People aspiring to a career in agricultural were given a smorgasbord of options at the Farming Futures — Agriculture Careers Fair, held at UNE’s Lazenby Hall last Friday.
Agriplacements Australia Director, Brett Price, says a career in Agriculture can present students with extraordinary opportunities, both in Australia and internationally.
“The agricultural sector and its supply chain employs more than 1.6 million people — that’s more than 17 per cent of Australia’s workforce. It contributes more than $155 billion to the national economy,” Mr Price said.
“However, over the last 10 years, it has become increasingly difficult for agribusiness companies to find skilled people, with continued competition for staff from sectors like mining.
“We have been working with some of the leading CEOs and Human Resource Managers in agribusiness to help them develop better strategies for recruiting staff and finding ways they could be more inventive with remuneration packages.
“Quite often they may not have to match packages offered by other industries, but simply offer better conditions — like flexible hours!”
Farming Futures Career Fair officer, Laura Garland, hopes that the fair will link students looking for a career in agriculture with potential employers.
“This fair was an opportunity for agribusinesses to speak to graduates,” said Laura.
“We have all the banks here, Grains Research Development Corp, SERS and Career Development from UNE and plenty of representation from the agronomy sector.
“This is our first year running the fair, so we are hoping next year to encourage school students to come along.
“There are so many opportunities in agriculture, if you want to work in your gap year, or back on the farm, or even tertiary qualifications like those we have here at UNE.”
