career prep

Q3 Employability: Hard Skills

16. Career Prep

Hard skills are career-specific knowledge and learned skills needed for a particular job. For example, being able to debug a code is a hard skill needed for a computer programmer. These are skills that can be learned through practice, training, or education.

Remind yourself of your top career interests from Quest 2 by going back to your Career Prep Portfolio.  Now, you are going to find some options to build hard skills for the careers you chose.

Let's check out the hard skills associated with your career choices.  The steps if you are using the Google site are shown in the screen recording below.

Step 1: Return to one of the Career Choices that you added to your Career Portfolio in the Career Matches section titled My Career Interests.

Step 2: Copy the link that you shared and paste it into a new internet tab to go back to that website.

Step 3: Go down to the Education section.

Step 4: Review the Find Trainings, Find Certifications, Find Licenses, and Apprenticeship.gov.

  • Take time in each section and jot down notes on the information provided about hard skills training opportunities and requirements.
  • You may have to enter items such as your zip code to find area specific opportunities.

Direct Link (28 sec.)

As you may have noticed from the search you just did, there are many ways to build hard skills for a job.  Some of those are:

  1. Online Courses - There are a lot of free online course options you can take to build your skills.  Some examples are: Khan Academy, Code.org, or the Museum of Modern Art.  
    • Many will also offer a certificate of completion for the courses.  Make sure to keep a digital copy of these to keep for when you are ready to apply for jobs.
  2. Career and Technical Education (CTE) - Traditional and hands-on learning experiences specific to a career.
  3. Apprenticeships - Practical career training experiences in real-life settings.
  4. College Degree - A more extensive and broader learning experience that can be used in a broader field of careers, also generally costs more than other options.

Once you have found an option to build hard skills for each of the careers you chose in Quest 2, add links to the training or education programs on the Quest 3 page in your portfolio by copying the URL/link to one of the training opportunities for one of the career choices. 

The video below will help provide a visual to the steps you need to add the training or education programs if you are using the Google Site as you Careerp Prep portfolio. Don't forget to update the page to save your new content.

Direct Link (23 sec.)

16.Q3 Vocabulary

16.Q3 Soft Skills 

16.Q3 Student Checklist
 

16.Q3 Teacher Guide

MITECS  Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students, and

ISTE Standards for Students

2. Digital Citizen
c. Demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property

3. Knowledge Constructor
a. Plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits
c. Curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections or artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions
d. Build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions

6. Creative Communicator
a. Choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication
c. Communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations
d. Publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences

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