Finding
a Fun and Fulfilling Job
Job Fair
(Hollidaysburg Area Junior High School, Eighth Grade)
Ideas:
Purpose:
to be informed and excited about career opportunities and to see the
importance of character for getting and succeeding at a job.
Introduction
Key
#1:
Realize That “Going to Work”
Can Be Fun!
For
every person who complains about his job, it seems there’s another who
can’t wait to get to work. Often, it’s simply a matter of finding the job
best suited for you. If you can land the right job, it can be a place to meet
fun people, and give you a great feeling of accomplishment. Even some of you
who really struggle with schoolwork and stink at sports, don’t think that
means you’ll necessarily struggle in your career. If you find the career
that’s just right for you, you can have a lot of fun and excel at your job.
Powerpoint
Picture of Buffet as a kid.
Illustration: Warren Buffet is the second wealthiest person in America. He made his money by investing in the best businesses. His daily work is something that would bore most people to tears – studying different companies to decide which ones he wants to invest in. Sounds boring, right? But he loves it, and it’s made him the second wealthiest man in America. When Buffet describes his typical day, he says he begins by tap-dancing into work. (1)
He’s
not just enduring work to make money. Buffet loves what he does, which makes
him good at his work. Going to work can be fun! So the challenge for each of
us is to find something we’re good at and interested in. That’s why
we’re here today.
Key
#2: Look
Into Many Careers.
A.
Because There Are Lots of Ways to Make a Living.
Power
Point Picture of Bill Gates as a Kid.
Question:
Who’s heard of Bill Gates? (Let someone respond and tell who he is. Throw a
piece of candy or a cheap gift to each student who responds.)
Illustration:
He’s the wealthiest man in America, the president of Microsoft. When we buy
computers, part of the money goes to Microsoft, because they develop the most
popular operating system (Windows)
and other software (Like Microsoft
Word).
What
a lot of people don’t know is that Gates became fascinated with computers
when he was your age. They didn’t even have personal computers back then, so
he had to use a teletype machine to communicate with huge mainframe computers.
People didn’t talk much about making a living by programming computers. But
he fell in love with computers, spending hours a day programming games, and
troubleshooting software for a nearby company.
As
a high school student, he was asked by his school to make registration easier
by programming a way to register students for classes. He worked on it day and
night. A side benefit was that he put himself in a class with all his favorite
girls! (2)
Gates
loved programming. Buffet loved studying companies. I suppose that’s why
some counselors advise students to
“Discover
what you enjoy doing and figure out how to make a living doing it.”
Not
bad advice. What do you enjoy? Do you like writing or sports or drawing or computers.
Maybe one day you’ll make a living doing that.
Power
Point of John Lennon as a kid
Illustration:
A fellow in England named John fell in love with the guitar in high school. He
lived with his aunt Mimi, who was sure he was wasting his time. She’d scold
him, saying, “The guitar’s all very well, John, but you’ll never make a living
out of it.” (3)
Well,
his aunt didn’t understand all the ways to make a living. Her little nephew
was John Lennon, who took the world by storm in the 60’s in one of the most
successful bands ever, “The Beatles.”
So
it’s important to realize there are lots of careers out there.
Transition:
But don’t just look at your current
interests…
B.
Because Your Interests Change.
Think
of the bands that some of you loved five years ago. (Kind
of embarrassing for some, huh?) For how many of you have your tastes
changed?
Power
Point of George Lucas as a kid
Illustration:
As a high school student, George’s passion was racing cars. It’s all he
wanted to do. But at the end of his senior year, a speeding Chevy hit his
little Fiat as he was turning into his driveway. That accident put him in the
hospital for months. He began to rethink his life and his interests change. He
decided that instead of racing cars, he’d try filming them. I’m glad his
interests changed. Without him, we’d have never seen Indiana Jones or Star
Wars. What is his name? (George Lucas. Throw candy to any who respond.)
So
when you look at the booths, look over even the ones you’re not currently
interested in. Like George Lucas, your interests may change.
Key
#3.
Learn skills.
Power
Point of Steven Spielberg as a Kid
Illustration:
While on a vacation with his family, Steven criticized the way his dad filmed
the family. Out of frustration, his dad gave the camera to Steven and
challenged him to do it better. He did. In fact he began to film his scouting
trips and even make movies with his neighborhood friends while in Junior High.
Students
laughed at the way he looked, calling him “Spielbug.”
He wasn’t good at sports and couldn’t remember the lines well enough to be
in the school plays. Yet, he hung in there to become the most popular
filmmaker of all time. Can anyone guess who he is? (Steven Spielberg). Can you
name any films he’s made?
After
high school, his grades weren’t good enough to get him into film school, so
he went to another school near a movie studio, so that he could get hands-on
training.
The
point?
As you find your interests, find others with the same interests and find ways
to get experience.
Key
#4: Concentrate
on Character
Finding
and succeeding in a career takes more than skill. It takes character. All the
people I’ve mentioned succeeded, not just because of a skill,
because of some extraordinary character trait. George Lucas
showed resilience
when he lost his dream to become a racecar driver. Gates showed diligence
by programming long after school hours. John Lennon showed persistence
by practicing relentlessly on his guitar, even when others didn’t believe in
him.
When
you start filling out applications for jobs, you’ll find that your character
counts as much or more than your skills. They’ll ask for “References”:
letters of recommendation from teachers or other significant adults who can
say that you’re honest and a good worker.
And
you’ve got to list where you last worked. If your former employer says that
one day you just didn’t show up for work, do you think you’ll be rehired,
no matter what your grade point average was?
You
see, most businesses are looking for good
people even more than smart
people. Warren Buffet, the investor who knows so much about businesses, once
said this about finding a business partner (raise your hand every time you
hear me make a reference to a character trait) (parenthetical remarks are
mine),
''I think you'll probably start looking for the person that you can always depend on (that’s dependability); the person whose ego does not get in his way (that’s humility); the person who's perfectly willing to let someone else take the credit (that’s humility) for an idea as long as it worked; the person who essentially won't let you down (that’s faithfulness), who thought straight (that’s truthful, honest) as opposed to brilliantly.'' (4)
I
want to end with how the characteristics of resilience and determination paid
off in the career of Tom Cruise, one of the most successful actors in
Hollywood.
|
Show
a clip from Mission Impossible II on video in the background as you
share this story. The wild rock climb near the beginning makes a great
attention-getter! The point is to show Tom Cruise as cool, which lets
other troubled kids realize that even though they feel geeky now,
there's hope for them in their future careers if they can hang in
there and show endurance. |
How
many of you saw him play Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible or one of his many
other movies? His accomplishments are pretty incredible. At 41 years of age
(in year 2004), he has starred in blockbuster after blockbuster, is one of the
highest paid actors in Hollywood, has been recognized for his achievements in
acting by a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination, and has the physical
agility (and guts) to perform 95% of the stunts in Mission Impossible II,
including dangling off that cliff at the beginning of the movie. It’s easy
to look at Cruise and assume that he probably always had everything going for
him. You’d think he must have been a successful high school student, great
at sports and popular with all the girls. Think again. His life is actually
the story of a survivor who learned to turn his shortcomings into assets.
Do
any of you struggle with family problems?
Tom’s dad was consumed with his work and finally abandoned the family when
Tom was 12. Some of you know the gut-wrenching feelings he must have suffered
through in middle school.
Do
you ever struggle with financial problems?
Tom couldn’t afford some of the things other kids had because his dad
refused to pay child support for his four children. He and his sisters had to
work to contribute to the family income. They sometimes survived on food
stamps.
Do
you ever struggle with social problems?
His social life was disrupted regularly by moves that forced him to change
schools an average of once a year (8 elementary and three high schools). Lots
of kids made fun of him. He was always the new geek, never the cool guy that
girls flocked to. Lots of kids made fun of him.
Do
any of you ever feel dumb? As if Tom didn’t have enough problems
to deal with, he was always in remedial classes for slow learners. He was
later found to have a learning disorder called Dyslexia, which makes it
incredibly difficult to learn skills like reading. Not knowing what was wrong,
he just thought he was dumb and would often come
home crying. With dyslexics, their brains often tell them that things are
backwards. He couldn’t even distinguish his right hand from his left.
Do
you often fail at sports?
Concluding that academics weren’t his forte, he plunged into athletics. He
played football but was too small to excel. Wrestling, however, is divided
into weight classes, giving him the opportunity to compete. But when running
some stairs (trying to lose a pound to compete in his weight class) he slipped
on some papers his sister had left and tore a tendon on his leg. So
much for athletics. Unable to wrestle on the team, he tried out for a
part in their high school play. He landed a starring role and fell in love
with acting. A theater agent just happened to be in the audience the night of
the performance and encouraged him to go into acting. The rest is history.
I’d
like for you to reflect for a moment on Tom’s life. It would have been so
easy for him to grow bitter, conclude that life stinks and hate all the people
around him. But instead, he learned from his shortcomings. He draws from the
heartache he experienced as a child to express emotion when he acts. He
learned to work harder than others by having to learn with a disability. He
says that his school difficulties were a character course that made him a
better person. As a result, he goes the extra mile for his producers and has
the people skills that make people love to work with him. (5) (Sources: 1 –
"Cruise Control" (excerpt from 'Cruise')( Cosmopolitan ) Frank Sanello;
12-01-1995; 2 – "Man With a Mission," ( The Calgary Sun ) Lisa
Wilton, Calgary Sun, 05-21-2000; 3 - "Conversations With Cruise,"
Vanity Fair, June, 2000; Tom Cruise, by Phelan Powell, Chelsea House
Publishers, 1999)
Conclusion
So
today, begin your search for a job you can love and put yourself into. Don’t
limit yourself by saying, “I could never do that.” Visit even the booths
that you might not be very interested in right now. You never know how your
interests might change in the future.
End
Notes
1.
Reynolds, Simon, ed. Thoughts of Chairman Buffett,
Harper Business, New York, NY: 1998.)
2. Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented An
Industry - And Made Himself The Richest Man in America, Simon &
Schuster, New York, 1994, p. 47)
3.
Philip Norman, Shout, The Beatles in Their Generation (MJF Books, New
York, 1981) p. 35.
4. Quoted by Andrew Kilpatrick in Of Permanent Value.
5. "Cruise Control" (excerpt from 'Cruise')( Cosmopolitan ) Frank Sanello;
12-01-1995; "Man With a Mission," ( The Calgary Sun ) Lisa Wilton,
Calgary Sun, 05-21-2000; "Conversations With Cruise," Vanity Fair,
June, 2000; Tom Cruise, by Phelan Powell, Chelsea House Publishers,
1999)