Exploring job sectors and preparing for work

Work experience and insight into jobs, whether face to face or virtual, is a valuable addition to support any CV and can support young people understand the skills needed for the world of work. This is an independent activity for young people and utilises short real-life career films by BBC Bitesize, encouraging young people to think about the core transferable skills required in different industries, and helps them consider how they can develop these skills to showcase on their CVs and in interviews. 

The interactive worksheet links to a sample of BBC Bitesize film case studies on the BBC website, the links are also below, featuring young people in different industries. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on the skills they use in their day-to-day life and how to develop these.

We have created guidance document to support you in providing feedback on your students’ worksheets. You could extend this activity by asking students to come together as a group to share their reflections around the various roles and industries they explored, either in a face to face or virtual setting.

You can use this print this to use worksheet in the classroom or set as a remote task by downloading and sharing digitally to help students see how Core transferable skills relate to a range of jobs.

By the end of this activity students will:

• Gain an insight into a day in the life of individuals in different job roles
• Discover the core transferable skills, qualifications and routes to employment that are required for certain fields of work
• Create an action plan of how they can develop and demonstrate these skills in their school, college or work life so they can impress future employers

In addition to the films above, there are many more covering further industries which can be found at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmdc382.

How to further support your students preparing for work

Give your students the opportunity to get practise Understanding behaviours for work, including the role of body language and how this can help them communicate in interview scenarios, and how to deal with challenging situations in an appropriately assertive manner.