Students eye non-traditional careers at national showcase

Secondary school students are showing increased interest in non-traditional career paths, prompting the Barbados Association of Guidance Counsellors to expand partnerships with businesses, president Sharnell Clarke revealed as its 19th National Career Showcase was held on Friday at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill.

Clarke said: “The students will be interested in the traditional careers like lawyer, doctor or even sometimes education, but we find that there is a divergence from the traditional career. That’s why we opened it even to have a fruit carver here, and that’s an artist, and we find that students are broadening their horizons so that they’re interested in some of the non-traditional ones.”

As many as 70 firms were represented at the showcase, exposing students to opportunities in careers and professions in finance, insurance, education, medical sciences, entrepreneurship, tourism, agriculture, nutrition, health and mental health.

Clarke said: “We have from finance, insurance, education, medical sciences, business development, entrepreneurship, the tourism aspect; we have animal control, food crop, nutrition, health –  everything – mental health included as well. We have a whole wide range of careers or professionals under this umbrella.”

Several government departments and organisations were also on display:

“We even have the police service here with the canine unit, the traffic division and agriculture … brought six of their departments for the children to be exposed to. We also have the cricket legends of Barbados here, so they would have an exposure as to what it takes to get into some of the sports as well.”

Clarke explained that while the showcase previously catered to students from third to sixth forms, financial and space limitations have forced organisers to narrow the focus to third-formers, who are preparing to select subjects for fourth and fifth form.

“We have had to limit it to the 3rd form students who are at that critical point now where they are now choosing their subjects [for] their career paths, so I would say that the interest is there every year because parents generally want their children to be exposed to these careers so that they are sure what are their next steps.”

All secondary schools across the island were invited, including the Derrick Smith School and Vocational Centre.

The event was designed to give students direct access to professionals and industries they may not otherwise encounter, the guidance counsellor said.

“Ordinarily, they would not necessarily have been exposed to these various careers, so this is an opportunity for them to interact with the professionals or the experts in the areas to get a glimpse of what it is like a day in the life of the career that they might be interested in or to learn about a new career.”

Hosting a national showcase also allows the association to provide broader exposure than individual school career fairs do, Clarke said.

“There are some schools that will have their own career showcases, but we felt that as an association, having a national career showcase, it would be a broader scope because we would have the space and the wherewithal then to invite more professions under that one event for the students to be exposed to.”

 

(LG)