Last year, Hildy Ross developed and ran the course Applied Apprenticeship for senior Honours Psychology majors interested in careers in applied psychology. And the response was very positive. The goals of the course are not only to provide students with work experience but also to enable them to contribute to the work within the applied setting and gain valuable skills required to explore career options. Hildy interviewed all students ahead of time and placed them in one of a variety of apprenticeship settings. The classes cover topics such as self assessment, researching occupations and employers, information interviews, networking, and interviewing skills.
Students also make presentations in class, describing their apprenticeship.
Since career counselling is not Hildy's area of specialization, she looked for other resources to help deliver this course. Nancy Mann of Counselling Services and Kerry Mahoney of the Co-operative Education and Career Services. Nancy conducted the Strong Interest Inventory with the students and led them through the test interpretation as well as a discussion of test reliability, validity, and utility. Kerry facilitated five class sessions on job search skills. Both Nancy and Kerry enjoyed contributing to the course.