Assessing Job Offers is an activity adapted to and included in every CareerKit. It involves computations, projections, partner work, a writing assignment and critical thinking.

To set the stage, we tell students, In the job search process, an employer interviews, then decides on a candidate. But the candidate also gets to choose. S/he can either accept the job, reject or negotiate. While we realize that we don’t always have the option to choose between job offers, sometimes we do, and it’s important to develop the skills to make the assessment when faced with that opportunity.

To begin, students imagine they have received two job offers for very different jobs. In each sector-based CareerKit, the jobs in this activity are part of the sector they are studying. For example, in the Healthcare CareerKit, the jobs are an Ambulance Driver and a Health Insurance Salesperson; in Education & Childcare, the choice is between a Nanny/Manny position and a Daycare Assistant. Without knowing much about the jobs, they brainstorm in pairs or groups the tasks they think would be required of each position.

After discussing the brainstorm, they are given details of the two jobs, including the schedule, wages, commute and work responsibilities. In developing this activity, we made the two jobs very different from one another. In real life, sometimes we have to choose between apples and oranges, and we wanted this activity to represent the real life decisions job-seekers are faced with. In all CareerKits, the schedules of the two jobs are different, with one job including seasonal work hours or unstable hours, while the other has a more predictable work schedule. One job may include a commission on sales or tuition reimbursement. One job has a walkable commute and the other requires public transportation or a car. The tasks or always quite different, usually one in sales and one in direct service to customers or clients.

Students read the chart, comparing the two offers, then answer questions about it. Some of the questions have one clear answer, such as the number of paid hours for an ambulance driver with a set schedule, and can be answered through calculations. Others require predictions and calculations, such as the number of health plans they think they can sell, then calculating commission and base pay to arrive at their weekly wages. When we receive job offers in real life, these are the kinds of questions we weigh, balancing knowns and unknowns to try to predict a good fit and chances at success in a job.

Lastly, taking into account all of the information they have gathered and predictions they have made, they choose one of the jobs, then write about what went into their decision-making, as they write a letter to a friend about their job offers and how they arrived at their decision.

At the core of this activity is the idea that job-seekers need to consider not only wages, but our interests, personality and capacities, to find a good-fit job that we can be successful at and satisfied with.

I like this activity because there’s a little something for everybody – some math calculations, some predictions, group work and some writing.

Assessing Job Offers can be found in Unit 5 of most CareerKits.