Careers show inspires a new generation of workers

Thursday 19 April 2018

Guernsey's 2018 careers show at Beau Sejour saw the island's students and others job seekers pack out the convention halls asking questions of prospective employers and making decisions about their futures.

Businesses put up stands advertising themselves, explaining what it was to work in their industries and advising people on how to kick start their careers.

Others gave advice to attendees on how they could prepare for life in the world of work and also information about different areas of work that could interest them.

"The careers show is really important because it gives some young people the chance to learn about all sorts of options that are open to them that they might just not have known existed," Ali Morgan Dixon, head of HR for EY Channel Islands, said.

EY was sponsoring the event for the third year in a row: "This kind of event showcases the people that you're interested in maybe working with in the future. So obviously for us finance is the focus, and we get to answer people's questions about what finance really is."

Izzie Davison, Sophie De La Mare, and Victoria Fletcher, all 16 and in Year 11 at the Ladies College, said going to the Careers Show was always helpful as even if they wanted to go to university after school, it was still an excellent place for them to ask questions and to come up with ideas for the future. 

"I think its really interesting to see all of the different places you could end up working, and its good to be able to ask any questions we have," Izzie said.

"It is very helpful to find out what A levels and grades you need for the jobs and then what you will actually end up doing. It helps us to make choices about our future."

The group said they had been to the show for the last three years running, and always found it helpful.

Roulla Fedonos, the communications manager for C5 Alliance, said for them, the show was an opportunity to shrug off stereotypes about their industry and show people what they really had to offer, what jobs were really available and what skills sets were needed.

Pictured: Fav Drew, Claire Fisher and Claire Tannahill, social workers.

Fav Drew, a Social Worker Assistant at Health & Social Care agreed.

"Lots of the people here are too young to really know what social work actually is, and probably to young to have decided that they want to work in it as well. But this really helps us explain what it is we do compared to what they might think, so hopefully we can start to see that interest grow."