Career day, in a box.
Get a yes from your principal, find out what students want to hear about, line up the speakers and run the day.
Let's plan itHow a career day works
It's a half-day on a special schedule. Every student picks the careers they're curious about, then rotates through three sessions with people who do those jobs: parents, alumni, and people from your town.
Picking up where you left off.
Pick your school and we'll look up your principal, your counselors and whoever runs college and career stuff, plus your parent group. Their names go straight into the emails below.
School not in the list (middle school, private, outside the US)?
Everything else depends on this. The principal has to approve a special bell schedule for the morning, the way they would for an assembly or a testing day, and name a staff member to help you. Ask six to eight weeks ahead.
Students taking part can be the whole school or just a grade or two.
Email your principal
Keep the email short and ask for a meeting. Everything else goes in a one-page plan you attach, so the principal can read it before you meet.
Email — Could I have 30 minutes about a career day?
Dear [Principal's name], I'm [your name], a student at [school name]. I'd like to organize a career day for our school: a half-day where every student hears from three people who do jobs they're curious about, picked through a short survey. A study that followed 17,000 students found those who heard more career talks in high school earned more ten years later, and the OECD finds teenagers who talk with someone about a job they're interested in end up with clearer, better-matched career plans. I'll run the survey, recruit the speakers and build the schedule. From the school, I'd need a special bell schedule for one morning and a staff sponsor. I've attached a one-page plan with the details. Could I have 30 minutes with you in the next week or two to discuss? Thank you, [your name] A student at [school name]
Find their email on your school's staff directory.
Attach the one-pager before you send it. If you don't hear back in a week, forward the same email with one line on top: “Just checking you saw this!”
If they'd rather not change the schedule, there's a lighter version built in: speakers visit regular classes over a week, and any teacher who wants one hosts a speaker for a period. It's on the one-pager as plan B, so the answer doesn't have to be no.
What did they say?
See the questions
The survey questions
1. Your name and grade (so we can put you in the right rooms) 2. Pick up to three fields you'd most like to hear about: Health and medicine · Tech and engineering · Business and starting a company · Art, design and media · Law, government and public safety · Science and the environment · Sports and fitness · Building, trades and repair · Teaching and working with kids · Food, restaurants and hospitality · Other 3. Is there a specific job you'd love to hear about that isn't on the list? 4. Does someone in your family, or someone you know, have a job they might talk about? (If yes, we'll send you a sign-up link to pass on.)
What did students pick?
Tap the fields that came out on top (aim for your top five or six). They steer the speaker search and your tracker.
Rule of thumb: one speaker for every 30 students, since speakers stay in one room and students rotate, plus a few extra for cancellations. Put your head count in step 2 and we'll do the math.
Ask four ways at once. Teachers and parents get you most of your speakers fast. Local people and alumni are where the speakers students remember come from.
A Ask teachers to forward it to their network
Every teacher knows a nurse, an engineer, a former student who started a business. Ask your staff sponsor to send this to the whole staff list, or send it to the teachers you know best yourself. A forwardable note means they only have to hit forward.
Email to teachers — ask your sponsor to send it to the staff list
Hi everyone, I'm a student organizing [school name]'s career day on [date], a half-day where students rotate through sessions with people who do the jobs they're curious about. A study that followed 17,000 students found those who heard more career talks in high school earned more ten years later, and the OECD finds teenagers who talk with someone about a job they're interested in end up with clearer, better-matched career plans. Could you forward the note below to one or two people you know with interesting jobs? Friends, family, former students, anyone. Most of our speakers will come from people teachers know. ---- Hi! [school name] is holding a career day on [date], and students are looking for people to talk about their jobs. It's three sessions of about 40 minutes in the morning, about fifteen minutes on what you do and how you got there and then questions. No slides needed. If you'd be up for it, email [your email] and a student will follow up. ---- Thank you! [your name]
B Ask parents
Make a quick sign-up form (name, job, email, whether they can do the whole morning), then get the message below to parents three ways at once:
- The principal's weekly email or newsletter. Ask your sponsor to get it in.
- The PTA or parent group, which usually has its own email list and group chats.
- Students from question 4 of your survey, who said someone they know might talk. Send them the link directly.
Message for parents — newsletter, PTA email or group chat
Parents and families of [school name]: students are putting on a career day on [date], and we're looking for people to talk about their jobs. It's a morning: three short sessions, each about fifteen minutes of talking and the rest questions. No slides, no speech. Just what you do all day, how you got there, and what you'd tell yourself at sixteen. Every kind of job counts, and the ones teenagers never see up close are often the best. Research that followed thousands of students for ten years found that hearing from people with real jobs in high school was linked to higher pay later on. Sign up here: [speaker sign-up form link] Thank you! [your name], [school name] student
Find their email on the PTA or PTO's website.
C Find local people with interesting jobs
The speakers students remember are usually the ones nobody in the building knew: the wildlife vet, the person who designs the town's bridges, the chef with their own restaurant. Think about where interesting work happens near your town: the hospital, the university, city hall, the fire station, local businesses and startups, museums and newspapers. Ask the chamber of commerce or a Rotary club for introductions, since one email there can reach dozens of people.
Pick your school in step 1 and we can search for you.
D Find alumni
Graduates love coming back, and students listen to someone who sat in the same classrooms. Places to look:
- Your longest-serving teachers and the front office. They know where graduates ended up.
- The school's alumni association, foundation or alumni Facebook group.
- “Notable alumni” on your school's Wikipedia page, and local news stories about graduates. Our search does this part for you.
Pick your school in step 1 and we can search for you.
The invite
For anyone you reach out to directly. The one line about why you picked them is what gets a yes, so make it specific. No answer in a week? Send one short follow-up.
Email — Would you talk to [school name] students about your job? ([date])
Hi [name], I'm a student at [school name] in [your city], and I'm organizing our career day on [date]. I came across [how you found them: a teacher, an article, their website], and I think students would love to hear about [what they do]. What it would involve: - Three sessions of 40 minutes, starting at 8:30 am, with about 30 students each. You stay in one classroom and the students come to you. - About fifteen minutes on what you do and how you got there, then questions. No slides needed. - A student will meet you at the front office and introduce you. Research that followed thousands of students for ten years found that hearing from people with real jobs in high school was linked to higher pay later on. A lot of students have never met anyone who does what you do. Would you be up for it? Happy to answer any questions. Thank you, [your name] A student at [school name]
Keep track
Everyone you ask. It saves on this device, and the count goes into your emails.
The timeline
Pick a date in step 2 and these turn into real dates.
A The schedule
| 8:20 am | Homeroom or first period: attendance, and every student gets their room list. |
|---|---|
| 8:30 am–9:10 am | Session 1 |
| 9:15 am–9:55 am | Session 2 |
| 10:00 am–10:40 am | Session 3 |
| 10:40 am on | Back to the regular schedule: lunch, then shortened afternoon periods. |
Five-minute passing periods. Whoever builds your bell schedule (usually an assistant principal) makes the real one; this is the shape to hand them.
Putting students in rooms
- Open the survey responses as a sheet and sort by first choice.
- Fill each room up to about 30 from students' first choices, then second, then third. Popular speakers can take a bigger room, like the library or the auditorium.
- Give every student three different sessions, one per rotation. Most should get at least two of their three picks.
- Students who skipped the survey go wherever there's room. Some of them will find something they didn't know they liked.
Short on time? Let each homeroom or advisory rotate together instead, and let the class vote on its three sessions.
B Prep the speakers
Send this a week before. Speakers are nervous about two things: talking too long and not knowing where to go. This solves both. Two days before, send a two-line reminder.
Email — Career day details: [date]
Hi [name], Thank you again for speaking at [school name]'s career day! Here's everything you need. When: [date]. Please arrive by 8:00 am. Sessions run 8:30 am to 10:40 am, three sessions of 40 minutes with a different group of about 30 students each time. Where: Check in at the front office with a photo ID. [Your student host's name] will meet you and walk you to [room]. Parking: [where to park]. What to talk about, about fifteen minutes, then questions: - What a normal day in your job actually looks like - How you got there, including the detours and the things that didn't work out - What you'd tell yourself at sixteen - How someone could try your kind of work now: a class, a club, a summer job Students will come with questions. No slides needed, but if you have something to show (a tool, a photo, a thing you made), bring it. My number on the day: [your phone number] See you soon, [your name]
C Prep the students
A talk is only as good as the questions students bring. A week before, ask teachers to give five minutes in class for every student to look at their room list and write two questions for each speaker.
Good questions — for teachers to put on the board
What does a normal day look like for you? What's the hardest part of your job? The best part? What did you study, and did you need it? What's something about your job that would surprise us? If I wanted to try this now, what could I do this year? What do you wish you'd known at my age?
Student hosts. One student per room meets the speaker at the front office, walks them to the room, introduces them and writes the thank-you afterward. Students in clubs related to the field (HOSA, robotics, DECA, the school paper) are perfect for it.
D The day of
- Student hosts at the front door 30 minutes before the first session. Each meets their speaker, walks them to the room and introduces them.
- A sign on every door with the speaker's name and job, and a printed room list at the front office.
- Water and a name tag for every speaker. A coffee table in the library or staff room is a nice touch.
- A backup plan for a no-show: a teacher who'll talk about their own path, or merge the room into another session.
- Photos, but only of speakers who say yes and students who've agreed to be in them.
E After: thank them, and ask students how it went
Thank every speaker within two days. Each student host writes one, saying one specific thing a student learned. Speakers who get a real thank-you come back next year.
A thank-you from a student host
Dear [speaker's name], Thank you for coming to [school name]'s career day. [One specific thing students talked about afterward, or a question that stuck with you.] A lot of us had never met anyone who does what you do. Thank you, [your name]
Ask students two questions the same day, while it's fresh. The second one matters most: in the research, the benefit showed up most clearly for students who found the talks very helpful, so it tells you which speakers to invite back.
The follow-up survey
1. Which sessions did you go to? 2. How helpful was each one? Very helpful / somewhat helpful / not helpful 3. (optional) Who should we invite next year?
Then send the principal the results and ask to put next year on the calendar.
Email — Career day results, and next year
Dear [Principal's name], Thank you for letting us run career day. Here's how it went: - [#] speakers - [#] students took part - [#]% of students who answered the follow-up found at least one session very helpful - [a quote from a student or a speaker] Could we put it on next year's calendar now, so the next organizers have more time? Thank you, [your name] A student at [school name]
Find their email on your school's staff directory.
Want a hand pulling it off?
A Doorstop Session is us working with you and your friends to plan your career day and get it done.
- Rehearse the principal meeting, and work out a date that fits your school's calendar
- Brainstorm speakers from your town that nobody's thought of
- Build the schedule and the room assignments with you
- Turn this year's survey results into a pitch for doing it again next year
Free for public schools.
Rather write to us first? Send this and a person will reply.
Email — Student at [school name] — help planning a career day
Hi Ben, I'm a student at [school name], and I'm planning a career day. I need help with [getting the principal on board / the date / finding speakers / the schedule / something else]. So far I've [what you've already done]. Thanks, [your name]
Want more help?
We can work with you directly to make it happen.
Email — Student at [school name] — help planning a career day
Hi Ben, I'm a student at [school name], and I'm planning a career day. I need help with [getting the principal on board / the date / finding speakers / the schedule / something else]. So far I've [what you've already done]. Thanks, [your name]