• Introduce the team development stages of forming, storming, norming, and performing. (You may choose to use this 3-minute video clip or this PP with your class.)
• Distribute the Guess the Stage activity and give students a few minutes to read and complete it.
• Review the answers, 1 P / 2 N / 3 S / 4 F / 5 N / 6 N / 7 P / 8 S / 9 F / 10 P. (Answers could vary depending on interpretation.) Possible responses to questions: Why is storming important? To find good ideas and diverse solutions, people have to have differing points of view. If every one agrees, not many good ideas are developed. Don’t be afraid of conflict. What is best and worst about performing? Team works well and can accomplish a lot, but members may become a little complacent …
• Discuss their personal experiences with these team stages.
• If appropriate, assign the online lesson, What it Takes to Be a Great Team Player.

Add an Experience: Explain to your students that the best way to learn more about teamwork is to talk with a friend or relative who works on teams. To help them with that conversation, give them this March Madness Activity and have them practice with their classmates. Ask them to explain whom they would interview and what they would say. The interview experience will give them more insight and a chance to ask questions about today’s workplace and the importance of collaboration.

Quik Quote: None of us is as smart as all of us. Japanese Proverb

Why should you learn teamwork skills?
Teamwork implies an ability to get along with others, work collaboratively, build trust, be dependable, and offer support. Here are a few of the reasons having teamwork skills is so important:

• Teamwork skills are some of the most valued skills in today’s job market.
• More than 80 percent of organizations employ multiple types of workplace teams.
• Teamwork skills help you work effectively, synthesize knowledge, and even learn more deeply than working individually.
• Teamwork skills can help you to problem solve collaboratively, communicate effectively, and to deal with diversity and conflict.

* Where would you like to work and why would having good team skills help you get and keep a job there?

What does Steve Young have to say about teamwork?
On or off the field, in or out of the office, wherever you choose to work, you are going to need good “soft skills” to get those really good jobs. Teamwork skills top the list of important “soft skills.” Steve Young, football hall of famer, recognizes the importance of being a team player and the value of soft skills. He was so successful because he learned to assess a situation through the perspective of his teammates and to understand their personal incentives. Young was able to inspire them individually and improve their communication and coordination on the field. Listen to what Young has to say in this University of Stanford video clip. * Then write one or two sentences summarizing Young’s message.

What do you know about your team skills?
Getting your arms around what it takes to work on a team takes some thought. Perhaps you have never learned how to effectively work on a team and therefore, feel at a disadvantage when you work in a collaborative environment. Perhaps you strongly prefer to work alone. Take this short Team Player Assessment and review your responses, then read this article about the six qualities of a good team player. * Which of the six qualities do you think is the most important? Which of the six qualities do you want to improve?

A good team needs to have diverse players. Each player brings his/her unique ideas and perspective to a team, to help the team solve problems and reach its goals. In addition, different team members and play different roles on a team. The Team Roles Preferences Scale estimates the role you prefer when you participate in team activities. The instrument calculates your preferences based on five team roles: encourager, gatekeeper, harmonizer, initiator, and summarizer. Complete the Team Roles Preference exercise and print your analysis. * According to this Team Preference Exercise, what are your preferred roles and why do you agree or disagree with the predictions?

None of us is as smart as all of us. Japanese Proverb

Did You Know? The Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas examined employment trends for the last decade and found that the fastest growing job categories are those that require people skills and emotional intelligence. In addition, Job Web Outlook 2009, reports that employers look to job candidates’ soft skill repertoire when making hiring decisions and are frequently disappointed at their lack of communication and interpersonal skills. It doesn’t matter what career path students choose – they will need great people-skills to add momentum and dimensions to their success, yet many of our students lack these critical skills and are not sure how to build them. The activity outlined below will help increase awareness about the importance of soft skills and get your students discussing their ideas on how to acquire them. In today’s tough economy, good technical skills combined with extraordinary soft skills are smart skills that give students a first class ticket into the workplace.

Try this:
Ask students to define soft skills. Make a list of their responses.
Distribute the Smart Skills for Tough Times attachment.
View this 4-minute video clip on soft skills. STOP and have students respond to the questions on their Smart Skills for Tough Times activity guide at designated times.

• Start the video and stop it at 2:22 to respond to #1.
1:Name several of your technical skills and a couple of your interpersonal skills.
• Continue video and stop it at 3:00 to respond to question #2.
2: Based on 100%, what percentage do you think technical skills and interpersonal and communication skills contribute to career success?
• After the video clip is over, have students answer these questions:
3: According to the Stanford Research Institute study: Technical skills contributed ___% to career success. Soft skills and interpersonal skills, contributed ___% to career success.
4: What are you doing to build your technical skills? What evidence can you provide an employer to document these skills?
5: What are you doing to build you soft skills? What evidence will you have to provide an employer to document these skills?

Finally, ask students to explain their response to question 4 or 5 to the person sitting closest to them. If you want students to do some additional research on soft skills and take a soft skills assessment, assign them the online student lesson, Soft Skills Employers Seek, on the www.wblconnections.com site.

Add an Experience: Following the in-class activity on soft skills, offer students an extra credit assignment for doing three short follow-up interviews. Give them this “Meet Three” activity guide to complete. This exercise encourages them to extend their social contacts with diverse groups of people, to gather information and resources about the workplace. Suggest that students ask their interviewees about soft skills and what role they play in the workplace. Discuss their interview experiences and the responses they received when they report on what they learned.

Why Network?
Like it or not … today’s careers are made and broken by one’s ability to network. To find a good job, “who you know” can matter as much as “what you know.” Here are some networking facts for you to consider.

• Approximately 70% of all jobs are found through networking.
• A referral generates 80% more results than cold call.
• Most people you meet have at least 250 contacts.
• Anyone you might want to meet or contact is only four to five people away from you.

“Networking Tips”
Today’s students can expect to make 3 to 5 career shifts and hold 9 to 13 different jobs. To help you successfully navigate these changes, you will need to build a network of friends and associates who know your abilities and can give you a pipeline to other jobs, to other career options, and to career growth opportunities. To gather quick and easy advice on networking, watch this 3-minute video clip from BNET. On your online guide, write down the five-step introduction.

Three Deadly Sins of Networking
At the Career Networking 101 site, they begin by explaining what not to do when building a network. Look at what they deem the Three Deadly Sins of Networking and answer the corresponding question about each one of these on your online guide.

1. Waiting until you need a job to begin networking: Why is it good to begin before you need it?
2. Developing an “all about me” mindset: What is a better mindset?
3. Expecting others to do your networking for you: How can you be proactive?

Speed Business Networking: The Manual
If you are looking for interesting and insightful ideas on how to network more effectively, look at this free on-line manual put out by SpeedBusinessNetworking.Com. Check out the New Rules of Networking on page 6 and choose the three rules that appeal to you. Record those rules on your online guide.

Virtual Networking
While you want to develop strong face to face connections with people using traditional networking opportunities, you will also want to take advantage of technology to build virtual relationships. Using the Internet and a host of different social media sites, you can make incredible connections. Review the 7 Secrets of Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media. On your online guide, explain the advantages of conducting a people search rather than a job search — the first suggestion.

Take some immediate steps in extending your career network today because actions speak louder than words. On your online guide, list your next steps.

Did You Know? A college education is probably the soundest investment one can make in today’s tough economy, because it pays dividends for a lifetime. Yet, six in ten students who enter the California Community College system as freshmen drop out or lower their academic sights after just one semester, because they fail to get the help they need. To keep our students coming back, we must encourage them to take advantage of the student support services available to them. Whether they need academic counseling, tutoring, financial aid, or a job, many students don’t realize they can get the help they need right on campus. If you take a few minutes of class time to do the activity below, and Add the Experience, you’ll increase student success and your course retention rate. Besides helping students stay in school, these exercises allow students to experience the advantages of networking — an essential workplace skill.

Try This:

Ask students to stand, listen, and respond to your instructions.

1. If you have spent time studying in the campus library, remain standing.
2. If you can explain to another student 2 reasons to visit the financial services office on campus, do not sit down.
3. If you have visited the campus career center, keep on standing.
4. If you can direct another student to the college job board, stay on your feet.
5. If you know where to go to get help in math or English, remain standing.
6. If you can write down the directions to the college transfer center, do not take your seat.
7. If you can share one campus resource to use to find an internship, remain vertical.
8. If you belong to a campus club or have participated in a campus volunteer activity, stay standing.
9. If you can identify a campus event that will take place this month, continue standing.
10. If you can tell a person already seated why a student would join Alpha Gamma Sigma, you really are a winner!

Explain that you did this exercise to find out how many students know about the great student support services on campus.
Emphasize that these services are no cost or low cost and readily available to all students.
Ask students to describe services they have found helpful.
Share success stories of former students.

Add an Experience: This “Campus Connections” activity calls on students to go out on campus and identify specific services and people who can support them in their academic and career journeys. This “on the move” exercise is a great way to expose students to the array of campus support services. Print and distribute this assignment. Discuss the activity with your students and ask them to share some examples of the questions they would like to ask. To generate more enthusiasm, consider giving a few extra credit points for completing this exercise.

Quik Quote: Students may be reluctant to ask for help … faculty and staff members need to be responsible for knowing what resources are available, promoting students to use resources, and directing individual students appropriately. Inside Higher Education

Did you know? Thanks to you, the readership to On the QT continues to grow. Thousands of new and returning readers use the activities, resources, and the WBLConnections.com site to help them deliver short and engaging workbased learning exercises and experiences in their classrooms. This semester these included specific lessons on internships, informational interviews, and building communication skills. In addition, we posted new online student lessons to help students rate their soft skills and ace their job interviews and free resources with interesting interviews, as well as new Missing Major and Career Clues Booklets.

Next semester we are excited to announce that we will be delivering a new series dubbed Soft Skills 4 Tough Times. We hope you will join us on January 27th as we “kick off” the year with positive ideas and activities to help students survive and thrive in troubled economic times. Until then, we wish you all a joyful and happy holiday season and a year filled with innovative and exciting educational adventures!

Coming in January … Soft Skills 4 Tough Times!

Did you know? Levity-minded individuals: climb the corporate ladder faster, make more money than their peers, are more creative … and live long, full lives… In fact, the positive effects of a sense of humor on one’s career and a company’s bottom line have been extensively researched and reported in The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up. In today’s activity, you have an opportunity to test their premise. Have some fun with your students as you view and discuss the skills and abilities of these idiosyncratic employees at work in The Office of Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, PA.

Try This:
Ask students some questions about what skills they want in their co-workers.
Distribute and review the Who Would you Choose activity attached.
As a class, view each of these short video clips to get a quick impression of each of these characters:

• The affable: Jim Halpert. Produces numbers when it counts. Has a good sense of humor. (58 seconds)
• The dedicated: Dwight Schrute. Consistently a top performer. Takes his job seriously. Likes to be in charge. (32 seconds)
• The consistent: Stanley Hudson. Hard-working. Has a laid-back demeanor but little respect for authority. (18 seconds)
• The preppy: Andy Bernard. Has Ivy League credentials and a lot of confidence in himself. (Watch only first 1 minute and 8 seconds)

Give students time to discuss and explain to their groups who and why they would like to add to their team.
Bring the activity full circle by asking what the most and least important traits are for coworkers.

As the year draws to a close, we want to express our thanks for your support and encouragement. The On the QT series will resume in January 2009 with more soft skill activities for you to try. In the meantime, check our website, WBLConnections.com, for past editions of the QT, new online lessons for students, and a host of free resources.
Happy Holidays … the QT Team!

Did you know? At a time when employers say new hires lack soft skills, volunteer experiences help students acquire the skills they need to succeed. According to a 2007 Deloitte Consulting study, volunteering gives students an opportunity to make networking contacts, learn business skills, and/or develop their leadership abilities. Today when students are finding it challenging to accumulate meaningful work experiences, eighty-one percent of employers say volunteer work qualifies as relevant experience. While employers are impressed with volunteerism, today’s students also value service. Millennials, as a group, have altruistic tendencies and want to give back to their communities. In fact, volunteerism is up over 20% on college campuses and college students are volunteering in record numbers. In today’s activity, you’ll help your students brainstorm some of the personal and career-enhancing benefits of service.

Try This:

• Share a volunteer experience you have had and ask students to share one of theirs.
• Distribute Brainstorm the Benefits activity, review the directions, and give student about 10 minutes to complete it.
• Bring students back together and quickly call on different students to cite some of the benefits of volunteerism. (Many reasons here.)
• Display volunteermatch.org and enter your college’s zip code. Note the opportunities in your area and discuss them.

Add an Experience
Many students do not volunteer because they do not know where to begin. Give students extra credit for researching and contacting volunteer organizations that would be relevant to your course and appropriate for busy college students. Ask them to report to the class about volunteering at one-time events, or contributing on an occasional basis. Consider adding a volunteer or service learning component to your course next semester.

Quik Quote: If every American donated five hours a week, it would equal the labor of twenty million full time volunteers. Whoopi Goldberg

Did you know? Today’s highly competitive students have been dubbed the “Intern Generation.” The internship, which was once viewed as optional by college students and as “cheap labor” by corporate America, has taken the front seat as a necessary career builder for today’s college students and as a vital HR tool for employers. Employers consistently name internship programs as one of the most effective tools they have for building their talent pools. Interns bring fresh ideas and technological know-how into the workplace, while employers provide interns with priceless tools and experience for their resumes. Student interns can earn college credit, “test drive” a career field, grow their experience, and make workplace connections. Internships are increasingly required for landing those good jobs. When you talk to students about getting internships, they will invariably bring up obstacles that are keeping them from getting that internship they would love to have. Today’s activity will get students thinking about internship possibilities as they participate in this team problem solving exercise.

Try This:
• To open the discussion, show this 1-minute video clip, Internships: What’s the Deal?
• Ask students questions about their internship experiences.
  Who has had an internship experience?
  How many people want an internship?
  What’s getting in your way of finding an internship?
• Distribute the Wish/Obstacle Internship activity sheet attached and review the instructions, then complete the exercise.
• Bring the class back together and reflect on how team input gave them ideas for overcoming obstacles.
• Assign Get Internships, an online lesson, to give students more information and resources on finding internships.

Add an Experience: While the job market may be slowing down, many companies are increasing their number of internship opportunities. Ask your college’s career center staff when they are holding their career fair and what other career fairs might be going on in your area. Offer students extra credit for attending a career/job fair, collecting three business cards from companies that interest them, and noting one thing they learned on the back of each card. Now is the time students should begin looking for those summer internships.

Quik Quote: School without an internship can get you nowhere. Patrick Combs, author, Major in Success

Did you know? Students who make workplace connections as part of their college education are more successful in today’s competitive global economy. While there are a number of meaningful ways of bridging the gap between classroom and careers, informational interviews are an invaluable tool. Informational interviews provide students with first-hand information about jobs that interest them, and help them begin to build their personal career networks. One of the best ways to incorporate informational interviews into your course is to do a classroom informational interview with a professional person whose career is related to your discipline. In this way you not only give students an opportunity to experience the informational interview process, but you also demonstrate how the information they are learning in your course has relevant applications in a workplace setting. The informational activity outlined below introduces students to the initial steps in preparing for a meaningful informational interview.

Try This:

• Ask students what they know about informational interviews.
• Explain that an informational interview is a great tool they can use to meet interesting people and explore different career paths. To give them a better idea of the look and feel of an informational interview, show this four-minute clip of a group informational interview with Starbucks’ Founder and Chairman, Howard Schultz.
• Give students some background information about the person you have invited to participate in the class’s group informational interview.
• Distribute the informational interview activity sheet attached, review the assignment, and discuss the advantages of asking open-ended questions.
• After they complete the activity, have students share their open-ended questions, and from them, compose a list of questions for the class interview. If they need more information or resources on informational interviewing, assign the online Career Clues lesson, Ask Experts.

Add an Experience:
Follow the class informational interview session by assigning students an informational interview to complete on their own or with a partner. Because students are generally reluctant to contact professionals and request an interview, you will need to guide them through the process. More information on how to do this is available in the “Assign Informational Interviews” and “Role Play for Information” in the Handy Activities for Student Success Booklet. By offering students an opportunity to participate in informational interviews, you are helping them build their communication skills, make new connections, and find fulfilling careers.

Quick Quote: Informational interviewing builds relationships with people who become invested in your career, remember you, and are eager to hear about your progress.
Katharine Hansen, author, A Foot in the Door

Did you know? Employers rank communication skills as the number one skill they seek in new hires. Yet they report that communication skills are most sorely lacking in today’s job candidates. While most people define communication skills as the ability to speak and write well, listening is our most used communication skill. Employers want employees who can speak and write well AND who are willing and able to listen effectively. Failure to listen is costly – leading to mistakes, poor service, misaligned goals, wasted time, and billions of dollars of increased costs and lost profits. Although most people assume they are good listeners, the average employee’s listening effectiveness is only about 25%. Increase your students listening awareness and help them focus on the value of listening by learning and practicing some simple listening strategies.

Try this

1. Share a workplace problem you experienced because someone failed to listen and ask students to share some examples where failing to listen in their workplace caused a problem.
2. Tell students that most of us are not effective listeners, as we only remember about 25% of what we hear. If we become better listeners, we will improve our productivity, avoid conflict and misunderstandings, and be better able to influence, persuade, and negotiate better.
3. Explain that we can use some simple strategies to improve listening: Pay attention, Show we are listening, and Provide feedback.
4. Distribute the PSP Formula for Listening worksheet attached, and have students work with 2 other students to complete the activity.
5. Debrief the activity by asking some questions like: How can you tell if someone was paying attention? What is something you can do to show you are listening? Why is feedback important? (For more on communication, try The Communication Connection for tips on talking and Written Communication for a writing skills activity.)

Add an Activity
Toastmasters is a nonprofit organization that offers participants an opportunity to practice and hone their communication and leadership skills. Thousands of members meet regularly to develop various skills useful in public speaking. If you want to expose your students to the unique opportunities Toastmasters offers them, put together a simple Toastmasters assignment and award extra credit points as an added incentive. Suggest that students team up, find a local “open” meeting, confirm meeting time and location, attend the meeting, and deliver a 1-2 minute summary of what they discovered to your class. Attending a meeting will give students an added advantage to build their networks, connect with the business community, and identify a resource that could help them now or in the future.

Quick Quote: The single most important principle in the field of interpersonal relations is this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Stephen Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Out of every 100 resumes a company receives for a job opening, only 5 to 10 candidates are invited to an interview. Job seekers work hard to win an interview and need to spend time preparing to make the best impression on the interviewer to win the job. Not preparing or inadequately preparing for an interview is probably the number one mistake most job interviewees make! Don’t let that happen to you. This lesson will help you understand what and why you need to do to prepare for a job interview.

Watch the Job Seekers … One of the best ways to improve your performance on a job interview is to watch some job interviews and see job candidates in action. Susan Morem, author and interview coach, has made a series of short engaging video podcasts with college students doing mock job interviews. Watch her introductory video, Meet the Job Seekers, and then view Kevin’s interview. Comment on the interviews by answering the questions on your guide.

Test Your Job Interview Savvy
It is clear that good preparation is the key to performing well on a job interview. That means learning as much as you can about the interview process and some of the best ways to respond to questions. At Career Clubs International, they offer a 10-question interview quiz. This self-scoring quiz will give you feedback on your responses and interesting insight into the interview process. Take the quiz and respond to additional questions on your guide.

Be Prepared to Ask Questions
When you don’t have questions, it looks like you did not prepare or that you are not very interested in the company…While you will have to answer questions in an interview, you also need to be prepared to ask some questions too. As you research the company you are interviewing with, think of additional information you would like to have. View this 2 minute video clip, then answer a couple of questions on your guide.

Send a Thank You
Interview experts agree that every job hunter must send thank-you notes after every interview. They also point out that most people completely ignore this bit of wisdom. In order to have a huge advantage over the other candidates for the job you want, send thank-you notes to everyone you meet the day of the interview. Individualize each note to show your personality and what you would bring to the job. If you are not sure about what to say in your note, take a look at a variety of sample thank you’s to get you going. Finally, respond to the last two questions on your guide, and note what you are going to DO to develop your job interview skills.

Did you know? Talking too much is the most common interview mistake that job candidates make. Nervous job candidates often try to cover up their anxiety with excessive talking. Instead of helping them move forward in the interview process, talking too much eliminates many candidates from consideration. To do well in a job interview, good interview preparation is key. When job seekers review common questions, prepare possible responses, and rehearse their delivery, they develop added confidence that enhances their performance and reduces those jitters. As CCC students acquire new knowledge and skills, they need good interviewing prowess to move up to better jobs. Don’t let your student talk themselves out of a job. Encourage them to get ready for those critical job interviews by completing the activity outlined here.

Try this:

• Ask students some questions about mistakes people make in a job interview and record their responses or show the 2-minute video clip.
• Explain that preparing and rehearsing responses to common job interview questions will help reduce nervousness and enhance performance.
• Distribute Common Questions activity sheet attached and give students a few minutes to complete it.
• Share and compare responses.
• Give students additional practice and resources: assign the online Ace Your Job Interview lesson.

Add an Experience
Why not plan a class visit to your campus career center or invite the career center staff to your class? They undoubtedly have information, resources, and possibly workshops to help students prepare for job interviews as well as a host of other career opportunities. Before you set up this experience, find out what kind of connections your students already have with the career center and what specific experiences they are interested in pursuing. Then arrange a meeting with the career center coordinator prior to the visit and explain the purpose of the visit and what outcomes you would like from this interaction. If your career center has the Perfect Interview system, like Saddleback College’s Career Center, arrange for students to utilize this incredible, interactive interviewing tool.

Quik Quote: The first thing I tell our students is to be super-prepared for all the expected questions…the better prepared you are for those, the more confident you will be.
Lynne A. Sarikas, Director of MBA Center Northeastern University, Boston

Did you know? No matter how smart they are, or how many degrees they earn, students need a solid set of soft skills in order to be successful. Soft skills refer to a person’s ability to relate to others, to get him- or herself (and possibly others) organized, to communicate in written, spoken or other forms, to conduct research or gather information about various topics as assigned, and so forth. While students need specific technical or hard skills to get those good jobs, soft skills are essential for workplace success. In fact, studies suggest that hard skills contribute to only 15% of a person’s workplace success while the remaining 85% relies on good soft skills. Unfortunately more than a third of employers say new graduates lack many of the soft skills they seek. Give your students an edge over the competition by helping them define and develop their soft skills.

Try This
Ask students to help you define soft and hard skills. (Defined on slides 2, 3, 4, 5)
Distribute Would You Hire You? attached.
Have students form groups of 3-5 and work together to fill-in the missing definitions and examples.
Call on different groups to share some of their responses especially focusing on their workplace examples.
Give students a couple of minutes to explain to the person sitting next to them why they would hire themselves based on their soft skills.
For more information and a soft skills quiz, assign Soft Skills Employers Seek, an online student lesson.

Add an Experience
A guest speaker from a local business can convey current, realistic information and a perspective on the workplace that is not available from textbooks. Consider inviting the Human Resource Manager from a local business to meet with your class. Ask him/her to discuss the skills that make a job candidate exceptional and give students an opportunity to ask questions. While getting effective guest speakers can be challenging, if you prepare your students and the speaker well in advance, the outcome will be amazing. For additional information, check out Handy Activities for Student Success, pg. 12-13.

Quik Quote: You can have all the technical expertise in the world, but if you can’t sell your ideas, get along with others, or turn your work in on time, you’ll be going nowhere fast.
Peggy Klaus, The Hard Truth about Soft Skills

Soft Skills = Career Success
No matter how smart you are, or how many degrees you earn, you are going to need a solid set of soft skills in order to be successful. Soft skills refer to a person’s ability to relate to others, to get him or herself (and possibly others) organized, to communicate in written, spoken or other forms, to conduct research or gather information about various topics as assigned, and so forth. While you do need specific technical or hard skills to get those good jobs, soft skills are essential for workplace success. For more information and examples of soft skills, review this PowerPoint, What do Employers Want in Employees. (On your printed guide, answer question 1.)

Soft Skills Give You the Edge
Because experts estimate that career success depends on a good set of soft skills, you will want to develop your soft skills for better employability. According to Job Outlook 2008, employers want new hires with a good GPA. They also want employees with good communication skills, a “strong work ethic”, initiative, interpersonal skills, and problem-solving abilities. Unfortunately more than a third of employers say new graduates lack many of the soft skills they seek. If you develop and demonstrate these important skills, you’ll have an edge in the hiring process. (On your guide, answer question 2.)

Rate Your Soft Skills
Want to test your soft skills in a number of key areas? This automated self-assessment quiz will test and tally your soft skill savvy. As you respond to a 24 question quiz, you will receive immediate feedback on the state of your soft skills. This quiz, offered by communication coach Peggy Klaus, author of The Hard Truth About Soft Skills Workplace Lessons Smart People Wished They’d Learned Sooner, is a great place to begin. After you take the quiz, print your feedback and review it. Decide on two or three things you will do immediately to improve these skills. (On your guide, answer question 3.)

Keep Soft Skills Sharp
It’s rarely a shortfall in technical expertise that will limit your chances to land a good job or to move up in the workplace. It is rather a shortcoming in social, communication, and self-management behaviors. So before you go out seeking your dream job, hone those soft skills. Soft skills can open doors to extraordinary career opportunities. You can have all the technical expertise in the world, but if you can’t sell your ideas, get along with others or turn your work in on time, you’ll be going nowhere fast. (On your guide, respond to the last question.)

Did you know? Raise expectations… Students and employees will improve their game in response to a challenge. The sixth of the Seven Principles of Undergraduate Education encourages instructors to communicate high expectations … after all, if you expect more you will get more. As you begin this new semester, let your students know what you expect from them and ask them some questions about what they expect of you. Setting high expectations with energy, enthusiasm, and conviction will encourage your students to make that extra effort for greater success in your classroom.

Do this:

• View this 3 minute clip from Stanford’s Education Corner … Be Fabulous.
• Distribute the attached worksheet “Be Fabulous.”
• Give your students time to work independently or in small groups to fill out their top 5 expectations for both students and instructors.
• Discuss your expectations and give students time to share their ideas.

Add Experiences
For continued economic prosperity of the US in the 21st century, academic standards must be tied to the demands of the global economy. This year in the QT, we are going to encourage instructors to include relevant workplace experiences in their courses. We will share some ideas and suggestions on how instructors are calling on guest speakers, including workplace visits, assigning informational interviews, and building internship opportunities to better prepare their students to land great jobs.

Quik Quote: There is a clear correlation between teacher expectations and student achievement.

Did you know? Sleep is powerfully linked with our ability to learn. As we approach the end of the semester, students undoubtedly will forgo a good night’s sleep to study for finals and complete postponed projects. We will watch them replace needed sleep with caffeine and bleary eyes – only to see a decline in their ability to remember the very things they stayed up late trying to learn. While going without sleep may be considered a big plus in today’s fast paced, global society, not getting needed sleep is neither healthful nor helpful. In John Medina’s new book, Brain Rules, he provides evidence that supports the fact that in order to learn well, one must sleep well. To get your students thinking about the power of sleep and how to get more of it, try this activity.

1. Watch this 2 minute video “Sleep Well, Think Well.”
2. Ask students some questions about their sleep habits: How many hours do you think a person needs to sleep? What happens when you don’t get enough sleep?
3. Distribute the attached Student Activity Sheet: Sleep Well to Think Well. (This activity does not measure fatigue but rather one of the primary symptoms — daytime sleepiness.)
4. Instruct students to complete and score their quiz.
5. Discuss the results and ask students if and how they plan to get more sleep.

Summer Smart! The Brain Rules site has incredible information and applications you can apply in your classrooms. John Medina not only tells us the facts, but also provides ideas we can use to boost the brainpower of our students and create more meaningful learning experiences … Keep their attention by using the 10 minute rule; apply the rule of thumb for better recall; and help students take advantage of their short and long term memories. Medina’s site and his easy to read book, will give you access to what scientists have uncovered about what’s going on inside our heads.

Did you know? Bill Gates from Microsoft jokes about going through airport customs, declaring nothing but having a billion dollars worth of ideas in his head … ideas are the currency of the future. Today’s most innovative companies, like Google, know that to stay competitive they need new ideas to grow on. Successful companies spend time and resources encouraging employees to come up with and build on each other’s ideas. Best selling authors Daniel Pink and Thomas Freidman cite compelling evidence to persuade their readers to develop their creative abilities to generate new ideas. Today’s activity is one Chip Thompson, author of What a Great Idea, frequently uses to get his audience engaged in a quick and easy brainstorming session. See if a team in your class can beat the 147 ideas for using baking soda held by a 5th grade class in San Diego, or the adult record of 83 uses held by a Hewlett Packard group.

Try this:

• Motivate your students’ interest in ideas, show this 3 minute video from Stanford “Ideas Come from Everywhere.”
• Ask your students some questions like: how often they get ideas; where they get their best ideas; how they remember and use their ideas.
• Explain to students that … Arm and Hammer has been producing the same baking soda product since 1834. While they have not altered the product, they have given consumers hundreds of new ideas for using their product. Customers have gone from putting a few teaspoons of baking soda in their homemade cookie recipes to buying boxes of the stuff to set in their refrigerators. Today you are going to come up with ideas for using bicarbonate of soda.
• Have students divide themselves into groups of three to five and distribute attached brainstorming activity.
• Allow groups a minute or two to review the instructions and organize themselves. Emphasize that you are looking for quantity of ideas rather than quality.
• Give them about 3-4 minutes to complete this idea generating exercise.
• Find out which team generated the most ideas and discuss how they felt about the process.

Want More? If you want to see some terrific new ideas, check out the Halo System from HP, RFID technologies, and Second Life at the Transformation Age site from Maryland’s, Smith School of business. Tell students about the Fast Company’s Great Idea Contest and encourage them to enter. Give your students additional ideas and resources for developing their creativity, by assigning this online activity.

Quik Quote: Ideas are the beginning points of all fortune. Napoleon Hill

Did you know? What really leads to success is not smarts, looks, or luck. At least that is what Richard St. John concludes after extensively researching the subject. In fact, he completed over 500 interviews gathering millions of “words of wisdom” from successful people. St. John sorted and synthesized his findings into 8 traits to great. His work is not only fascinating but also visually compelling. St. John has a story to tell and tells it well in his book, Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky, and Rich. In this week’s activity, find out what qualities your students believe are necessary for success in this compare and contrast exercise.

Try this

Ask your students to write down 8 to 10 traits that they believe make a person successful.
Then view this three-minute video clip … Secrets of Success in 8 Words.
After watching the video, click on this chart and have students compare their success traits to those identified and defined by St. John.
Discuss how their traits are alike and different.

Want More?
Along with the success traits outlined in this lesson, you may want to focus on some of the “Know How Skills” employers seek. Try this stand up activity outlined here. In addition, there are a number of new interactive student lessons, with activity guides, to teach students about entrepreneurship, the power of optimism, leadership and … why not assign one for extra credit?

Quik Quote: And will you succeed? YES! You will indeed! (98 and 1/4 percent guaranteed.) Dr. Seuss

Did you know? Students’ ability to converse has a huge impact on their success after graduation … according to a study from Stanford University School of Business. In fact, good verbal communication skills top the list of competencies employers seek in new hires and those they want to advance. Since employees can expect to spend about 1/3 of their workplace communication time talking, good oral communication skills are critical. How well are your students able to reach out to others and speak spontaneously? This “Test Your Talking” activity will give your students some clues about their ability to talk in a variety of situations and offers them an opportunity to reflect on how to improve those skills.

Try this:
Ask some questions about workplace communication. (What is the number one skill employers’ seek? How much of your communication time do you spend talking?… )

Distribute the “Test Your Talking” activity attached.

Give students time to complete the survey.Have students explain to the person sitting closest to them how they plan to improve their oral communication skills.

Discuss oral communication skills and list on the board students’ suggestions on ways to build these skills.
For an additional self-assessment and tips for becoming a better oral communicator – and team player, assign or discuss the questions and best responses to this online quiz.

Want More:
Spending just 10 minutes talking to another person can help improve your memory and your performance on tests. For more on the kind of communication skills needed in the workplace, try here. Toastmasters can help your students learn to speak up. Find Toastmasters groups in your area and share that information with your students.

Quik Quote: Join Toastmasters. Oral communication skills count. Tom Peters

Every Silicon Valley colossus — Amazon, Apple, Dell, Ebay, Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Yahoo! — was started by a first-timer 30 or under. Facebook was founded by a teenager. Many of us aspire to follow in the footsteps of these youthful entrepreneurs. The road to entrepreneurship, however, is challenging and one that we should approach armed with knowledge, skills, and realistic expectations. What exactly is it that sets entrepreneurs apart from the rest? In this activity, you will learn more about entrepreneurship, meet some young successful entrepreneurs, and identify resources available to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Take an Entrepreneur’s Quiz
Get off to a great start by taking Fortune Magazines Are You Ready to Start Your Own Business Quiz. There are 10 questions so when you complete it enter your score and the analysis on your lesson guide.

Review Newsweek’s Best
Each year Newsweek selects some of the brightest entrepreneurs in the country age 25 and under. They come from a wide range of backgrounds and educational levels and have interesting and successful products. Look through the group and write down the three entrepreneurs that inspire you.

Watch “The Art of the Start”
Guy Kawasaki has participated in many entrepreneurial adventures. A one time Apple Fellow, he has written 8 books on entrepreneurship and is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. Listen to Guy’s message and then briefly give your interpretation of what he has to say.

Take Advantage of Resources
There are many people and organizations on the look out to help and support aspiring entrepreneurs. SCORE is one of the best. SCORE has more than 10,000 seasoned and talented entrepreneurs who volunteer their time to share their knowledge and skills with others. If you are looking for confidential advice online or in person, check out their locations and find the one closest to you. In addition, The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency that helps small business owners secure financing, provide free counseling and help secure government contracts.

Interview an Entrepreneur
The best way to learn about what it takes to be an entrepreneur is to interview one and ask your questions. Find someone in your community who has started a successful business. Interview the entrepreneur asking questions about how they started their business, what it takes to be a good entrepreneur, and what prompted him/her to begin a business. Here are some additional questions.

Reflect
It is estimated that 40% of the US populations will be self employed for some part of their work life … do you have plans to run a business of your own? If so what kind of business, if not, why not?

Did you know? Every Silicon Valley colossus — Amazon, Apple, Dell, Ebay, Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Yahoo! — was started by a first-timer 30 or under. Facebook was founded by a teenager. Many Gen Y’s aspire to follow in the footsteps of these youthful entrepreneurs. However, the road to entrepreneurship is challenging and one that students should approach armed with knowledge, skills, and realistic expectations. In addition to having a great idea, a successful entrepreneur has many personal characteristics and qualities that support their more independent lifestyle. What exactly is it that sets entrepreneurs apart from the rest? Today’s activity gives students an opportunity to rate and compare their personal characteristics with those entrepreneurs exhibit. Today’s activity, based on a lesson from Nebraska Entrepreneurs, gives students an opportunity to rate and compare their personal characteristics with those entrepreneurs exhibit.

Try this:
Ask students to name some successful entrepreneurs. (List on the board.)
Ask them to name some of the qualities of a successful entrepreneur. (List on the board.)
Explain that today:

They are going to answer some questions about themselves.
Then they will compare their answers to the common responses given by entrepreneurs.
There are no right or wrong answers.

Distribute the attached worksheet.
Review and share the entrepreneurs’ responses. Listed below is the underlying characteristic from each question and the entrepreneurs’ response.

Discuss their responses and if appropriate, assign the student on-line lesson, Entrepreneurship – An Alternate Career Choice.

Want More – Try Podcasts: There are many podcasts available on entrepreneurship … Stanford’s Educator’s Corner has their video podcasts clearly divided so you can extract just the 2-3 minute segments so you can capture what you want. On the Struggling Entrepreneurs site they publish interviews with aspiring entrepreneurs and the challenges they face. Finally, download this insightful interview podcast with Scott Shane, author of The Illusions of Entrepreneurship, from Total Picture Radio.

Quik Quote: We recognize that small business is critical to our economic recovery and strength, to building America’s future, and to helping the United States compete in today’s global marketplace.
Small Business Administration

Did you know? People judge our intelligence much more by how we sound than how we dress. In fact, our voices speak volumes about us and determine to some extent how the world hears and sees us. In today’s world, because people spend more time communicating via phone rather than they do face-to-face, the sound of our voices has never had a greater impact. In a Gallup Survey on voice qualities, one of the top vocal-put off’s was mumbling. You have probably noticed that students frequently mumble their responses in class. In the workplace, people who mumble are not only difficult to understand, they sound inarticulate, unpolished, and sloppy-certainly not the impression we want our students to make. To get students thinking about how they sound and how they can quickly improve their sound by speaking more clearly, have them try this fun and funny activity.

Do this:

• Ask a few questions about what their voices say about them.
  

  How important do you think your voice is when you communicate with others?

  How much of a person’s message is conveyed by their voice? (2nd paragraph)

• Explain that when people mumble they leave a bad impression.
  

  They may be perceived as inarticulate, lazy, or even sloppy.

  They give the impression that they have something to hide.

  It is easy to overcome mumbling by focusing on and practicing speaking clearly.

• Distribute the student guide, “How’s Your Sound?”
  

  Review the directions.

  Have students complete the activity.

• Discuss what they learned from the activity and how they will use the information.

Want More? According to the 2008 JobWeb Report, communication skills—both written and verbal—still top the list of skills and qualities employers seek in job candidates. If you want an additional exercise on improving their sound, go to the Everyone Has a Customer to Serve, and try the Activity #7, “Sound Advice”. For more tongue twisters, go to the Tongue Twister Database. Finally, at The Sound of Your Voice website, Dr. Carol Fleming has a number of articles on improving one’s voice.

Quik Quote: A smile on your face puts a smile in your voice. Susan Berkley, Speak to Influence

Did you know? What made the leaders of yesterday will not make the leaders of tomorrow. The days of command and control leaders of the past has given way to a more collaborative leadership style. Leadership today requires energy, enthusiasm, integrity, and an ability to engage, motivate, and inspire others. While the definition and actions of leaders is changing, leadership qualities and experiences are in high demand in the workplace. In fact, when employers are deciding between two job candidates with fairly equal skills and experience, they will often look to leadership experiences to help them make the final selection. Most students have more leadership attributes than they realize, but they need to think about what leadership is, what leadership experiences they have had, and be prepared to articulate these. To help your students focus on their leadership qualifications have them try this simple exercise based on an activity from An Instructor’s Guide for Exploring Leadership, page 19-21.

Try This:

• Show this one and half-minute video clip and then ask your students, What does leadership mean to you?
• Have students divide themselves into groups of 3-5 students.
• Distribute the activity sheet attached, Is this Leadership?
• Ask students to rate each activity as a leadership or non-leadership and to share their thoughts about their ratings within the group. (There are no right or wrong answers.)
• Come back together as a class and ask volunteers to share one of their leadership experiences.
• If you want your students to review more leadership resources, activities, and leadership assessments, assign the Prepare to Lead online lesson with guide.

Want More: Today’s presidential candidates do indeed have different leadership styles. Read how one business school professor analyzes the two competing leadership styles represented by Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama, in this Business Week article.

Quik Quote: The leader of the past knew how to tell; the leader of the future knows how to ask. Peter Drucker

Define Leadership

The role of a leader is not to give orders or single handedly make decisions. Leadership today is about connecting with people to accomplish a goal. It is about inspiring and motivating others. It is more about the strength of your character than the position you hold. Watch this two-minute video clip on Leadership Quotes and on your guide, identify the statements that help you define leadership.

Gather Evidence of Leadership

• This leadership motivation assessment will help you get a better idea about your desire to lead. Take the quick quiz and enter your score on your lesson guide.
• You probably have more leadership attributes and experiences than you realize. Have you coached a team, tutored a student, volunteered for a candidate you believed in? Many activities qualify as leadership experiences. If an employer asked you to explain a time when you took on a leadership role, what would you say? Enter your short response on your guide.
• This Wheaton College site offers you examples and suggestions on how and where to enter leadership activities to your resume.

Keep Building Leadership Experiences

• In the book, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College, author Bill Coplin focuses on the skill of influencing people. He writes about leadership and how to get leadership experiences in different courses and via non-course activities. Check out some of his recommendations here.
• Volunteer opportunities are great way to build leadership experiences. If you choose a cause you care about, you will have opportunities to lead. At this Volunteer Match site you simply enter your zip code and you will be amazed at what awaits you.
• There are many campus clubs and student associations looking for energetic leaders. Cal State Fullerton spells out many leadership opportunities that are also available on your campus…scroll down to Leadership Skills. List your next step on your lesson guide.

The leader of the past knew how to tell; the leader of the future knows how to ask. Peter Drucker

Did you know? If we ask students at the start of a course, at the start of any new topic, or after the first few experiences with a new subject: “What do you know about…?,” then these five words become magic. Born to Learn author Rita Smilkstein, explains in her lecture notes how the brain constructs new learning from what it already knows. We know that students don’t enter a course with a blank slate. Rather they come with many ideas and experiences. Assessing what they already know and linking their prior knowledge to new course concepts will help students learn more effectively. You may want to simply ask them a few questions, or you may want to construct a Background Knowledge Probe to help you quickly identify where to begin.

Try This:

• Write several open-ended questions on the white board or hand out questionnaires, with short answer and/or multiple-choice questions.
• Explain to students that this is not a test but will help you quickly assess where to begin instruction.
• After you review their responses, share with your students what you learned and how you will use the information.

Want More: Here are several sample Background Knowledge Probes to review. This Political Science probe shows the questions asked and the responses received. You can modify this Background Knowledge Probe template, from Georgian College in Ontario, Canada, to fit your course content. For additional information on Classroom Assessment Techniques, (CAT) this Penn State report will give you a good introduction, with an explanation of Background Knowledge Probes on page 3.

Quick Quote: Research suggests that, outside of socio-economic factors, the best predictor of student learning is what the student already knows before coming to class.

Did you know? If your students want a surefire way to bog themselves down and never turn their dreams into reality, they should surround themselves with people like these guys. Students may not realize how quickly they can catch the emotional states of those around them. Emotions – both negative ones like sadness and anger and upbeat ones like enthusiasm and joy are easily passed from person to person. One of the best ways to help your students stay positive and productive is to encourage them to spend time with optimistic people and be involved in constructive activities. Try this activity to increase your students’ awareness about emotional connections.

Do this:

Ask students some questions:

How does it make you feel when you are around a person with a upbeat attitude?

Which person in your family wakes up with a sunny disposition?

What is the last movie or television show you watched that made you laugh?

Explain that research has shown that emotions are contagious and whether we know it or not, we spread our emotions to those around us.

Distribute Contagious Emotions and do the first experience together.

Have students complete the rest of the exercise and then discuss their responses.

Get more input from students by asking:

What is one thing you will do today to spread positive emotions to others?

What can you do to be less susceptible to others’ bad moods?

Want More: Take a look at the work of Martin Seligman, author of Learned Optimism, and the Times article on the Science of Happiness.

Quik Quote: Although there are individual differences in capacity to deal with emotions, both in ourselves and in others, attention to the emotional aspects of teaching and learning can reap great benefits, not the least of which is helping to foster a life-long love of learning.

Are You Optimistic?
Do you agree or disagree with Katie Couric’s message … are you an optimist?

Take the Optimism Quiz
There are several versions of the Optimism Quiz. Take the version you prefer and record your results on your activity guide.

The Power of Optimism
Some people are born optimists. They instinctively understand how to find the positive in a situation, feel comfortable taking risks, maintain personal accountability, and have a strong foundation that allows them to bounce back from adversity. However, even if you are not among the naturally optimistic, you can acquire this all-important skill. Optimism is an attitude you can learn. What is needed are a new set of skills, qualities that include self-awareness, flexibility, self-confidence, initiative, resiliency, and adaptability. According to psychotherapist Dana Lightman, optimists focus on five practices, which form the acronym POWER: Proactive, Open-minded, Well-informed, Evolving, Resilient

On your activity guide, write down one situation or challenge that you are now facing. Then answer these questions to see how you could respond more optimistically.

1. What can I do to achieve the best possible outcome? (Proactive)
2. What are innovative responses to the situation? (Open-minded)
3. What do I need to know to reach a productive conclusion? (Well-informed)
4. What can I learn from this situation that will help me in the future? (Evolving)
5. What is an interpretation of this event that will motivate me to continue to strive for excellence and success? (Resilient)

It’s Catching
If you are looking for a surefire way to bog yourself down and make sure you never turn your dreams into reality, surround yourself with people like these guys. If on the other hand, you want to find greater success nourish relationships with positive and supportive people. Emotions are contagious- so steer clear of those negative thinkers and embrace inspiring friends and promising opportunities.

In addition, there are things we can do to lift our levels of happiness. Sonja Lyubomirsky, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, refers to “intentional activities” as ways in which we can influence our own happiness. Her research indicates that we can build habits which could help us feel happier, and more satisfied, with work and life. On page four, in the Science of Happiness report, read the Eight Steps to a More Satisfying Life. Which ones could you employ to help you find greater satisfaction?

Did you know? Everyone has a customer to serve. Regardless of what we call them, students, guests, bosses, parents, readers, viewers… they are customers. To maintain an economic edge, both public and private businesses must improve and enhance the customer experience. Today’s customers are more sophisticated and informed. They have more options and opportunities, more power, and more companies who want their business. In addition, they are also more pressed for time, more stressed, and hungrier for more personal attention. As we prepare students for this 21st century workplace, we must increase their awareness of the customer service experience and help them build the skills required to provide that service. The simple game below will help you initiate a discussion about the relationship among customers, employees, and owners.

Do This:

This activity, CEO, is based on the game Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Distribute the CEO student worksheet (attached).

Review the directions on the worksheet and the signals for customer, employee, and owner.

Ask for a volunteer and demonstrate how to play the game.

For the first round, you and the other player make a fist and hold it about shoulder height.

Count “One, two, three,” and during each count lower and raise your fist.

After “three,” lower your fist one more time; say “Show” to display one of the three letters.

Player must display the letters at the same time so there is no cheating.

Have students find a partner to play and record three rounds of the game.

Identify the winners.

Discuss the activity and ask students questions about the influence among customers, employees, and owners.

Ask students to identify one business that delivers extraordinary customer service.

Want More: Everyone has a Customer to Serve, is loaded with classroom activities to teach customer service skills. California Community College Family and Consumer Sciences Collaborative Grant produced this new booklet, which can also be found on the Work-Based Learning Connections site under “Print,” on the right hand side of the page. In addition, Stanford’s Educator’s Corner offers a brief take on the value of customer service in their Entrepreneurial Series.

Quik Quote: A man without a smiling face should not open shop. Chinese Proverb