5 free sessions to help you get your students summer job-ready

It’s been a hard year. And let’s be honest: your students who’re looking to land a job or internship this summer will be facing a pretty tough job market.

The pandemic has led to rising unemployment rates and fewer entry-level positions. Not to mention the challenge of navigating the job market remotely since interviews and networking events will likely continue to be virtual for the time being.

We know you’re already doing so much to support your students. That’s why, at Open P-TECH, we’re here to support you.

We’re hosting new virtual event series just for teachers, “Skill up with IBM: Help your students get a job“. These short (20 minutes or less) events are designed to help you get your students prepared for the working world. You’ll hear from subject matter experts from IBM and you’ll leave this series with key resources, recommendations, and curriculum enhancements.

And don’t worry if you can’t make the live events; everything will be recorded and shared with anyone who’s registered.

Thursday, April 22 | under 30 minutes

The job landscape is changing rapidly as technology and society evolve—but that can be a good thing! In this session, we’ll explore the “new”, non-linear journey to a successful career and how you can support your students in exploring “out of the box” career pathways that anchor on transferable skills. You’ll also learn how you can use Open P-TECH to teach these skills and enhance your curriculum.

Watch the session replay.

Free career exploration and planning lesson plan and activities

Interested in bringing career exploration into your classroom sooner than later? Download the complete, free career exploration and planning lesson plan in our new Career Readiness Toolkit for Teachers. Slides, handouts, standards alignment, and more—included!

Thursday, April 29 | under 30 minutes

In this session, you’ll have the chance to speak directly to folks who do the hiring. Hear from Human Resources experts on what they look for in entry-level resumes, the biggest interview mistakes to avoid, and how you can help your students stand out from the crowd.

Watch the session replay.

Thursday, May 6 | under 30 minutes

Ever wonder how you can weave “bitcoin” into your lesson when teaching financial literacy or math? Or how to sprinkle popular industry terms into your public speaking rubric? In this session, you’ll hear from fellow educators about how they’re enhancing lesson plans and activities with soft skills and foundational technology skills. Walk away with actionable tips to keep your curriculum up to date.

Watch the session replay.

Watch this short video to hear how educators are using Open P-TECH to enhance their curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Thursday, May 13 | under 30 minutes

So, here’s a big question… how do you prepare your students for jobs that don’t exist, built around technologies that haven’t been invented? Tune in for this panel discussion featuring industry and education experts on the future of work, the critical skills students will need, and tools you can use to help them prepare for their futures.

Watch the session replay.

Thursday, May 20 | under 30 minutes

First things first, please forgive us for the pun / Olivia Newton John throwback—we couldn’t resist.

As you well know, virtual learning isn’t going anywhere. In this session, we’ll explore this new online reality and offer ideas and tools to enhance your all-digital, hybrid, or in-person teaching. We’ll provide a brief introduction to agile and design thinking. We’ll also cover the top five industry habits students can adopt to do agile work and prepare for a digital era filled with lots of unknowns.

Watch the session replay.

Check out our free sessions for students!

The sessions above are designed for teachers like you. But we also have a free series of sessions just for students. You can explore the details in this blog post and share this series with your students if you think it makes sense! Here’re the events for students at a glance:

• Don’t Pick a “Career”; Pick a Problem to Solve
• Write a Resume that Stands Out
• How to Ace Your Interview
• How to Werk Your Network
• It’s Not You—It’s Really Hard to Find a Job Right Now

Learn more in this blog post: “Get summer-job ready with five free online events just for you“.

In tandem with these sessions, we just published the new Career-Readiness Toolkit for teachers (mentioned above). Designed for teachers with teachers and IBM experts, this toolkit will help you bring career readiness learning to life in the classroom. It includes three complete lesson plans on career exploration and planning, resume writing, and interviewing, as well as shorter activities you can layer onto existing lesson plans.

Explore the toolkit, download free lesson plans and supplementary handouts, and help your students get job-ready.

Open P-TECH, powered by IBM, provides free online learning on the technology and workplace skills young people need to be successful in jobs of the future. Built by experts and educators in emerging fields, Open P-TECH helps bridge the gap between education of today and professional requirements of tomorrow.

Open P-TECH is designed specifically for students and teachers in high school and post-secondary education. The platform gives students the opportunity to learn at their own pace and earn digital badges in key subjects—like AI, cybersecurity, and professional skills—so they can differentiate themselves in the job market. At the same time, it provides teachers with curated toolkits and features to help them integrate this learning into their (virtual and physical) classrooms. 

Open P-TECH is easy to try, free to use, and available to anyone. Like the technology it explores, the platform is constantly evolving to better meet the needs of students and teachers in underserved communities around the world. Sign up for Open P-TECH today and see for yourself!