Practical Application of Lifelong Learning Skills

 

	This Project has been funded with support from the European Commission.  This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission can not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

 

Didactic Unit 4	Theme	Time
Skills for effective lifelong learning 3	occupational  awareness and new skills;	5 hours
	job search (job application, interview);
	acquired skills for improving career opportunities;
	acquired skills for formulating future learning goals;

 

Lifelong learning is a rewarding process that brings benefits beyond income earning, career and competitiveness in the labour market. However, most often people link it to success in finding job.

People who have strong social skills have more chances to find job because they can: 

• well introduce themselves to employer;
• identify job vacancies and career opportunities;
• Identify career pathways in career development;

 

Remember!

There are hundreds of job and career options in the labour market. How do you make a choice when you don't really know what you want to do? Does it seem like a very difficult task? It's not. Yes, you will have to put some time and energy into making your decision, but your effort will be well worth it in the end.

Job searching and career planning is a lifelong process, which includes choosing an occupation, getting a job, growing in a job, possibly changing careers, and eventually retiring.
Before you can make a job choice you have to learn about yourself. Your values, interests, and skills acquired through learning, in combination with certain personality traits, will make some jobs especially suitable for you and some particularly inappropriate.
You can use self assessment tools, often called job tests, to gather this information and, subsequently, to generate a list of occupations that are appropriate.

 

 

Some people choose to have job advisers or other career development professionals administer these tests but many opt to use free job tests that are available on the Web.

Most common myths about choosing a job

Choosing a job is simple. Actually, choosing a job is an involved process and you should give it the time it deserves. Job searching is a multi-step process that involves learning enough about yourself and the occupations which you are considering in order to make an informed decision.
A job counsellor can tell me what occupation to chose. A job counsellor, or any other career development professional, can't tell you what job is best for you. He or she can provide you with guidance in choosing a job and can help facilitate your decision.
You can not make a living from your hobby. Says who? When choosing a job, it makes perfect sense to choose one that is related to what you enjoy doing in your spare time, if you so desire. In addition people tend to become very skilled in their hobbies, even though most of the skill is gained informally.
Making a lot of money will make you happy. While salary is important, it isn't the only factor you should look at when choosing a job. Countless surveys have shown that money doesn't necessarily lead to job satisfaction. For many people enjoying what they do at work is much more important. However, you should consider earnings, among other things, when evaluating an occupation.
Once you choose a job you will be stuck in it forever. Not true. If you are unsatisfied in your job for any reason, you can always change it. Many people change job s several times over the course of their lifetimes. One of the factors that makes lifelong learning so important is be secure in changing labour market.
If you change careers my skills will go to waste. Your skills are yours to keep. You can take them from one job to another. You may not use them in the exact same way, but they won't go to waste. Transferable skills are the skills you've gathered through lifelong learning, various jobs, volunteer work, or other life experiences that can be used in your next job or new career. In addition to being useful to career changers, transferable skills are also important to those who are facing a layoff, new graduates who are looking for their first jobs, and to those re-entering the workforce after an extended absence.
If your best friend (or somebody closet o you) is happy in a particular field, I will be too. Everyone is different and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another, even if that other person is someone with whom you have a lot in common. If someone you know has a job that interests you, look into it, but be aware of the fact that it may not necessarily be a good fit for you.
All you have to do is chose an occupation... Things will fall into place after that. Choosing an job is a great start, but there's a lot more to do after that. A job search is a road map that takes you from choosing a job to becoming employed in that occupation to reaching your long-term career goals.
There's very little you can do to learn about an occupation without actually working in it. While fist hand experience is great, there are other ways to explore an occupation. You can read about it either in print resources or online. You can also interview those working in that field.

 

Remember!

There are hundreds of job and career options in the labour market. How do you make a choice when you don't really know what you want to do? Does it seem like a very difficult task? It's not. Yes, you will have to put some time and energy into making your decision, but your effort will be well worth it in the end.

 

Personal planning is a disciplined thought process, which produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide who you are, where you are going, what you do, and how, when and why you do it. All of this is done with a focus on the future

The purpose of personal strategic planning is to help you:

• Provide direction, meaning, and purpose for your job search and career planning;
• Make decisions that positively affect your future
• Focus your efforts on what's most important
• Achieve the greatest results in the shortest period of time
• Significantly increase your level of performance
• Leverage your skills more effectively

 

Activity 2

Here are important steps in job search that will help you to practice your skills. Follow them carefully and practice on each step.

1. Make a list of occupations to explore. For each occupation on your list, you will want to look at the job description, educational and other requirements, job outlook, advancement opportunities, and earnings

2. Job exploration is the second stage of the process. You will begin to explore jobs after completing the first stage of search process - self-assessment. During that stage you took inventory of your values, interests, personality and skills.
Now it's time to learn about the jobs on your list so you can begin to make that list shorter. Your goal is to eventually narrow it down to the one job you want to pursue. Even if you think you know about an occupation, you may be surprised by what you learn.
At first you will just want to gather some basic information about each job on your list. Let's assume you have a list of five occupations. You can do some preliminary research which will allow you to narrow down your list before you do more in depth research. When exploring jobs you will need basic information such as job descriptions, job outlook, earnings and educational and training requirements. For basic information, use job briefs.
After reading up on the jobs on your list you will find that several of them don't appeal to you. For example, you may decide that you wouldn't enjoy the job duties of a particular job or that you can't (or choose not to) meet its requirements. The earnings may be lower than you thought or its outlook doesn't look promising. In the end, you will be left with a list with no more than about three jobs on it.

Here are important steps in job search that will help you to practice your skills. Follow them carefully and practice on each step.
Clean down your list of possible occupations based on what you learned from your research. For example, you may not be willing to put the time and energy into preparing for an occupation for which an advanced level of education is required, or you may consider the earnings for a particular occupation inadequate.

3. Set your own goals. By now you should have decided on one occupation you want to pursue. It's time to put a plan in place so you can eventually find a job in that field, but first you will need set goals. In order for your goals to be achievable, they must be:

• Conceivable: you must be able to put your goal into words;
• Achievable: you must have energy and time to accomplish your goal; and  achievable within a defined time frame;
• Believable: you must believe you can reach your goal;
• Clearly defined: you must know exactly what your goal is;

Break your job search goals down into short-term and long-term goals (similar to what we studied regarding learning goals). Short-term goals are goals you can reach in one year or less. Long-term goals are ones that are attainable in one to five years.
In order to reach your goals, you will have to get around any barriers you may face. List those barriers and your solutions for dealing with them.

 

 

Important part of successful job search is well done job interview. Job interviews are always stressful - even for job seekers who have gone on many interviews. The best way to reduce the stress is to be prepared. Take the time to review the "standard" interview questions you will most likely be asked. Also review sample answers to these typical interview questions.

Possible Interview Questions:

Work History

• Name of company, position title and description, dates of employment;
• What were your expectations for the job and to what extent were they met? 
• What were your starting and final levels of compensation?
• What were your responsibilities?
• What major challenges and problems did you face? How did you handle them?
• What did you like or dislike about your previous job?
• Which was most / least rewarding?
• What was the biggest accomplishment / failure in this position?
• Questions about your supervisors and co-workers.
• What was it like working for your supervisor?
• What do you expect from a supervisor?
• Who was your best boss and who was the worst?
• Why are you leaving your job?
• What have you been doing since your last job?
• Why were you fired?

Personal

• What is your greatest weakness?
• What is your greatest strength?
• Describe a typical work week.
• Do you take work home with you?
• How many hours do you normally work?
• How would you describe the pace at which you work?
• How do you handle stress and pressure?
• What motivates you? -  
• What are your salary expectations? -  
• What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make? -  
• Tell me about yourself. -  
• What has been the greatest disappointment in your life? -  
• What do people most often criticize about you? -  
• Do you prefer to work independently or on a team? -  
• Give some examples of teamwork. -  
• What type of work environment do you prefer? -  
• How do you evaluate success?
• Describe a difficult work situation and how you overcame it. -  
• Describe a time when your workload was heavy and how you handled it. -

Questions About the New Job

• What interests you about this job?
• Why do you want this job? -  
• Why should we hire you? -  
• What do you know about this company? -  
• Why do you want to work here? -  
• What challenges are you looking for in a position? -  
• Is there anything I haven't told you about the job or company that you would like to know? -  

The Future

• What are you looking for in your next job? What is important to you? -  
• What are your goals for the next five years? -  
• How do you plan to achieve those goals? -  
• What are your salary requirements - both short-term and long-term? -  
• Questions about your career goals. -  
• What will you do if you don't get this position?

 

Like a resume, a curriculum vitae should include your name, contact information, education, skills and experience. Start by making a list of all your background information, then organize it into categories.
It's often helpful to take a look at a sample or two before you start writing.

What information should a CV include?

• Personal details. Most CVs start with these but take care to avoid superfluous details, such as religious affiliation, children's names and so on.
• Education and qualifications. Take care to include the names of institutions and dates attended in reverse order;
• Work experience. Career history is presented in reverse date order starting with most recent. Achievements and responsibilities are listed against each role. More emphasis/information should be put on more recent jobs.
• Skills. Include computer skills and (genuine) foreign language skills and any other recent training/development that is relevant to the role applied for.
• Hobbies and Interests. Keep this section short.
• Referees. These can simply be 'Available on request'.

How long should a CV be? A good curriculum vitae should ideally cover no more than two pages and never more than three.

 

You must take into account that…!

The Job Application Letter is in actual fact your first interview. When applying for employment by mail a job application letter must accompany your CV/resume. Often times an employer may be flooded by perhaps a stack of a hundred or more resumes on any given day. In such situations, getting an interview can represent a major break-through for the job applicant.

Curriculum Vitae Format Contact Information Name Address Telephone Email Personal Information Date of Birth Place of Birth Citizenship/Visa Status Gender Optional Personal Information Marital Status /Spouse's Name /Children Employment History List in chronological order, include position details and dates Education Include dates, majors, and details of degrees, training and certification Professional Qualifications Certifications Computer Skills Interests Interests

 

The job application letter you write can and should be used to substitute for that all-important interview that you may not otherwise get, regardless of your qualifications. So, construct it wisely. Resumes at best part put forth only a rather simple table of data depicting your past work history and educational background. 

Surveys of personnel directors of the five- hundred largest organizations show that the vast majority (over 80%) have agreed or strongly agree that they want to know: Your personality. What you are like and what you will be like as an employee? Why have you chosen to apply for employment with this particular company? What job are you specifically seeking? What makes you feel that your education or past experience relates to that job?

 

Remember!

Think of your job application letter as being constructed of three parts: the introduction; body; conclusion.

The purpose of the introduction is to specify why you are writing and to say a few things about yourself. The introduction gives you the opportunity to praise to the company for some specific quality it posses. This praise can serve to answer the silent question as to why you have chosen their company and also allows you to subtly display a personality technique that most people enjoy greatly, the ability to convey the feeling "I know you and I like you." Caution though, praise must be specific because general praise has a tendency to sound insincere. The best line of praise should be to something in the company directly related to your line of work. Sometimes uncovering these facts can require a bit of research, please remember to learn the name and position of your intended reader.
The body of your letter should be use to answer any questions your employer might have about how you feel that your education and background pertain to the job you are seeking. Here you want to draw connections from your past experiences and education to the specific skills required for the job you are seeking.

In planning your letter's conclusion you must decide exactly how you intend to follow up your letter. Will you call within a specified period of time or will you await a telephone call or letter? You must bring the letter to a cordial but brief close. You must sound confident, yet never pushy. All ways ask for a follow-up interview. Remember, the letter you are sending along with your personal resume is your proverbial "foot in the door" with any would-be employer and often has to serve as your initial interview. Polish it careful

 

Self-Description for job interview

The self-description assessment uses "words that describe you" to help learners prepare for job interviews. The goal is to identify self-descriptive words and to relate them to the characteristics required for the job. It is important that the learner be honest when doing this assessment, recognizing faults and praising assets.
Instructions for the self-description strategy are as follows.
Underline all the words that describe you in the list below. From the list of underlined words, circle fifteen that would make you a good worker. From the list of circled words, place an asterisk (*) next to the five that would make you an outstanding worker.

Select from the word list below.

active	accurate	adaptable	aggressive
alert	ambitious	bold	broad-minded
business-like	calm	capable	careful
cautious	charismatic	cheerful	clear-thinking
clever	competent	competitive	confident
conscientious	considerate	cooperative	creative
curious	determined	discrete	eager
easy-going	efficient	emotional	energetic
fair	firm	flexible	forceful
friendly	flexible	forceful	friendly
good-natured	healthy	helpful	honest
imaginative	independent	industrious	intelligent
jealous	likeable	logical	loyal
mature	nervous	obliging	open-minded
optimistic	organized	original	outgoing
outspoken	patient	pleasant	prompt
poised	polite	practical	precise
purposeful	quick	quiet	realistic
relaxed	reliable	resourceful	responsible
self-confident	self-controlled	sensible	sensitive
serious	sincere	sociable	stubborn
tactful	teachable	talkative	thorough
thoughtful	tolerant	trusting	trustworthy
stable	steady	understanding	versatile
warm	wise	wishful	wholesome

Now list the five outstanding characteristics (those with an * beside them) in order of importance to the job you are searching for or a job you would like to have.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Evaluate your use of the self-description strategy.
Have I been honest in my evaluation? Yes ____ No ____
Have I underestimated myself? Yes ____ No ____
Have I overestimated myself? Yes ____ No ____

 

 

Answers to the questions and exercises of Didactic Unit 4

 

Exercise 1

1.

 

Exercise 2

Before you can make a job choice you have to learn about yourself. Your values, interests, and skills acquired through learning, in combination with certain personality traits, will make some jobs especially suitable for you and some particularly inappropriate.

You can use self assessment tools, often called job tests, to gather this information and, subsequently, to generate a list of occupations that are deemed appropriate.

 

Exercise 3

3
.