KEY POINTS:
Two groups of school-leavers know certainty. The high flyers will storm the professions and the glittering worlds; movies, television, and IT. We will read about them in the business news and entertainment sections.
Others are destined, perhaps doomed, to struggle. Unemployment and a helpless anger await. Sadly, their stories will be in the coverage of the courts.
The great mass in between are emerging into a complex world, one of overwhelming choices. Just the Job sets out to demystify the job hunt. Each week, three teenagers close to leaving school have a chance to try out a job that intrigues them.
Liam wanted to get into property developing via the building trades, and was dropped off at a construction site; Sam was interested in the truck driving life and spent a day delivering cement around Auckland. The third, Margo, had an eye to turf culture and greens-keeping. She went to the Gulf Harbour golf course.
These are the trades, where work is either obviously done right or not, with no steps in between. It is also a world where assessments are straightforward, and free of face-saving nuance.
Liam passed, was told he fitted in and that he was both welcome back. And, hitting the trade equivalent of Lotto's six numbers, offered a school holiday job, with an apprenticeship looming just beyond. A delighted Liam began to wander off, lost in the joy of good news, forgetting to return the carpenter's tool belt.
Margo approached the industrial lawn-mower with trepidation, and predictably produced something less than the required straight lines. Later she had a wrestle with the machine digging the holes on the putting greens.
Despite this, and the rain, Margo emerged happy. More to the point, so did the greenskeeper. Sam found the world of truck driving is as much about maintaining and cleaning the truck as actually driving it. Once this was safely on board, he was off and away. He, too, would be told he would be fine.
Just the Job sits at the 'education' end of the television mission, with entertainment at the other. It's graphics-free and the pizzazz is dialled down. Host Clinton Randall came from NZ Idol but keeps show business safely tucked away, going for, and getting, a quietly efficient confidence.
Sarah McIndoe, a career consultant, wraps up with job-hunting advice; a sensible "talk to people in the industry, find out how they got in the door, and do the same thing."
One piece of encouragement was the money to be made. A construction foreman can expect around $150,000 a year, with a head greenskeeper and someone driving large rigs not far behind.
The theme is one of hope. It's telling youngsters there are options - a lot of them - and, if their enthusiasm, talents and the chosen industry match up they can expect to do well.
* Just the Job. TV2, Saturday, 4.00pm
