The entire fourth grade is on the hunt for a job, and they’ve all applied to the same place: Kathy’s Candy Corner. In January, with help from Lower School Counselor Kathy Sheffield, the students built their applications for a position that recently opened at the fictional store. The students answered questions that might appear on a real application, such as “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”
Last week the students received responses from the company. Three students in each class were selected for an interview, while their classmates received kindly-worded letters of rejection. The whole class learned about preparing for a job interview, discussing how to dress appropriately, make eye contact, repeat and ask questions, and write thank-you notes after the interview. Sheffield had the students look at pictures of people dressed too casually for interviews and describe what was wrong with their outfits. One outfit was judged to be wrong because “he has too much swag!”
Next, the students who were selected for an interview answered questions from Sheffield while their classmates looked on. “Why should I hire you for this position?” asked Sheffield. “Because I’m never late to anything, I’m honest, I have a little brother that I have to keep up with,” answered one student.
Once the interviews were complete, students used polleverywhere.com to vote on which applicant should be selected for the job. Students learned a lot about the job-application process during this lesson, but will have to wait until next month to discover who the new employee will be and what kind of income they will earn while working at Kathy’s Candy Corner.
