Talking Jobs - real people, real lives, real jobs
Posted: 18 December 2008
Believing that everyone in work has useful insights to share and that young people can find it hard to access roles models, e-learning producer Andrew Manson interviewed 40 very different people about their work, and in doing so has created a unique snapshot of UK society. Despite the result being called Talking Jobs the questions asked go much further than you would expect, asking people about their family backgrounds, their experience in education as well as questions about their work. And the questions about work go much further again, covering the things people enjoy, but perhaps more usefully, he also asks about the things people find hard or challenging in their day to day lives. The results of his labours can now be found at www.talkingjobs.net, a careers teaching resource available to all schools and colleges, or any organisation offering careers advice and guidance. The answers given are honest and quite frank, yet in no way painful to hear.
When asked what motivated him to produce Talking Jobs, Andrew commented, “Well, if you don't meet an architect for example as a child or young adult, you are unlikely to think of architecture as a career option, you may see it as something 'other people' do. I wanted to help young people overcome these kind of subtle yet powerful barriers to the way important life decisions get made.”
He went onto say, “I also think that in our society especially, we tend to neglect the 'everyday heroes' who surround us - competent people happy in their work, but not necessarily always shouting about it or themselves. It is these kind of people I wanted to access.”
So far, the results have clearly been worth it. In one school group piloting a lesson plan entitled Stereotyping: Have you got an attitude? (KS 4) four out of 16 students answered the question 'What was the most significant thing you have learned from today's session?', as follows:
It doesn't matter what your family background is, you could do anything.
Even successful people have poor backgrounds.
Even if your parents aren't in a good job this doesn't mean you can't get a good job.
The jobs sound very different to the people that are actually in that career.
Since going live at the end of April, Talking Jobs has won some fantastic endorsements from industry and education and also has an emergent and rapidly growing customer across the country. In addition, Prospects, Andrew's distribution partner has widened the market place selling licences to adult services on the high street as well as secondary schools and FE colleges. What is especially interesting about this resource is the clarity with which certain very key, yet overlooked, messages come through. There is no substitute for hard work; if you fail at anything, just try again or try something different, and that personal success can be defined in many different ways.