NEED FOR BROADER VISION
EXPERTS CALL FOR A BETTER JOB OF CAREER EDUCATION, WRITES LAUREN AHWAN
YOUNG people are missing out on lucrative job opportunities because they are not getting taught about them at school.
Experts say the lack of career education is “diabolical’’, with many young people unaware of in-demand roles in sectors such as IT, human services and mining.
“One of the big problems with the transition from school to work is the preparation of students,’’ Saxon Phipps, co-founder of school leaver service Year13, said.
“Students are leaving the school system with little to no knowledge of these roles.
“It really shows the career advice at school is quite archaic.’’
SCHOOLS IGNORING CAREERS
New research by Year13 reveals 45 per cent of young people are not taught anything about digital career paths, despite a booming tech sector and forecasts that Australia will need an extra 60,000 digital workers each year to meet demand.
“Gen Zs are known as digital natives – they have grown up with smart phones,’’ Phipps said.
“But nearly one in two students aren’t learning about digital tech career paths in school, leaving many with the incorrect belief that you need to be geeky for a successful career in digital tech jobs, which is absolutely not the case.
“It’s really important we let school students and their parents know just how much demand there is for digital skills across all industries, and how important these skills are going to be for just about everyone graduating school today.’’
The research also found a third of Australians aged 15-24 did not know how to access training for jobs in the human services industry.
The sector is the nation’s largest employer, with roles in aged care, disability services and early childhood education.
Demand is expected to triple to 750,000 human services workers by 2050.
And 68 per cent of young people dismissed the idea of working in the mining industry, which has long been a key driver of the Australian economy.
Almost a third said they were unsure how to get a start in the sector.
Strategic career adviser Catherine Cunningham, director of The Career Consultancy, said the growing warehousing and logistics sector was another key employment area ignored by schools.
“Most private schools wouldn’t have heard of logistics; they go down the traditional pathways of (teaching students about) medicine, psychology, teaching and law,’’ Cunningham said.
“And private schools are the better ones (in terms of the career education offered).
“Career advice at school is pretty
diabolical – and that’s if the school even has a counsellor.’’
PROMOTE CURIOSITY
With an increasingly diverse range of employment options and the likelihood of young people having several careers throughout their working life, Career Confident director Helen Green said it was unrealistic to expect schools to provide information on all possibilities.
She said fostering a sense of curiosity, self-awareness and an
interest in ongoing learning was the key to helping students navigate their career path.
“Speaking with people of all ages working in different sectors in some of the ‘newer’ careers should be encouraged,’’ she said.
“Students also need to know how and where to find information now and (also) into the future about careers, training courses and changes in the labour market.’’
CAREER CHANGE
Ocularists Annette Watts and
Jennifer Hebel didn’t learn about the career opportunities involved in making prosthetic eyes while they were at school.
In fact, so little is known about the profession that most optometrists don’t even know what’s involved.
“It sounds strange, but we have actually done a few talks for optometrists to explain it,’’ Watts said.
“It’s a hard job to explain quickly, but we are proud of it.’’
The occupation involves taking an impression of a patient’s eye socket and then creating an acrylic eye, moulding it to the correct shape and hand painting the iris and pupil.
Veins are added with silk thread and the eye is polished before it is fitted to the patient.
They embarked on the career change after a chance meeting with Artificial Eyes founder Trevor Dorahy, undertaking a three-year “apprenticeship’’ (a formal qualification for the trade does not exist in Australia) under his tutelage before taking over the business several years ago.
Most ocularists enter the job through a parent who is already working in the industry. Hebel says her son is already taking an interest.
“To us, this career ticks every box,’’ Hebel, who along with Watts recently received a Brisbane Lord Mayor Women in Business Grant to expand the business, said.
“It’s a little people orientated, where you can make people feel more comfortable about themselves, it’s a bit technical and you get to work in a lab, and it’s a creative.
“It’s a shame more people don’t know about it because it’s a fantastic job in that you do get to do a bit of everything.’’