Spotlight for Career Services Professionals

NACE’s career services members recently offered ideas for making classroom presentations upbeat and interesting for students. Here are some of their suggestions:

• Use the Poll Everywhere app (free for up to 25 participants). Ask a question and students can submit answers using their phones. Students can see what other students are thinking about a topic.
• Use the Kahoot app (free). Students sign in on their phones and answer quizzes. The winner gets a prize.
• Divide students into work groups. Each group is given a job description and four resumes, and is asked to choose who to bring in for an interview. “It makes them realize how important it is to tailor your resume…and how similar they are on paper leads to a good discussion of how to set yourself apart.”
• Find YouTube videos of interviews that can be paused and discussed for answers to interview questions, as well as interviewee posture and dress, and nonverbal communication.
• Offer students a job description to review for an imaginary firm. Students then get a copy of a resume with obvious mistakes—fluffy job objective, photo, inappropriate e-mail address, low GPA, and more—and have 30 seconds to review the resume and decide whether to interview the job seeker.
• Gather freebies from employers after career fairs and use them as rewards for students who participate during a presentation. Students like getting the trinkets and employers get a different way to keep their brand in front of students.
• Ask students to practice their elevator pitch by stepping into an elevator with a staff member and giving their pitch as they ride up two floors. This activity emphasizes the limited time frame.
• Give students index cards with interview questions and place them in a “speed-dating” scenario. Peer to peer, they introduce themselves (name, class year, and major), then each gets an opportunity to ask their interview question. Each interaction takes two to three minutes. The presenter signals when students should move on to another person. For the final part of the presentation, each student answers his/her own question.

Share your tips and network with your colleagues in the NACE Community.