Virtual welcome to the world of work
YOUNG people from across Denbighshire and Caernarfon were given a flavour of various career opportunities at Wales’ largest careers, jobs, skills and apprenticeship event, SkillsCymru.
More than 40 employers showcased the range of career opportunities available within their organisations during the event , at Venue Cymru in Llandudno .
Employers included NHS Wales, ALDI, Arts Council of Wales and Wales and West Utilities, with Horizon Nuclear Power promoting its new recruitment programme for the Anglesey power plant, which has been predicted will create 850 new jobs.
The free event was attended by thousands of young people from schools, further education colleges and work-based learning providers across Wales, including Mold Alun School, Ysgol Rhosnesni, Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle, Ysgol Tir Morfa and Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones.
Virtual reality headsets were a major attraction at this year’s event, allowing attendees to experience a realistic taste of potential future careers.
The Welsh Government’s ‘Have a Go’ equipment enabled young people to use a virtual welder, a JCB simulator and a 3D scanner.
Experts were also on hand to provide information about voca- tional routes, such as apprenticeships, to employment.
Amongst these were The British Army, which runs the largest apprenticeship scheme in the UK with more than 8,000 people completing the programme each year.
The Army brought along its Oculus Rift VR equipment, which transported attendees from the peaks of Snowdonia, to driving a tank, to parachuting out of a plane.
Abbey Davis, 15, from Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle, who attended the careers event, said: “It’s been a really fun event.
“I’ve taken part in so many different activitie, from using the VR headsets at the Careers Wales stand to making an omelette as fast as I can with the cookery skills school.
“The most useful thing by far is that I’ve been able to speak to physiotherapists, as I’m interested in studying it as a degree.
“Now I feel I know more about the course and what grades I’d need to make it a profession.”