Zaika L.A.

National Mining University, Dnipropetrovsk

Techniques of the job hunting at the English lessons

At present in education, which is given by the establishments of higher education, the contradictions between theoretical knowledge of the young men about the conformities and mechanisms of interaction, including the business ones,, about what and how can influence the attitude of the social surroundings to them in the frameworks of that interaction, - and absence of the real skills of the effective communication are intensified. That results in the fact that communication skills, which are so necessary in the issues of effective communication, including ones in conditions when the practice of hiring new employees is carried out on the competitive principles, are formed outside of the higher educational establishments, and consequently, adaptation of the graduates to the existing situation on the present labor market becomes complicated.

The author has conducted a few training lessons the aim of which was to analyze the problems, dealt with the job hunting. The traini8ng lessons “Technique of the job hunting” were developed and put into practice.

The given methodology is aimed to speed up the process of social and psychological adaptation of the graduates of the higher educational establishments to the new social and economical conditions on the principles of mastering and application of their knowledge and skills of business communication in English, and on the clearing up of their nearest and perspective goals in the issues of professional self-realization as well.

The main goals of the group lessons are in the idea that on the principles of creation a keeping of the atmosphere of the goodwill, tolerance, and active interest of the members of the group to each other:

1) to stimulate communication which decreases emotional distance between the members of the group;

2) to give the members of the group the opportunity to get information about the fact how their behavior is perceived in the group;

3) to stimulate the ability to plan and analyze, to carry out the self-control;

4) to stimulate communication which gives new opportunities to expand their behavioral range for the members of the group.

The training lessons presuppose the transition of the theoretical knowledge of business communication in English, which the members of the group have got, into practical skills in the process of business interaction. The main methodological way of the given training lessons is the image-bearing role play modeling of the situations, dealt with the problem of hiring and, on these principles, awareness of their real motives and the chosen strategy of behavior. The group form of lessons gives the opportunity to use and develop the following important questions of self-realization through the other person, and understanding of the other person through himself/herself as the following:

1) identification (becoming similar to the other person);

2) realization of the way you are perceived by the interlocutor;

3) willingness to emotional response to the state of the other person.

At the beginning of the first lesson it is very important to create the atmosphere of the good will and to help the members of the group to actualize the goal of the training lesson. To decide the task you may use any story, the content of which in the process of the further discussion gives the opportunity to bring the members of the group to the understanding that theoretical knowledge without its real application is the ‘dead capital’, and the way how the students will be able to use their knowledge depends only on the fact how clear is the goal itself, and how true are the chosen means to reach the goal.

At the next stage of the work it is important to bring the members of the group to realization of what they prefer in professional area and why that is important for them. To decide the task one may use the exercise ‘Visiting-card’ and ‘Everyone is in his space’. The exercise ‘Visiting-card’ presupposes the pair work. During 10 minutes every member of the pair in each turn gives such information about himself, which can be further used by his partner in communication to create the visiting-card on the theme ‘Sphere of professional interests’.

At the national stage the task is that the partner has to listen without interrupting or asking questions. At the second stage the opportunity is given to specify, to ask questions, if something was unclear, or was passed over in silence. The additional time of 10 minutes is given for the second stage.

When the pair work is over, all the members of the group sit in the circle, and interlocutors in turn present each other. The presentation begins with the words ’I want to introduce you my interlocutor, his name is…’ . It is important to give presentation without estimation during the story, that is without the use of a testimonial ‘good-bad’, ‘liked-disliked’ etc.

At the stage of discussion it is important to pay attention of the members of the group to the feelings, thoughts, sensations, wishes which they experienced during the pair work with a partner, and then, when they were presented or when they introduced the ‘visiting-card’ for a partner in communication. Did they experience difficulties? And if they did, what character of the difficulties. Then it is discussed whose ‘visiting-card’ was perceived and remembered in the best way. Did the asked questions give the opportunity to take a detached view at oneself and to see the positive sides of his ‘I’ and which ones? Which questions didn’t they pay attention to? The exercise ”Everyone is in his space’ presupposes to clear up the goals of the training lessons. The method of the uncompleted sentences is used. It is necessary to complete the sentences ‘I want my work in the group to be…’. When the sentences are completed, it is necessary to write how that depends on the student himself, and how that depends on the other persons. It is necessary to achieve the goals to be positive, have the limits and be aware of to what extent their implementation depends on the member himself, and to what extent they depend on the other members of the group. Further it is presupposed to place the goals according to their importance.

After the task had been completed the following questions should be discussed with the students:

1) which feelings, thoughts, wishes they experienced while completing the task;

2) what was easier to do and why;

3) what was difficult to do and why;

4) what one understood and made out;

5) if he experienced a discomfort and why.

During the fulfillment and discussion of the task it is necessary to bring the students to the awareness of what they wait for specifically and to which extent that depends on themselves or the other persons. The main requirement is that the member of the training lesson should do without the phrases of the type ‘there was the use’, ‘it was interesting’ etc.

The further development of the training lesson helps every member to actualize his/her expectations in the professional area. At this stage the task ‘I and my future job’ is proposed. The task is developed according to the scheme of the previous one:

1) to write the expectations from the job;

2) to place the expectations from the job according to the extent of their importance;

3) to analyze the expectations from the job.

It is important that the goals in that task were specific, positively formed, and achieved at the given stage, they should include a perspective in themselves. All the work of the further training lessons is developed in such a way that the greatest number of the group took part in the role plays. At those lessons the members of the group get information about such documents as resume and life description. During the given time the members of the group get opportunity to try their forces in the writing of those documents. The teacher of the group has to give the time for the further analyses of the writing of the resume and life description together with the group. It is necessary to take into consideration that during the writing of the business documents the teacher takes passive position, giving the opportunity for the students to work without his interference. At the stage of the analyses the task of the teacher is to pay attention of the members of the group to the importance of the following: to the grammar of presentation of the information, to the way the authors present information to attract attention of the potential employer.

The final part of the training lessons is developed that the role plays to model the different strategies which are used more often while job hunting.

Playing those role plays with the further analyses of not only the strategy itself but how it is perceived by the participants and supervisors helps understand where each of them can be brought to, and consequently, to decide what should the applicant do himself if he wants to be employed.

Except the role plays where the ways of communication with the officials of the employment agencies are modeled, the situations of interviews with the employers themselves are played through. At this stage the students have to demonstrate self-presentation and communicative skills during the interview. The further discussion allows the students to find out the details which had gone by their attention earlier.

The teacher himself has the opportunity to give the participants different styles and strategies and to give the students the free hand of the choice. Everything depends on the goal decided in the given situation. The efficiency of the training lessons is estimated according to the following criteria:

1) if the request and the goal of the member of the group was changed and to which extent (from the passive to the active and responsible one);

2) if the range of the roles of each participant was expanded according to the character of the situation;

3) if the changes took place in the sphere of the response to the state and feelings of the other members of the group, and how adequate to the situation were they.

The given methodology for the job hunting is effective among the student audience, that is with the persons having no experience in the job hunting.