MEMORANDUM TO: EAC 397YE/YF/YH Students FROM: Robin Potter, Professor DATE: September SUBJECT: Career Research Project _____________________________________________________________ Here is the information you need to complete the Career Research Project, which is due in the form of an oral team presentation at the end of the term. This assignment requires you to work in a team of four to develop an in-depth career profile, based on interviews and research, of a position in the computer field. Your success will be determined by the quality of your research, your oral communications, your visual aids, your contribution to the team, and your performance as a team. There are four phases to this project, so please be sure the read these instructions carefully. OUTCOMES By completing this assignment, you will develop the ability to: 1.Work co-operatively in a team to assign and organise tasks, schedule meetings and interviews, problem-solve, and complete work assigned 2.Develop interview questionnaires, and practice listening, feedback, and note-taking skills for conducting information interviews 3.Conduct primary and secondary research, evaluate research materials, and synthesise information 4.Interview 5.Prepare a comparative presentation incorporating synthesised research data and summarised information 6. Deliver an informative and co-ordinated team presentation EVALUATION Project Plan: Sat/Unsat Team Presentation: 20% (10% Individual mark; 10% Team mark) NOTE: ALL TEAM MEMBERS MUST PARTICIPATE IN EACH PHASE OF THE PROJECT AND CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY TO RESEARCHING INFORMATION, INTERVIEWING CONTACT, WRITING THE PRESENTATION, AND PRESENTING THE INFORMATION ORALLY. MILESTONES Weeks 4-6 Meet with team mates to brainstorm ideas Read recommended materials; do some research; establish team tasks and delegate duties; develop the project plan Week 6 Complete preliminary research on two companies Week 7 Find 2 interviewees Weeks 8-9 Conduct two interviews; Project plan due Week 10-11 Work on the presentation Week 12 or 13 Conduct team presentations Resources Team Writing Collaborative Writing Professor David’s Guidelines for Collaborative Writing: http://www.uncp.edu/home/vanderhoof/syllabus/colab-rt.html Research and Documentation Chapter 8 in the Lannon/Klepp text Telephone Skills Telephone Skills Crucial for Success http://www.joyfulspirit.com/telep.htm Carole Kanchier provides tips on how to achieve the results you want when making telephone calls and leaving messages. Not only is information on the kinds of content required in telephone calls provided, but also factors relating to the sound of your voice and how it affects the listener are also covered. PHASE 1: THE PROJECT PLAN The Project Plan Due: Week 7 Value: Sat/Unsat The team should devote one meeting to discussing the project objectives and tasks, team member roles and responsibilities, as well as deadlines. Determine appropriate penalties to be applied should any team members not fulfil their assigned duties. Type up the plan, and after every team member has signed it, submit to the project manager (your instructor), who will keep the plan on file. Here’s how to create a project plan for this assignment (You may also choose to use the Management Plan Sheet outlined in your textbook on page 16): 1. Include the team name and the names and contact information of all team members. 2. Describe each team member’s tasks. Create a chart that indicates the responsibilities of each team member and the due dates. Include detail. 3. Create a Penalty Box. Clearly describe behaviours that the team would find objectionable and indicate the penalties to be applied. The behaviours would include those in which the team member does not fulfil his/her obligations. 4. Signatures. Be sure that everyone signs the project plan. Signing this plan indicates that you agree with the terms set out in the responsibilities and penalties sections. Furthermore, it indicates your agreement that the entire team shares the mark attributed to the project. Unless otherwise specified, should any plagiarized material appear in any part of the assignment, the assignment will receive “0,” and the entire team will receive the mark of “0” for that phase of the project. PROJECT PHASE 2: COMPARATIVE INTERVIEWS As a team, you are asked to interview two persons in the same occupation at two very different kinds of companies. For example, you may interview a programmer at a bank and another programmer at a small dot.com company. The purpose here is to compare the same occupations in different businesses. Another objective is to obtain information about the business type and the technical documents routinely used at the different companies. Above all, do not turn this information interview into a job interview. Preparation Read “The Informative Interview” on pp. 111-113 and p. 118 (Communication Questionnaire, which you may adapt for your needs) in your text. You may also want to consult: Information Interviews http://www.canadiancareers.com/infointerview.html This site provides resources on information interviews, including interview tips and questions, links to tutorials, definitions, preparation, and benefits. Prepare interview questions that will help you obtain the information you require to fulfil the requirements of the Team Presentation and to make decisions regarding your career (see the Presentation Assignment below). Considerations Since you are preparing a comprehensive comparative career profile, the interviewees you choose must be able to provide detailed information on the career you have chosen to investigate and the documents generated as part of their jobs. Interview people who have accumulated at least 3-5 years experience in the field. Consider the opportunities and limitations in interviewing the Human Resources officer, the IT manager, the dot.com owner, or technical support employee. DO NOT USE EMPLOYMENT AGENCY CONTACTS. Also, consider the differences that work environments can bring to a career position and to the kinds of documents produced on the job. For example, you can compare the nature of the work and routines, the contacts and prospects of a programmer in a small web design company versus those of a programmer in a large insurance company. Interviewees Start looking for people to interview now!!! Get firm interview dates for face-to-face interviews as soon as possible. Draw on your network, but don’t hesitate to conduct cold calls to contact people you don’t know. Be professional and prepared at all times. The Interviews Each team member must participate in at least one of the two face-to-face interviews. Conduct your interview after doing thorough occupational and company research: know your objectives, familiarise yourself with the occupation and the companies, have questions ready, and take notes. NOTE: You must include the transcripts of your interviews with your presentation outline, so take notes as the interviews are conducted. PROJECT PHASE 3: CAREER PROFILE PRESENTATION Value: 20% (10% Individual, 10% Team) (Also see Chapter 24 in the Lannon/Klepp text and the Guidelines for Oral Presentations file in Blackboard Assignments/Career Project.) Your goal in this part of the project is to create a profile of the IT career and the types of written communications involved in it, while describing how the different company environments impact on the career. In this 20 to 30-minute presentation, your team will compare and synthesise primary and secondary research findings to create a comprehensive description of the career in Information Technology that you have chosen to investigate. You will also make recommendations to other college students interested in pursuing that career. Your presentation profile should discuss at a minimum: Entry-level qualifications Schedule of responsibilities, including individual and team performance Areas of technical and business knowledge required to do the job and to advance Nature of the work (opportunities for challenge, creativity, decision-making, etc.) People and departments the persons interact with regularly Local and global opportunities Opportunities for professional development Opportunities for networking Career paths/options and timeframes Business / IT trends to watch Business documents routinely prepared by the employee interviewed why they are produced where they are sent Impact of the place of work on all of the above Refer to your textbook and class notes to help you structure the presentation and create the visual aids. Use graphic aids to present quantitative and some comparative data. Use Power Point to put all the information together in a presentable form. ALL SOURCES MUST BE INDICATED. Required Documents--Due at the Presentation Your team will not be permitted to give the presentation unless the following documents are provided in a folder before the presentation: Detailed outline for the team presentation, including outlines of individual segments and a bibliography Transcripts of the interviews Thank you letters sent to the interviewees AVOID PLAGIARISM: All information that is not common knowledge must be carefully documented; a list of references is mandatory. DO NOT PLAGIARISE Your focus in all components of this project should be on the analysis and synthesis, not the simple reproduction, of the information you collect from written sources and interviews. Where you use research information to illustrate one of your arguments, whether it be direct quote or paraphrase, use MLA documentation style to document it on the Power Point slide where sources are used and in your list of references. (It is not acceptable to just provide a list of references at the end of the presentation without indicating your sources during the presentation!) FOR MORE INFORMATION, REFER TO Chapter 8 IN THE LANNON/KLEPP TEXT. Any incidence of plagiarism will result in an automatic grade of “0” on the assignment for the team. Safeguard academic integrity in your team! PROJECT PHASE 4: THANK YOUR INTERVIEWEES! Close the interview experience on a positive and courteous note by sending thank you letters to your interviewees. You may prepare the letters ahead of time and include them in your project package. You may obtain feedback from you instructor before you send them.