STIC - Accounting: Work Search (Module 3)
Understanding Job Ads - Skills and Personal Attributes (Topic 1)
Content
Facilitator should be familiar with the following:
Conference Board of Canada, Corporate Council on Education,
Employability Skills 2000+: The Critical Skills Required of the Canadian
Workforce. (This brochure is downloadable from the Conference Board
of Canada's Web site at conferenceboard.ca.)
The Department of Human Resources and Skills Development,
Essential Skills Occupational Profiles. (See www15.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/English/general/es.asp.)
The facilitator should prepare examples of skills and attributes required
by accounting professionals.
Delivery
As many copies as necessary should be made of the following handouts
 :
- Handout 1 Job Ads from the Toronto Star
- Handout 2 Job Ads Chart
- Handout 3 List of Skills and Personal Attributes
- Handout 4 Matching Activity
- Handout 5 Phrases
- Handout 6 Word Bank
- Handouts 7-10 More Job Ads
- Terminology List (optional)
Materials needed: access to an overhead projector,
and OHT 1 .
Methodology
Introduction
1. (15 minutes)
Divide the class into pairs and have
participants interview their partners using the questions below. Pair
up the pairs to create groups of four and have group members exchange
information. Ask volunteers from each group to report to the class.
Write ideas on the board/OHP.
Questions for interviewing:
- Have you ever tried to look for an accounting
job in Ontario?
- If "yes," how did you look for it?
- If "no," how would you look for an accounting job
in Ontario?
- Which job-search method do you think is the
most effective and why?
Note for facilitator:
Job search techniques: classified advertisements,
employment offices, recruitment agencies, library resources, self marketing,
networking, friends, attending trade shows, using job-referral services
of accounting bodies. Participants should realize from the discussion
that while classified ads are a good source of finding out about employer
expectations and skills and experience required, 80% of jobs are not
advertised. (See Post-task for more discussion.)
Pre-Tasks
1. (5 minutes)
Elicit from the class the meaning of "skills" and "personal
attributes". Let participants negotiate the meaning in groups of three,
then ask volunteers for answers. Skills: What can you do?
Personal attributes / traits: What kind of person
are you?
2. (15 minutes)
Regroup participants into pairs and
give them 5-10 minutes to brainstorm as many personal attributes and
skills of an accountant as they can think of. Ask them to compare with another pair. Take up with the whole class and make a list
of skills and attributes on the blackboard or chart paper.
3. (25 minutes)
Distribute Handout 1 with job ads from
the Toronto Star and ask participants (in groups of two
or three) to locate all personal attributes and skills for each position
and write them on the grid in Handout 2. Take up with class on OHP
or on the board (volunteers from each group fill in one of the positions
traits and skills, class corrects).
Ask groups to negotiate the meaning of all expressions and words and
discuss with the class as necessary.
4. (15 minutes)
Distribute Handout 3 (List of Skills
and Personal Attributes) and ask groups to read it and negotiate the
meanings. Have volunteers from each group explain
the meaning of terms to the class.
5. (20 minutes)
Handout 4 can be used in two different
ways. To make the activity more challenging, participants can try to
find the appropriate words on their own. Alternatively, they can use
Handout 3 and locate several terms that reflect the skills and personal
attributes in the statements. Take up with the class. 6.
(15 minutes)
Divide the participants into groups
of three and have them categorize words / expressions from the first
column of Handout 3 (Personal Attributes) into four groups:
- task achievement
- thinking and problem-solving
- interpersonal relations
- personal characteristics
Take up by having volunteers fill in each category on the
board; verify using OHT 1.
7. (20 minutes)
Distribute Handout 5 and introduce
ways of expressing skills and personal attributes/traits. Optional
Assign
six to eight traits and skills (from Handout 3) to each group of three
and ask groups to express these traits or skills using one of the ways
from Handout 3.
Review by having volunteers read selected phrases to class.
8. (15 minutes)
Give each participant Handout 6 and
ask them to complete five phrases with personality traits or skills
from the box. P articipants should compare their work with a partner's
work. Task
(30 minutes)
Ask participants to select eight skills
and eight personal attributes (the latter should contain examples from
the four categories in Pre-Task 6) that apply to them. Have them write
down the skills/attributes in point form or in a short paragraph in Exercise
1 (Handout 5), using the expressions from Handout 6. Encourage participants
to provide an accounting context to their sentences or give examples
of their personal attributes or skills. Then instruct the participants to match these skills/
attributes with one or two of the job postings from Handout 1 or Handouts
7, 8, 9, or 10.
Post-Task
(15 minutes)
Participants should be encouraged to keep
a file of job ads that will help them keep abreast of employer needs
and industry trends. It is also important that participants be aware
of the variety and quality of newspapers that advertise jobs and the
role of agencies. Discuss this with the class, if the subject was not
raised earlier.  Downloads
All downloads are in Adobe Acrobat
PDF.
Download a print version of the above lesson plan and related
materials.
Work
Search: Topic 1 [170 KB, 21 pages]
Download the complete Facilitator's Guide and Participant's Workbook.
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