SOC Careers News
Whats happening in SOC Careers?
Term 3 has proved to be a challenging and unpredictable start to Semester 2 for South Oakleigh College and, along with every department at the school, the careers service has had to adapt to many changes and obstacles over the last few months.
The work experience program for our Year 10 students has not been able to run this year. It was great to see the initiative that many Year 10 students had taken in Term 1 to contact certain companies and employers in hopes of setting up a placement, and although this year’s circumstances haven’t allowed any placements to develop, this kind of initiative and effort is extremely valuable in the world of work and will pay off in future work endeavours.
Our Year 9 cohort has just wrapped up their Morrisby career report interviews which were held via Webex instead of face to face this term. I was very impressed with the effort and drive that the majority of the Year 9s demonstrated in preparing and showing up for their interviews. It takes a level of organisation and courage to go into a web interview with a counsellor you have never met to discuss your career options and the Year 9s did a fantastic job.
Finally, our Year 11s and 12s have also seen a very different career program this year with all of the University and further education expos and open days happening virtually. Although this provides a different experience it was great to see many of our students approaching this new way of researching and learning about programs and institutions with the same enthusiasm and curiosity as they would the face to face events.
All of these changes and adjustments show what a resilient and adaptable group of students we have at the college and although it feels as though this year has acted as a major obstacle for many career related goals and pathways I think it is important to realise the valuable lessons we have all learned throughout this year that are, in fact, helping us to develop career ready skills for the future.
With advancements in automation, technology and digital development our workforce is changing faster than it ever has and, now more than ever, it is important that students are developing specific skills in order to be able to keep up with these advancements. This period of working and learning from home has encouraged many students to focus on their self-organisation skills and has helped them to develop a stronger individual initiative when it comes to their learning.
Moving into a workforce where working from home is becoming more typical and post-secondary education has more online learning options this is a skill that will continue to benefit students even after we return to face to face learning at the college. This period of uncertainty and change has also pushed our students to really harness one of the college’s school values, and that is resilience. Resilience is maybe one of the most important skills a person can demonstrate when navigating the world of work.
This is especially true in the coming years where it is predicted that over 50% of today’s primary age students will be employed in jobs that don’t yet exist. Our future learners and workers will need to be able to react to change with a growth mindset and the challenges and uncertainty that this year has presented has provided us with an opportunity to develop our resilience and prepare us for the ever changing and rewarding world of careers beyond South Oakleigh College.
I look forward to touching base with students, hopefully face to face, as we move into the last chapter of the 2020 school year and continue to work through this year’s career action plans and discuss career goals and ambitions for the future.
All the best and stay safe.
Aviva Mulloy
Careers and Daily Organiser
