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TESOL France 2025 Colloquium: Job Skills mapping activity
We were thrilled to renew our partnership with TESOL France for this year’s annual colloquium, held from 21 to 23 November in Paris.
Celestina Cardoz, our Academic Relations Manager, delivered a presentation titled “Career-ready Classrooms: Educate for Employment.”
She highlighted the crucial role of employability skills and demonstrated how these can be effectively integrated into Business English, Vocational English, and TOEIC training programmes.
What are employability skills?
The OECD defines employability skills as a set of competencies that are relevant across occupational areas for success in the workforce and beyond.
Employability skills are characterized by the following hallmarks:
a) they are necessary for an individual’s full integration and participation in the labour market, education, and training, as well as in social and civic life;
b) they are highly transferable to other contexts; and
c) they are learnable.
A Career Mapping Activity to better understand skills needed in professionnel workplace
Celestina created a Career Mapping Activity, designed to help participants reflect on their professional aspirations and understand the skills needed to succeed. This interactive workshop unfolded in two parts, encouraging both self-assessment and role playing.
Part 1: Think of Your Ideal Job
Participants began by identifying their dream job and the sectors they were most interested in. They explored top employers in their region and noted the key employability skills required for these roles. This step helped them clarify their career goals and recognize the competencies they need to develop.
Part 2: Find Your Ideal Employee
In the second phase, participants switched perspectives and imagined themselves as recruiters or hiring managers. They had to work in teams of two and exchange their activity notes with their teammate. They now had to identify what skills and qualities they would expect from a candidate applying for the position they had chosen earlier. This exercise provided valuable insight into employer expectations and highlighted the importance of aligning personal skills with market demands.
This activity highlighted the fact that we need additional feedback on our job aspirations and very often the skills we pursue are not the ones employers are looking for. The exercise fostered self-awareness but also offered practical guidance for career planning. By thinking like both a job seeker and a recruiter, teachers left with actionable strategies to help their students, position themselves for success in a competitive job market.
Career Mapping Grid: Find Your Dream Job
Steps
Questions to Answer
1. What’s your ideal job
• Think of the ideal job position you want
• Identify the 1 or 2 employment sectors
• Look up the top employers in this sector in your region
• On your post-it, write down the top employability skills you need for this job.
2. Who’s your ideal employee
• Imagine you are the recruiter for this job.
• What skills are you expecting from the candidate in this position? (If you’re not familiar with the job position, you may take some time to research online)