 
Children of all ages thrive on activity and new experiences.
A Career Day provides wonderful ways to energize the staff,
expose students to a host of positive career role models, tie
academic skills to people who actually use them and involve parents
and the community in the school. Here are some suggestions:
DECIDE ON A FORMAT AND TIMEFRAME FOR THE CAREER
FAIR/DAY
- Schedule the Career Day for one to three hours in the morning
or afternoon. Speakers should plan to speak to two groups for
one half hour each.
- Depending on the size of student group you are trying to
reach, you may want to consider a day-long fair with alternating
speakers in the morning and afternoon.
- If you plan a Career Day for only one class, invite two speakers
on a given day. Divide the class into two groups. Each speaker
will speak to half the class. These groups can meet at opposite
ends of the room or auditorium; the teacher can rotate to both
groups. After one half hour, have the groups move to the second
speaker. For even smaller, more effective groups, try this with
four speakers at the same time with one-fourth of the class.
- If possible, involve from 2 to 4 classes or even several
grade levels in a Career Day. Form a committee of school staff
to design and implement the Career day. If you invite several
speakers on one day, you will have a greater variety of career
choices for the students.
DECIDE ON CAREERS/OCCUPATIONS
TO BE INCLUDED
- Include a variety of careers
 Different career fields
Jobs that require varying levels
of education/training; i.e., high school vocational, college,
etc.
Jobs that will be in high demand
in the future.
Include men and women in non-traditional
career roles.
- Consider organizing the Career Day around the six career
pathways bring used in your high school: Arts & Communications;
Business, Management, Marketing & Technology; Engineering/Manufacturing
& Industrial Technology; Health Science; Human Services;
Natural Resources & Agriscience. (More detailed descriptions
are available through the Opportunity Connection.)
IDENTIFY SPEAKERS/PRESENTERS
- Search the Opportunity Connection for organizations willing
to provide speakers.
- Send home a letter to get volunteer speakers.
- Ask staff and parents to recommend speakers from the community.
CONTENT OF PRESENTATIONS
Ask speakers to:
- Plan an activity or demonstration using tools and materials
with which they usually work. Bringing slides, pictures or brochures
is acceptable, but hands-on activities have much more impact.
- Discuss the educational requirements and skills needed for
their job.
- Discuss the current demand for their occupation and future
opportunities.
- Relate what they enjoy about their job.
PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE EXPERIENCE
- Talk to students about the careers that will be represented
during the Career Day; have them discuss what they know about
them.
- Have students identify questions they want to ask about specific
careers.
- Depending on the age of the students, you may want them to
takå a "career interest inventory."
AFTER THE CAREER
DAY
- Ask students what they learned about the careers.
- Ask students what skills employers are looking for and how
that connects to what they are learning in school.
- Have students write thank you letters to the business people
who participated in the Career Day, in addition to your letters.
CAREER DAY ALTERNATIVES
Career Days can be organized in a variety of ways.
Some possibilities might include a Career Fair, Speaker Rotation,
Stationary Speakers and a Career and College Day. Your Career
Day can be as simple or extensive as you would like.
For schools that want to place more emphasis on personal and
career development than just a one-day career day, consider some
of these alternatives.
Career week: organized around a variety of themes with
a mixture of activities. An elementary school might have a parent
career fashion show, guest speaker day and career dress up day.
A middle school could include careers in subject area day, career
role model day, career T-shirt day.
Monthly themes of personal development: career role
models can be brought in to discuss how to use personal development
skills on the job. Some examples might be Honesty: newspaper
reporter, entrepreneur; Respect: nurse, architect; Commitment:
police officer, bank teller; Courage: firefighter, farmer.
Monthly subject area career themes: subject areas can
provide an easy avenue for bringing in speakers and taking students
out into the community for career exploration. For math you
might consider a department store buyer or credit union manager.
A music/art teacher could consider museum curator.
Career profile themes: career clusters can serve as
monthly themes. Students will see the variety of jobs in each
cluster. Clusters could include marketing, manufacturing, transportation,
personal services, environment, construction, health, business,
public services and agri-business.
If you would like some assistance with planning a career day, send an e-mail message to Pamela Clifford at the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce or call her at (989) 893-4567.
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