School students, school-leavers, tertiary students and their parents had a unique opportunity to explore local training and career opportunities at the ‘Live.Train.Work’ Expo & Careers Forum held at UNE’s Lazenby Hall last Thursday.
Over 300 students from throughout the local region attended information sessions across a wide range of careers, including: counselling, hospitality, law, media, marketing and communications, early childhood services, IT, medicine, dental, optical, automotive, creative arts and design, science and primary industries, sport and recreation, vet and animal care, nursing and aged care, metals and engineering, community services, accounting and finance, transport and aviation as well as sessions on job seeking, how to write a CV, volunteering, casual work, gap year opportunities and applying for TAFE and UNE courses.
Executive Officer of Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI), Nathan Axelsson, said the event was distinct from other careers expos.
“A typical careers expo might have a number of stall-holders set up. This event focused on break-out information sessions. We had in excess of 120 guest speakers. Students were able to hear first-hand from industry representatives who are passionate about their particular fields.
“Too often, we find that young people in regional centres like Armidale, once their high school or university studies are completed, leave the region. These people are the brightest and best – our next generation of skilled workers. They’re the future of our regional communities. So, the ultimate aim of this event was to demonstrate to students that there are many career opportunities, as well as technical training and further study options to be found locally,” Mr Axelsson said.
High School students were able to learn about both Vocation Education and Training (VET) and University study options.
The organisations that collaborated to make the event possible were: RDANI, in conjunction with local partners including BEST Employment, TAFE New England Institute, UNE, Jobs Australia, Speedie Staff Solutions, Armidale Business Chamber, EACH Youth Connections, Armidale Dumaresq Council, Community Mutual Group and many local businesses and employees. The Careers Network Partnership Broker Program helped to bring together the partners for this important event to address the lack of knowledge about training, education and career pathways across many local industry sectors.
