By Amy Woolvett
THE COAST GUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
The bi-annual Career Expo recently filled up the Shelburne Community Centre with tables of potential employers ready to inform, recruit or give direction to the interested job seekers for the area.
Representatives from the RCMP, Canadian Forces, Fisheries and Oceans, Nova Scotia Tourism Human Resource Council and Ravensburg College were some of the booths that could be visited as well as Michelin, Shelburne Farmer’s Market and VON.
Future careers were explored in addition to the employment that is available right now.
“There is a misconception that there are no jobs here,” said Renee Burt, coordinator of student retention and employment. “The job fair is a great thing because it gives good business exposure and it lets people know what local businesses are hiring.”
Students from the Shelburne Regional High School (SRHS) attended the event, hoping to glean knowledge on a possible career path.
Councilor for the SRHS, Wendy Jones Darrow explained that it is a process, and one that should be begun early, for students to understand what direction they should take when choosing their careers.
“There is no such thing as a test that will point out what a person should do for the rest of their lives,” she said.
She said that it is important for students to start exploring what they like and don’t like as early as grade nine.
“Young people often don’t know themselves,” she explained. “They need to find out who they are and what their strengths are.”
She explained the process as a long conversation that might explore what the student enjoys in their spare time to connecting them with workplaces to let them have an idea if that is what they truly want.
She explained that students have to be smart consumers with the price of post secondary school rising every year.
“Even exploring what they don’t like is just as important as knowing what they do like,” she said.
Students can find great connections with the guidance services from labour market information to help with choosing the right school or programs.
Darrow added that the students journey to the next step after high school really is a whole family commitment and the school will be giving parents the opportunity to share their expertise for an evening of parents as career coaches on May 12 and 19. From 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Anyone interested should call the school to register at 902-875-4900
