Getting the best from career expos

By JULIE MIDDLETON

It's the middle of winter, which means it's jobs roadshow season. The largest of them, The Careers Expo, takes place over four days in Auckland this month and two in Wellington in August, with thousands of secondary students expected to attend.

Already confirmed for Auckland are companies ranging from Ardmore Flying School to polytechnics, universities, and the Order of St John. In Wellington, exhibitors include youth publishers Tearaway Press and the Navy.

But making the most of a careers expo means working out your strengths and interests before getting there, says Robyn Walshe, Unitec's director of institute relations, a former college teacher who is on the expo's advisory board.

"Nothing beats good preparation," she says. "A lot of students who go to expos think they can cruise around ... but coming with some idea of what you want to investigate is really important for focus."

Most young people coming to the end of the secondary schooling have very little idea about what's on offer beyond what they have seen family members doing and teachers telling, she says. But that narrows the field to what the older generation knows, when the working world is changing so fast.

"Eighty per cent of today's newborns will end up in occupations that have not yet been invented," says Walshe. "Those currently in education will change their jobs 11 times in their lives, and their skill base, or direction, three times."

She suggests that students heading for an expo need to assess three thing: Abilities, values and life interest areas.

The first is about recognising what you are good at. Questions to kick-start a list might be: What things that I do get positive comments from others? What skills are consistently good in school reports?

Values - the things you believe are important in life - should also be recorded. It might be making heaps of money, or always telling the truth. One thing is sure, however: A mismatch between job values and your values invariably causes unhappiness.

And happiness in a career is important, says Walshe. Students need to know what activities "give them the buzz" in seeking a career.

"It's the buzz that's going to sustain them. If people can work with passion, they can survive anything."

She suggests students study the categories below, which describe life interests - long-held, emotionally-driven passions - and look for the three closest matches. Walshe has adapted them from an October 1999 Harvard Business Review article:

* Techno-dude: application of technology. You may not be an engineer, but you're intrigued by the inner workings of things, planning, analysis, systems and processes.

* Quant-jock: quantitative analysis. You excel at running the numbers, gravitating towards anything that has calculations or some form of figuring out.

* Buzz-brain: theory, development, quantitative thinking. You like abstract ideas, and can think of the big picture and look at a situation from 10,000m above.

* Creative inventor: creative production. Handling lots of unknowns and making something out of nothing. Newness and making something original - whether words, ideas or products - is what you enjoy.

* Helper-shaper: counselling and mentoring. You get a kick out of guiding others to better performance. You're maybe not planning to be a teacher, but you are drawn to roles where you can help others grow and improve.

* People-mover: managing people and relationships. You enjoy relationships too, but you're after outcomes. You like motivating, organising and getting results.

* Project boss: enterprise control. You are an organiser. You like to run projects or teams and take responsibility.

* Persuaders: influence through language and ideas. You have a passion for expressing ideas. You like an audience, communicating through stories, negotiating and persuading.

Next thing, she suggests, is downloading the handbook on the expo site www. careers-expo.co.nz.

It helps students, whether they are going to tertiary study, vocational training or out to work, work through exercises which help assess "skill banks", how to prove those skills, and how to make the most of expo seminars.

* The Careers Expo in Auckland takes place at the New Zealand Expo Centre at Greenlane from Tuesday July 23 to Friday July 26, with two late nights to 8pm.

In Wellington, the venue is the Queens Wharf Events Centre, the dates August 14 and 15. Dunedin's Expo is bi-annual and is not being held this year.

* The University of Auckland holds its Courses and Careers Day on Saturday August 31. Call (0800) 61 62 63 for more information.

Careers Expo

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