The primary objective of the CareerVid Workshop is to provide a venue for high school students to talk with  professionals, tradespeople, business owners, and other middle to upper income workers about their occupations and the work that they actually do each day (all student 17 years old and younger must be accompanied to the event by one of their parents or a guardian).   By having these workers candidly elaborate on various aspects of their jobs, including the triumphs and pitfalls, students can gain knowledge, inspiration and motivation from the experiences of others.   The students also get to an opportunity to ask in depth questions of the workshop participants.  As a result of attending one of our workshops, students can get a clearer idea of the tasks, responsibilities, and actual work required to succeed in the occupations that they are considering entering.

Student Feedback

Our feedback from students has shown us that although career profile tests can help to get them thinking about careers choices, nothing motivates them more than acquiring tangible information from people who actually work in the occupations matching the students’ interests.  This is particularly true when the social, economic, and even ethnic background of the successful person mirrors that of the student.  Students are also more likely to envision themselves being successful when interacting with professionals whose age appears to be close to that of their own.

When And Where Are Workshop Held

CareerVid will hold a workshop in each of several major cities were we have received large numbers of response from CareerVid users on holding workshops in their areas.  The workshops will allow students to interact with participants who want to contribute to the success of young peoples by showing the students how careers start and evolve.  A workshop participant simply reviews for students the path taken to reach major point in their careers, followed by answering questions asked by student and parents.  

Although listening to career stories may not seem important to those people who are a few years along in their careers, it means quite a bit to students who are just beginning the journey.  Listening to career stories may help to define a student's career path, provide motivation, alleviate some reluctance on the part of a student to obtain career training, or positively influence the efforts of someone who has been teetering on the edge of entering a particular occupation.