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I feel over qualified for my job…
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Article: I feel over qualified for my job… (PDF)
Objectives
- To develop skills in interpreting analytical information.
- To learn to assess how choices made today may have a long-term impact on future opportunities.
Method
- Develop a profile of the type of person who is most likely to feel overqualified for their job. Do the same for someone who is least likely to feel that way.
- Identify some of the reasons why young people are more likely to feel overqualified for their jobs than older workers in their 30s and 40s.
- Discuss the expectations the students have about their working life. What do they believe would make a job most satisfying to them?
- Discuss the students' own plans for college or university. In light of the experiences of other young adults just beginning their careers, ask if the students think they will find a "fit" with the kinds of careers they hope to have after graduating.
- Using E-STAT and the census databases, explore employment levels over the past ten years in high-skilled occupations such as engineering and natural science, teaching, health care, and other professions. Are employment levels growing? If so, how fast? Ask the class if they think there will be enough high-skilled jobs for them when they graduate from college or university.
Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.
