Large and small employers can make a difference by ensuring they are planning for the future and identifying and communicating job skills needed in the next three to 10 years. They can help address the country's skill shortages through direct engagement with future talent or supporting industry organisations to do the same.
Engaging with the future workforce creates positive labour market outcomes and is one of the key objectives behind the Careers Expo.
Where education pathways include employer contacts, then positive labour market outcomes can be found. This proves the old adage that sometimes it's not what you know, but who. The key is getting young people in front of employers, industry, government departments and training providers.
Each year 160,000 Kiwi secondary school students (years 10-12) make decisions about their careers and life after school, such as where and what to study and what they want to achieve in life. These are huge decisions for young people, particularly those who live in the 'now' and may find thinking about next weekend difficult. Getting in front of this audience is vital if we're to ensure we have a pipeline of skilled labour coming through. Being able to talk to someone 'on the job' or from an industry body supplements the information they can find online and receive via teachers and careers counsellors at school.
