John Thompson - A division of ACTOM (Pty) Ltd’s Post

Introducing Anthony Pfingst of the Smith Family, he and the team are looking for supporters to participate in their Career Programs and Activities. YOU could be an Employer host for their Work inspirations programs! Career Talks provide students with the opportunity to hear from people in their community who are successful in their chosen field. Speakers will have group discussions with 30 students about what their job role entails, career paths into the industry and their own career path using engaging age appropriate language. Students will then have the opportunity to ask questions before they rotate to the next speaker. Speakers are aiming to demonstrate the different ways careers actually happen, show that careers are often not linear, outline what a job entails and highlight the skills, beliefs and attitudes young people need to navigate a successful career in the changing world of work. This will provide students with the information to support them to start thinking about how their own skills and interests might suit different jobs and even consider other options. If you are great interacting with young people using age appropriate language and are keen to support, this could be a great activity for you to support. Please Get in touch with Anthony Pfingst State Project Lead (QLD), Growing Careers Project | The Smith Family Anthony.Pfingst@thesmithfamily.com.au Mobile 0409 720 996 Heads up! The Smith Family deliver the Growing Careers Project working in close collaboration with selected partner schools nationwide, to offer over 76,000 places for students to participate in their Career Programs and Activities. Importantly, the Growing Careers Project will create opportunities for many of these students to participate in multiple Career Programs and Activities across their secondary school years. This strategic approach is being tested in Australia for the first time, based on evidence that young people who can recall four or more encounters with the world of work in school are far more likely to be in work, training or study in their 20s. Overall, the project aims to: Provide 76, 725 opportunities for students experiencing disadvantage to participate in careers programs and activities. Deliver these opportunities nationally and across the five years. Provide career support to help young people experiencing disadvantage with their school education and career transitions. Provide support from the first year of high school and continue through secondary education. Align with international evidence and support disadvantaged young people to participate in multiple career support opportunities as they move through high school. The Smith Family Kabi Kabi Country Unit 1/36 Howard Street, Nambour QLD 4560 PO Box 834 Nambour Qld 4560 thesmithfamily.com.au

Great to present to the Careers Advisers Association NSW & ACT annual conference in Sydney today (from memory, my third time in this forum) and talk about Jobs and Skills Australia data and how it highlights career opportunities for young people, now and into the future. In particular, I highlighted that: 1. we project over 90% of future jobs growth to require qualifications beyond high school, with almost even splits of this between VET and Higher Education; and 2. Employment outcomes for young people who complete a VET course at Certificate III or above are comparable to employment outcomes for young people who complete a university degree. It’s a big wide world out there, and both VET and Higher Education are legitimate pathways to successful careers!

WRAPPING UP THE WEEK - There’s been lots going on behind the scenes at LS this week,  but we just wanted to take a moment to highlight one of our favourite parts - when we joined over two and half thousand 14-16 year olds at the Developing Young Workforce Roadshow, as they had their first experience thinking about where they might want to take their future career. Daunting, exciting, confusing… Most of us can remember those nerve wracking moments as we made our first steps into the world of work. Understanding the possibilities of what a career in the creative industries could look like and breaking down barriers for kids of all backgrounds is a fundamental value for us at LS and something we will always advocate strongly for. Never has it been more essential that we inspire young minds in Scotland as to the creative possibilities that are available in their future career and all the amazing companies on their doorstep, so we build an inspired future generation of creative talent who can take our local industry from strength to strength. Massive thanks to the DYW, all our fellow exhibitors and to everyone that came to say hello. We hope we made some meaningful connections and opened up a few different possibilities as to what the future might look like. #inspiringyoungminds #creativecareers

Join us for our Thriving From The Start (TFTS), in-person early careers mental health event centring on 'expectations', on Wednesday 13 November at 17.30. Starting a new career after leaving education can be an exciting,  and daunting time. It is also a time laced with ‘expectations’. Register now to attend this in-person event, which will offer an opportunity to explore this concept  from a variety of perspectives, including; · Exploring lived experiences of managing expectations (both our own and that of those around us), and associated feelings of anxiety, imposter syndrome and unhealthy perfectionism · Advice and tips on how to manage these feelings, and how to set boundaries to protect our wellbeing; how to say ‘no’ in the right ways · The expectations young people starting their careers have of their employers, and how workplaces can better be equipped to ensure that this matches the reality of working life with them · The expectations employers have of their early careers entrants and how these can be managed by setting positive boundaries · The expectations early careers entrants have of themselves and how to ensure these are wellbeing-centric. This is an open event. It is recommended for early Careers entrants (those in the first 5 years of their career), students due to complete their studies within the next 12- 18 months, Future Talent and Early Careers Recruitment and Development Teams, People managers and colleagues with an interest in the wellbeing of young  professionals. Further details and registration: https://lnkd.in/e87-NNET

How many friends did you have who were 10 years or more older or younger than you at university? And now, in your job? Diversity, in all its forms, increases exponentially when you move into the workforce and forms part of student readiness for employment. Read more about our work with Gradconsult here - and let me know if you might be intreested in joining the other 10 piloting partners already signed up! https://lnkd.in/erzqWAPV

The team at The Development Manager (TDM) Ltd are getting pretty passionate about the West Midlands Combined Authority Employment and Skills Strategy 2024-2027. For us to create even more opportunities for Higher Level Skills Development in Pillar 4, we will need to fill up the top of the local digital skills funnel. We would therefore like to focus on pillar 2 to 3 digital skills development work in two new ways: 1. Lots of #WMCA's employed Reskiller residents - and their employers - need short, high impact coaching interventions on a more defined range of Skills needs (ie smaller in scope than apprenticeships standards, but still focussed - not just on content coverage - but on guiding and assessing their application of knowledge & skills in Work-based Learning Practice). And... 2. Lots of #WMCA's unemployed Recruit residents are still not ready to realistically secure #SkillsBootcamp job/apprenticeship outcomes within 12 weeks. So, a precursor Digital Skills, Knowledge and #CulturalCapital Development programme is needed to get those people #SkillsBootcamp ready. And, while we are at it, can we also become funded to help next July's VI Form & College Y13 leavers to become job/apprenticeship ready via a #SkillsBootcamp for our local digital employer organisations? I honestly cannot believe this is not already a match-up option for our Y13 leavers and our local employers...

This is why we codesign strategies. Not to tell providers what to do but to set out a shared ambition that we can all coalesce around. Seeing our strategy interpreted in this kind of way is just the kind of example of what a strong skills sector and a brilliant provider can do.

Join me, along with fellow PAs Heather Gaburo and Michael Sovocool, for an insightful webinar hosted by the #AAPA Student Committee. From exploring innovative career paths to breaking barriers in #pathassist roles, we'll provide insights and inspiration to expand your professional horizons. If you're curious about exploring emerging career paths in pathology, this webinar is for you. Register using the link below! #AAPA #CareerDevelopment #Pathology

You can be a hero, just for one day Want to influence young people for the better? Give them an idea of what a positive work-life looks like? Our new “A Day in the Life” visual encourages you to do just that, by inviting a young person into your place of business to see what you do. Mandatory work placements whilst at school seem to be a thing of the past and ever-complicated job titles mean youngsters are perplexed about who does what (if you don’t believe us, what does a Collections and recoveries credit services advisor do?). One day could make a huge change and draw a young person into your profession – for life. And the bonus for you is that you might unearth an employee who is likely to repay your kindness with their loyalty. So, contact us at if you can offer a young person a day in your businesses’ life. #ADayInTheLifeOf #CreatingOpportunities #SupportLocalYouth #NextGeneration

🧠 HOW CAN YOU IMPROVE SOCIAL MOBILITY AT YOUR ORGANISATION I didn’t know anyone working in professional services growing up. My first real exposure to it was at a Bank of America insight day, where someone who looked a bit like me and talked a bit like me told me about this charity called upReach that had helped him get there. So I signed up, and they taught me what all the different things in the investment industry were, how they fit together and how I might one day be a part of it. At the end of the first year at upReach they organised a spring week at LCP, which was my very first experience of investment consulting. I really enjoyed this and fed that back to upReach, who set me up with a mentor at Redington the year after. This then led to a placement year, and to the role I’m doing now. But none of this would have happened without that Bank of America insight day, LCP spring week or Redington placement year. Cool story sure, but so what? Well you can help make this happen for more people across the country by giving them a window into your world. Start by offering low commitment insight days and then more committal spring week and internships that help people staircase up to a full time job. You get to see a more diverse talent pool - no one said diversification only applied to investments - and help improve social mobility. If you want to hear this story in more detail (and others!!), you can find a recording of the Diversity Project - Investment Industry panel I was on last week below. I come on around the 20 minute mark, but do watch it all if you can - the stories are incredible! https://lnkd.in/d7cJATRG