Month: November 2014

On Tuesday, BCHS had its first ever Career Speed Dating event. It was a fabulous event for students and guests alike.  Although the idea was conceived last year we did not make it happen until this year. We decided to invite our alumni as well as parents for our first of hopefully many Career Speed Dating events.

CAREER SPEED DATING

THIS YEAR MARCH 4th 2016.

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

You will have 5 minutes to share your story.

1. Introduce yourself and share what you do in your career/vocation.
2. Ask students to introduce themselves.
3. Tell students what you are passionate about in your career.
4. Tell them the skills they need to be successful at work – now and in the future. What attributes do you seek in our employees and co-workers?
5. If time allows, tell them about the process you took to get where you are (education, career advancement, training, job changes).
6. If you are a Bishop Carroll graduate, please explain how the self-directed learning model impacted your work life (i.e. the relationship with your TA, independent study, flexible scheduling, and continuous progress).
7. Thank you for sharing.

The day will begin with student tours at 9:00 a.m., ending at 9:50 a.m. If you are interested in the tour, please join our student tour guides in the gym.

10:00 a.m.                         CAREER SPEED DATING begins in the gym. At the end of each 5 minute interval a bell will inform YOU to move one person to their right. You will repeat your story with 10 different students, finishing at approximately 11:00 a.m.

11:00 – 11:05 a.m.            Please find your name tag, placed on the wall located on the outskirts of the gym.

11:05 – 11:30 a.m.            QUESTION PERIOD. Sit at your designated place to be available for questions. This is an opportunity for any student to learn from your diverse experiences by posing additional questions or who did not get to visit with you during the speed dating component.

11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.    Lunch is provided in the gym.

Here is an overview of the day:

The day began with student tours at 9:00 a.m., ending at 9:50 a.m. Student tour guides met our guests in the gym.

9:50 -10:00 All guests were asked to sit in the circle that was already set up and given an explanation of the morning as well as a warm welcome by our Principal Mr. O’ Flaherty who was instrumental in making this day happen.

10:00 a.m. CAREER SPEED DATING began in the gym. At the end of each 5 minute interval a bell informed the adults ( originally we thought the students should move , but felt it would be better at the time if the adults moved as they were there to give instructions as to what to do).

An explanation was given to all guests 5 min. prior to event, to move one person to their right. Guests repeated their story with 10 different students, finishing at approximately 11:00 a.m.

(When our guests arrived they were asked to locate their names on the outskirts of the gym for the  11:00 o’clock Q and A period.)

11:00 – 11:05 a.m. Guests went to their designated chair located on the outskirts of the gym.

11:05 – 11:30 a.m. QUESTION PERIOD.Guests sit or stood at their designated place to be available for questions. They were told that this was an opportunity for any student to learn from their diverse experiences allowing students to pose any additional questions or to provide an opportunity for those who did not get to visit with them during the Speed Dating component to do so. This also allowed those students who signed up, but did not get a chance to do the 10:00 o’clock Speed Dating component to come into the gym and ask anyone any questions they might have.
11:30 a.m – 12:15 p.m. Lunch was provided in the gym for GUEST Speakers

How did we make this day happen?

1. A letter went out to all parents inviting them to participate by email. We can send out a mass email to all parents in our community.

2. Our staff was asked if they could invite alumni.

3. A mass phone message went out to all inviting parents to the event.

4. Once we had a list, our fabulous Admin. Head Secretary Pam sent out a letter to all guests telling them what the day would look like and some hints on how to approach their talk.

BISHOP CARROLL HIGH SCHOOL

CAREER SPEED DATING Letter 

November 18, 2014

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

You will have 5 minutes to share your story.

1. Introduce yourself and share what you do in your career/vocation.
2. Ask students to introduce themselves.
3. Tell students what you are passionate about in your career.
4. Tell them the skills they need to be successful at work – now and in the future. What attributes do you seek in our employees and co-workers?
5. If time allows, tell them about the process you took to get where you are (education, career advancement, training, job changes).
6. If you are a Bishop Carroll graduate, please explain how the self-directed learning model impacted your work life (i.e. the relationship with your TA, independent study, flexible scheduling, and continuous progress).
7. Thank you for sharing.

The day will begin with student tours at 9:00 a.m., ending at 9:50 a.m. If you are interested in the tour, please join our student tour guides in the gym.

10:00 a.m.                         CAREER SPEED DATING begins in the gym. At the end of each 5 minute interval a bell will inform YOU to move one person to their right. You will repeat your story with 10 different students, finishing at approximately 11:00 a.m.

11:00 – 11:05 a.m.            Please find your name tag, placed on a chair located on the outskirts of the gym.

11:05 – 11:30 a.m.            QUESTION PERIOD. Sit at your designated place to be available for questions. This is an opportunity for any student to learn from your diverse experiences by posing additional questions or who did not get to visit with you during the speed dating component.

11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.    Lunch is provided in the gym.

5. Our amazing Head Caretaker Cam and team set up all the chairs ( we had to order chairs from downtown ) in gym the way we thought might work. ( I drew him a bad diagram, but he set things up the way he knew would work and I totally knew he would do it perfectly and of course he did)

6. Pam ordered lunch and helped decorate for all our guests. She also made all the name tags and signs. She is outstanding!

7. Student tour guides had to sign up in Student Services.

8. Students wanting to attend the event had to sign up in Student Services as well.

9.  Erin ( my amazing sidekick counsellor )  figured out how to use the timer so that it rotated automatically , and used an iPad to project it on the screen in the gym. You can see it in the video. Our Principal Neil used the mic. to give our presenters a 20 sec. warning when their time would be up to move on to the next student.

10. Our Caretaker Cam also had coat racks set up for all guests. He is so smart, I would have never thought about that detail.

11. Our Art teacher provided us with some great student Art to decorate our gym.

12. Our Career Practitioner had Career Booklets and websites available for our students.

13. Krystyna, our Admin. Assistant made posters to put up around the school.

14. Our Vice Principal Ralene helped with all the details of putting up signs and clean up etc.

15. Our Lisa from Student Services checked off all the students names and greeted students as they arrived at the gym doors.

16. Erin, Neil and I greeted and talked to all the guests as they arrived.

Many hands really do make for light work. I really am so grateful to all for the help in getting ready for this event. I am also grateful to our Phys. Ed department for giving up their space ( we did need to find a date that would work to book the space to hold this event ).

I loved this day and I know students and participants did as well. Here is a Career Speed Dating Haiku Deck that I made which enabled me make the iMovie that I made from my phone (that you can see above on YouTube) . It is important to share what we did with staff and students who were unable to come , so that next time they too can participate. As well I always like to share any ideas with my fellow School Counsellors so that they too can use the idea if they like it and I hope you do because it had such a positive impact on students and presenters . One of the many benefits of this day is that participants shared their winning approach to work and life. The participants got to meet other parents in our community as well as network and make a difference for students. It was an amazing day one which we will repeat for sure. Will we make changes for next time? Yes, of course there are a few things . We will meet as a team to discuss some minor tweaks that could make the day even better. We will also send out a feedback form for participants and incorporate their thoughts and ideas.

Are you now ready for your own Career Speed Dating event?  I hope so ! Enjoy!

Here is a list of the Careers that were represented: