'Career We Go' workshop

Mr P:

Hi everyone

It’s National Careers Week and we here at BBC Bitesize are here to help you have a think about what you might want to do when you’re older, but don’t worry, it’s okay not to know.

People change careers all the time. I recently tried sewer cleaning - that smell will stay with me, but if you do need advice, better go to Bitesize.

And yes, I am going to be saying that a few times actually.

I’m your host Mr P, but you can call me, well, Mr P.

Let’s keep some formality here guys, please.

Today you’re going to learn a bit about yourself, explore some careers you might want to go into and even ways on how to get there.

So, let’s play…Career We Go!

You know like, here we go…bet you’re regretting this already.

Task one is ‘What Are You Like?’

You need to be in pairs for this so make sure you have a partner, or go in threes if there's an uneven number… yes, I'm talking to you at the back there… no not you, you!

Mr P 1:

Who are you?

Mr P 2:

I’m you!

Mr P 1:

From the future?

Mr P 2:

Well, I didn’t say that but…

Mr P 1:

Tell me! Will I win the lottery one day?

Mr P 2:

No, I’m not

Mr P 1:

Will I ever get a million views on TikTok?

Mr P 2:

Mate, I can’t

Mr P 1:

Will I finally find eternal happiness and true meaning of life?

Mr P 2: I think I’m going to go. That was a waste…

Mr P:

This task is all about finding out what kind of person you are. Let’s look at some personality traits…

All of these different personality traits are things that are valuable and will help you to get a job or figure out what you want to do. I want you to take a look and think about which of them most apply to you and your partner. For the first minute of this task both of you will need to write down as many traits as you can about one of you.

When the minute's up, there will be 30 seconds to feedback to each other before we do the same thing again for the other person.

So, choose a partner to focus on first. And your time starts now.

20 seconds gone. If you're struggling, pick out two you think most apply to your partner - maybe the one word you'd use to describe them if someone asked you, what are they like?

20 seconds left

Okay, now both of you explain why the first person has these traits.

Now let’s do the same for the other person. Off you go.

20 seconds gone. Remember, what would be the first thing somebody would say about that person?

20 seconds to go.

Now feedback.

That’s the first task complete, well done team! You should all have a list of personality traits that you have. It might be an idea to think about, underline or highlight your top 3.

Before we move onto Task 2, this Friday 10th March, to end Careers Week, how about you join us for a very exciting livestream where you’ll get the chance to see some special guests talk about what they do for a day job.

Head to the Bitesize Careers website later and check out who you will be hearing from and even get some questions in for them! See you there.

Task 2 - Higher or Lower?

This is going to be completed as a class and it’s designed to start getting you thinking about specific careers and what it takes to get into that field. Jobs will appear on screen with a personality trait ranked out of 100. This will tell you how important it is in that particular job. For example, a doctor would score very high for caring or an architect would be high for coming up with ideas. Then another job will appear and you must work out whether the same trait for that job is higher, or lower.

Right, how do I get back up? Anyone? Hello? Shall we just crack on?

Okay the first career is a firefighter.

…and the trait is energetic.

Now this would score very highly with 89.

Perhaps not right up near 100 because there are times when you could be waiting around for the call.

So next we’ll go with a florist.

Florists put together bouquets and buy and sell flowers. Do you think that scores higher or lower for being energetic. Discuss now and decide.

What do we think?

It was 65. Still relatively high as there’s lots of practicality in this job and don’t forget delivering.

Finally, we’re looking at cabin crew. They serve the passengers on aeroplanes.

Higher or lower than 65 for energetic what do we think?

Well?

It was 82 – pretty high! In this job you might travel all around the world but you definitely will be on your feet most of the flight checking safety and helping passengers. The next line is a different trait. So, we have independence. And we’re going to start with a plumber. This is a very independent job often working on your own or even being self-employed and having your own business. Therefore, plumber scores 85 for independence.

So how about a job in the media, more specifically making television programmes. Do we think that’s higher or lower for independence? Off you go! Got an answer?

It was 48. Of course, there will be times when you are tasked with doing things by yourself like finding music and images or writing scripts, but making TV is actually a very collaborative process meaning you work with lots of different people.

What about a games designer for independence, higher or lower than 48?

Shout out the answer.

This would also be quite collaborative but there will likely be more times for you to get your head in the game (I thank you) and focus on one thing at a time.

Final row, different trait. Some of you will like this one – chatty! There are careers out there for you, especially you Olivia. I’ve heard about you.

Anyway. First up, is a teacher. I know, most of them never stop talking but it’s actually a very handy trait. Being chatty scores 80 for an educator. This doesn’t mean that being quiet excludes you, a lot of teachers develop their own style and if they can form good relationships with students, then anyone will listen.

Next up is a composer. Somebody who creates and makes music. What do we think, higher or lower for being chatty? Time starts now.

Hope you’ve had a good chat and got an answer? I’d definitely score 100 for humour.

It was 41. Certainly much less than a teacher needs to be. There’s a lot of listening and feeling the music and oh my gosh I sound like an old dad don’t I? Moving on.

Final job is conservation officer.

Somebody who is across biodiversity and protecting habitats and the environment. Need to be chatty? Or higher than 41? Discuss.

What are we saying?

It was a decent 68. There will be times when you’ll be working on your own out in the field so you’ll be more quiet and contemplative, but you’ll also need to get your voice heard in climate issues and work with local councils and communities on what’s important.As we said earlier, all of the traits we’ve looked at are extremely important to all jobs, it’s just that some may be more relevant than others. It’s fantastic to be a well-rounded person going into any field of work but a tip from me, if you don’t like working with animals, don’t become a teacher laughs.

Narrator:

For legal reasons we’re obliged to point out Mr P was supposed to say “Don’t become a vet.”

Mr P:

Ruined the gag.

Don’t forget that as well as taking part in this lesson today, you should also visit the BBC Bitesize website when you get chance for lots more. There’s loads of advice, activities and quizzes so even if you don’t have a clue what you want to be yet, that's fine. We’re here to help. Better go Bitesize.

Task 3 is Scavenger Hunt

Okay, onto our third game. During this task you’re going to find out different ways you can actually get into a job you want. Now, rumour has it that a major streaming platform service is looking for another one of those detective mystery type documentaries that we all love. It needs to be thrilling, nail-biting and make people want to binge all through the night. So, I’m going to make one, on…

Pathways into careers, way!

Narrator:

For legal reasons we need to point out this is Mr P's idea and nothing to do with us.

Mr P:

There he is again.

But, it’s good to know that there are so many ways to achieve your goals. Around your room you have five different posters. Let’s take a look at them…

First up we have higher education. This involves going onto college or 6th Form and then university or specialist school. Next are apprenticeships, which are a paid jobs offering hands-on work experience and training.

Then there’s working connections and networking. This would work alongside other more educational routes but it’s all about being personable, meeting and chatting to people and making good contacts to speak to later about job opportunities. You could also set up your own business or go freelance. This would require a lot of independence and possibly extra money to start with, but you could work for yourself or work as and when for others.

And finally, you could also get into a career by volunteering. It’s required by law for you to either stay in full time education, do an apprenticeship or do volunteering while in part time education or training. In a moment, what I need you to do is get up out of your chair and walk around the room to the different posters on the wall. When you’re at one, read the information and make notes in your booklet or book. You’ll have five minutes which also leaves plenty of time to discuss these with the people around you.

Off you go!

1 minute gone.

If you’re at volunteering, why not think of a career and think about where you could volunteer?

3 minutes left

Do you know what degree you’d like to do in higher education or A levels? Tell the people next to you.

2 minutes left.

If you are networking and meeting very important people, how do you think you should act?

1 minute left

Time’s up! Now make your way back to your seats.

This workshop is going to be available to playback at any time on the BBC Bitesize website so if you ever need a reminder of ways to get into the industry, come back and do this task again. Better go Bitesize. There’s a really fun quiz - Apprenticeship, University or Work? - and don’t forget to join us right there for our livestream on Friday with our special guests who work in some amazing places.

Task 4 is Occupational Hazard.

We're nearing the end now but there's one more game to go and it's called ‘Ultimate Fire Ball’!

Narrator:

For legal reasons we weren't able to get sign-off on ultimate fireball on account of it being unnecessarily reckless.

Mr P:

That's fine - this one's miles better anyway. It's Occupational Hazard.

For this task we’re going to bring together all the aspects of careers we’ve been looking at so far.

Here we have real people alongside their real jobs.

In fact, all of them are featured in job profiles on the Bitesize website so you can go there next time you’re online and watch videos of them going about their day-to-day life. Better go Bitesize. But, on with the task. This can be done in pairs or small groups. One by one I’m going to give you clues about one person on the screen. All these clues will be related to their job. When you think you have the answer, put your hands up and tell your teacher. But, be careful, if you get it wrong, you’re out. And some will be knocked down as I go along.

Here we go…

Okay first clue. I’m looking for somebody who would need to be creative.

It would be beneficial for this person to do some volunteering.

They may also work closely with music.

Anybody left to take a guess?

It was a dance choreographer!

Let’s go again.

First up, this person could do with being empathetic that’s understanding how someone else is feeling.

They would likely need some form of higher education grade such as a degree.

They would also need to be knowledgeable about foods.

Final guesses?

It was a dietician.

Some of you may have had vet there which could have worked. You can’t be giving fast food to a dog for example.

Final round.

First clue is that this person might well go into business for themselves or freelance.

They might need to be able to work well alone.

They would also need to be practical and work with materials.

What do we think?

It was a costume designer.

Architect was close but they don’t always work with materials as such, they might draw up blueprints or work on a computer for example.

Don’t forget you can head over to the Bitesize website and see all those people in action and get to know them even more. Better go Bitesize.

Task 5 we are going to do a short reflection.

This is the final task of the workshop. I know you’re desperate to get to double RE.

Firstly, and independently, I want you to write down one career you definitely would like to do.

One career you definitely don’t want to do.

And then, one career maybe you’ve never considered before today but now you might want to do.

I’ll give you one minute to do that now.

Now you have those three things, it’s time to discuss your findings with your partner once again.

Mr P 1:

You’re back.

Mr P 2:

Oh no here we go.

Mr P 1:

I have so much to ask.

Mr P 2:

No. I’m not from the future. Although I do know what career you end up in?

Mr P 1:

Oh no I'm not bothered about that.

Mr P 2:

What?

Mr P 1:

I’ve worked it out because of this brilliant workshop so off you pop!

Mr P 2:

No but wait.

Mr P 1:

Go on, I’m done with you.

Mr P 2:

But your career ends up being some very, very bad-

Mr P:

Where was I? Oh yes. You now have 5 minutes to chat to your partner about your findings and to help we’ve given you handy sentence starters to make you sound even more articulate and intelligent than you do. See you on the other side. Hang on, did he say something about something ‘bad’!? Err Mr P, come back!

Well, we’ve come to the end of Career We go and, to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Oscars are already picking up the phone. Oh my, could it be…

Hello? Oh hi Miss Edwards (it’s my principal).

What do you mean I’m meant to be on duty? I booked the day off. I’m fired? ’Find a new career?' But I have everything I need to be a teacher - kind, patience and the ability to say the phrase ‘the bell is for me, not you’ 5x a day…hello?

Don’t worry about that guys and don’t worry about you either because even after today, it’s okay still not to know what you want to do. People change careers many times in their lifetime – it's quite common. But what we want to leave you with is the knowledge that you can aspire to be anything you want to be and BBC Bitesize Careers is there to help you with loads of advice and guidance on our website.

Don’t forget to join us on Friday for our livestream with our very special guests.

Thanks for joining us. Enjoy the rest of National Careers Week and don’t forget, better go Bitesize. See you.