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Students from our region have benefited from a series of career information activities.
Ararat Community College Year 11 co-ordinator, Miss Lobry, had her students explore the real world and the decisions young people have to make through the program ‘The Real Game’. To assist with exploring the Job choices element of the Real Game, LenZone! staff Belinda Healy and Francesca Suffield recruited the assistance of people working in a variety of jobs to talk to students and give them a broad overview of the occupations available in this region.
Some of the occupations represented included: Building and Construction: Builders, Earth moving contractors, National Parks services, Health: Paramedics, speech pathology, Engineering, Police, Education and more.
The speakers described the activities involved in their jobs, including the good and bad bits. They explained the education or training pathways required and reinforced the fact that starting on the shop floor could lead to a senior management position.

Stawell Secondary College and Ararat Community College Years 9 and 10 were introduced to WIRL.com.au. WIRL stands for ‘What it’s really like’ and is a website with a series of short videos with young people describing their work and the pathways to get there. The students also explored various career websites and completed career quizzes. Access to the WIRL website and online videos is available at LenZone! for all young people and parents.

Lake Bolac College invited the Local Community Partnerships team to talk to their senior students on career and training options. Belinda and Francesca spoke to classroom groups as well as individual students about the services available through LenZone! and the resources they can access.
Ballarat’s Try-a-trade Expo and the Wimmera and Southern Mallee LLEN careers expo were well attended by Year 10 students from Ararat Community College. Students got to engage in hands on activities and speak to teachers and apprentices about their courses. The careers expo gave students a chance to find out about courses offered by tertiary institutions as well as training bodies. Employers were also able to speak to students about the range of occupations available in their industry and the training requirements. It was great to hear of students taking the initiative and organising a work placement with some of the trade employers.

Parents are also catered for with a series of workshops planned for both Stawell and Ararat. The PACTS (Parents as Career Transition Support) program gives parents current information on the job market requirements and gets them up to speed with the jargon that is often thrown at them. Speakers from the Jobnetwork sector as well as Tertiary institutions and Centrelink are invited to keep parents abreast of changes in the system. LenZone! will be conducting PACTS sessions at Stawell Secondary College later this month. Sessions are also planned for Ararat.