Integrating Career Awareness into the ABE/ESOL Classroom - SABES

L e s s o n 5
Career Ladders
Learning Objective
To help students think long-term about job opportunities
Materials Needed
Access to CareerOneStop website
www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/careerpathway/CPWReviewSamplePaths.aspx
Printed copies of career ladder diagrams from the Career One Stop website
Vocabulary
mapping, promotion, advancement, wage, lateral movement, horizontal movement,
tuition reimbursement, human resources department, personnel
SCANS Competencies
Systems: Understands systems
Information: Interprets and communicates information
Thinking Skills: Seeing Things in the Mind’s Eye
Instructions for Conducting the Activity
Prior to the lesson, review the sample career ladders and lattices at the CareerOneStop,
www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/careerpathway/CPWReviewSamplePath.aspx.
Identify one or two career ladders to share with students.
When looking at occupations, it is useful for students to understand the possibilities for promotion or movement within
a particular field or company. Students entering the work force for the first time or seeking a better job can benefit by
understanding that a career ladder is a step-by-step wage and skill progression in a job category or within a company.
Students will also benefit from understanding that they can move across occupations within an industry or sector. For
example, within a health care setting, a worker can move from a position in environmental services to patient care.
Ask students to brainstorm a list of jobs a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) could do, within health care, if s/he had more
training. Record the list. Explain that the list is the start of a career ladder. Guiding questions include:
• Do you know CNAs who have followed any of these paths?
• Are career paths always upward?
• Can you identify a career path you may have taken? How did you identify it?
Career ladders are important because:
• The more you know about career ladders in an industry or company, the better able you are to make good job choices.
• You can identify what further training or education is needed and make plans for how you will obtain the education.
• It can help you feel less “stuck” in a job, if you know what you are working towards.
• Some employers provide tuition reimbursement for education and training related to your job.
Then distribute the diagrams that you printed from the the CareerOneStop website. Guiding questions include:
• What training and/or education does it take to move from one step on the ladder to another?
Integrating Career Awareness into the ABE & ESOL Classroom | Section III, Lesson 5: Career Ladders | 89