Students in college and high school seek jobs and internships to help them get ahead. They need a clear direction and the means to market themselves to potential employers. They must be able to speak succinctly and knowledgeably during interviews, networking situations, and job fairs, in order to become the Alpha Candidate for the position they want. We show them how to make that happen, and how to
—sharpen their communication skills
—demonstrate their savvy
—prove their value
—get the position they want
with the Alpha Candidate Program
Here are the steps.
- Student participants undergo online career assessments available through their school.
- They take part in a classroom exercise involving the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, administered by one of our facilitators.
- Based on the results of this, students select a career path that they may find personally rewarding.
- Students will look up information regarding the chosen career in order to prepare a presentation on it—not a paper to hand in or read aloud, but a speech to deliver to an audience of employers or networking contacts. In group sessions with the facilitator, students will be taught specific guidelines on how to construct and deliver their presentation. The guidelines will include traditional and modern approaches to rhetoric and persuasion along with protocols for orally citing academic research.
While exploring the career, students will examine problems or issues faced by professionals in the selected field, and will focus on one problem that is personally meaningful to the student. In crafting their presentation, students will propose a potential solution to the problem based on available data and research, and will attempt to convince their audience why this approach will resolve the problem and produce a desirable outcome.
Students will be shown examples of what the finished presentation will look like: it will resemble a five to seven minute TED Talk. Then they’ll begin researching their topic. They may contact us anytime via phone or email to pose questions and ask advice about the project.
- Within one month, students meet with their facilitator again in a group session to deliver the first draft of their presentation and to receive feedback on ways to improve it.
- One month later, a school competition session will take place, wherein all participants will deliver their presentations. Students and/or faculty and staff may arrange for presentations to be videotaped to serve as part of each student’s current or future online portfolio. Presentations will be judged by the facilitator and by other faculty and staff who wish to participate. Winners will receive award certificates and other forms of recognition that the school may choose to bestow.