3 Improv Activities That Will Give Your Students Skills for The Job

Hunt by Jen Oleniczak Brown

I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a workshop, “Improv for Job Seekers,” to a group of high
school graduates. When preparing my curriculum, I thought carefully and critically about the skills that
enable people to job hunt effectively, because those skills would direct the improv activities of the
session.

Most students selected the session because “improv makes you quicker on your feet and that’s
important when interviewing.” While communication skills are definitely a key piece of the job hunt, I
also wanted students to enhance the less obvious, but no less important skills that would help them
land a job. Skills like listening, creativity, attitude, collaboration and problem solving. This article
highlights 3 key activities you can use to help your students hone these skills.

Activity #1: Last Word Response (Job Hunting Skill: Listening)

Instructions: “Who would say they are a good listener?” Most students did, and many nodded their
heads in agreement. “This game Last Word Response, how well you listen from start to finish. In
order to succeed at this game, you have to remain fully present because your sentence or phrase
must start with the last word the person before you used.

For example, one student may start by saying a general phrase or sentence such as “I love cats,” the
next person then starts their sentence with the last word of the previous person’s sentence and could
say something like “Cats are cool pets,” the next person could say, “pets are named after people,”
etc. Uh oh. For most of us – professionals young and mature – we’d make a case that listening is
paying attention when someone else is speaking, but we’d also readily admit that while someone is
speaking we are also thinking of what we want to say.

Takeaway: Sometimes we can get away with not listening until the very last word, yet other times
(like when the hiring manager asks a two-part question in an interview – “What’s your greatest
weakness? How have you been improving in that area?”) – it can cost you. The students – when they
weren’t caught not listening – said it best, “when you actively listening it’s easier to make connections
with the speaker,” and that’s critical when interviewing, networking and communicating.

Activity #2: Blind Line-Up (Job Hunting Skills: Creativity, Problem Solving)

These days’ companies want all their professionals to demonstrate creativity, because that quality is
at the root of innovation. Companies want professionals who are going to push them to do things
differently than they’ve done them before and that’s the exact purpose of the game, Blind Line-Up.

In this game, students are given three team tasks, such as lining-up in alphabetical order by first
names, lining up by the #of minutes in their commute this a.m., or lining up in height order. Sounds
easy right? The students are them prompted to complete the task in one of the three ways: with their
eyes closed, no talking, or my favorite – with their eyes closed and no talking.
Takeaways: Many students incredulously inquired “how can we do this with our eyes closed?” All
professionals can relate to feeling both confusion and resignation when faced with a new challenge or
trying something for the first time. Yet, somehow – despite the uncertainty, lack of resources,
stipulations, and roadblocks- we get it done, just as the students did. How? Because we tried,
adjusted, and tried again. The students didn’t succeed at every task the first time, and that’s good
because immediate success wasn’t the point. As students noted, “it was about finding new
strategies,” “being resourceful” and ensuring “everyone was on the same page or using the
same method to communicate.” The latter is what enables us to approach and solve problems in
new ways.

Activity #3: Pass the Gesture (Job Skills: Collaboration, Attitude, Initiative)

Ask any high school student or professional about group projects and teamwork and there’s a
collective sigh. Because of rough experiences, “some people are lazy and don’t do work,” “its easier
by myself because I have high standards,” and “there can be a lot of miscommunication,” – many of
us have decided that’s it better to execute any new project alone.

The only problem with that is everything about succeeding in a job has to do with how well you work
with others. And that’s why being able to work in a team and being a good team player is important.

In the game, Pass the Gesture, each student says a word/phrase (ex. Yes, excellent, BAM, woo,
etc.) and does an accompanying gesture (stomp your foot, snap your hands, spin, etc.). If student #1
starts by saying wow and throwing their hands up then each student in the circle has to do exactly
that, say wow and throw their hands up, until we’re back at student #1. Student #2 then initiates a
new, different gesture and word that everyone must repeat around the circle.

Takeaway: What inevitably happens is someone does a gesture that is too big, too much, too new
and maybe even too complex (ex. Dougie, headstand, etc.) that other individuals shy away from fully
attempting it. For example, instead of saying wow with the bright, confident tone of the student who
started it, we let out an unenthusiastic, low “wow” or if we’re led to lift our hands way above our heads
it’s tempting to lift them just above our shoulders.

When these moments happen, I ask, “How much more confident do you feel as a leader when you
know your team supports you?” Or “how much better is it working on a team when we know others
are as fully committed to doing the tasks as well as we are?” It’s those things – being able to rely on
others and being fully committed to a common result that build trust. Also, how we approach
something demonstrates our attitude and our attitude is critical to our success. Would you hire
someone who complained whenever the company had to adjust or pivot on a project or would you
hire the person who was enthusiastic and demonstrated a “can-do” attitude? As one student noted
during their final reflection, “attitude is everything.”