By CASEY NEILL
“JUST expect your life to be absolutely full of changes.”
This was the advice from MC James Sturgess at the annual Lunch with the Winners at Sandown Racecourse in Springvale on 1 September.
The SEBN and South East Local Learning and Employment (SELLEN) presented four successful young people to a room filled with Year 9 and 10 students from the Lyndale, Noble Park and Hampton Park secondary colleges, Hillcrest Christian College, Dandenong High School, Chisholm Institute, Emerson School and the Narre Warren and Carwatha College P-12s.
The event showcased their different journeys through school and into work to raise awareness of possible career pathways.
SEBN manager Sandra George said there were abundant job opportunities in Greater Dandenong.
“Don’t let anybody tell you manufacturing is dead and dying,” she said.
“It is the backbone of the country.
“There are many ways to get where you want to go.
“It’s not a straight line. It’s a very zigzag line.”
Ms George said communication and problem-solving skills and getting along with co-workers were keys to employment.
SELLEN CEO Andrew Simmons said businesses were looking for employees with the right attitude.
“They know they can teach the right person,” he said.
He said 88 per cent of people with a bachelor degree were employed.
“If you have a Certificate III and IV you’re just as likely to be employed,” he said.
But employment rates for those who don’t complete Year 12 drop to 66 per cent.
“And the better your English, the higher the rate of engagement,” he said.
“Our employers really need you to be able to communicate in the workplace.”
Mr Simmons warned students that they might need to travel to access a job – that 27 per cent of people who worked in Greater Dandenong lived in Casey and only 20 per cent of Greater Dandenong workers lived in the municipality.
Futurist Marcus Barber spoke about potential future careers.
“Programming is one of the biggest growth areas in medicine right now,” he said.
“You will create the type of jobs that we knew nothing about.”
Mr Barber said the world’s biggest problems – access to food, shelter and water for all – were yet to be solved.
“But maybe you’ll be the generation that can,” he said.
Read the related article on this event: A passion for work that satisfies
