Exploring Careers and Building Skills: Throughout the year we have facilitated and/or funded students attending courses, taster events, and experiences to help explore various careers and /or assist in obtaining work whether it be part-time or full-time.

Some of these experiences and courses this year have been:

• Aoraki Polytechnic Beauty Basics course
  
• ProDrive course
  
• Defensive Driving course
  
• Sir George Seymour Travel and Tourism courses
  
• Barista courses
  
• Basic Food Handling
  
• First Aid Course
  
• HMNZS Rotoiti harbour sailing
  
• Navy HMNZS Rotoiti Tour
  
• KiwiHost Course Customer Services courses
  
• Telford Taster course
  
• UN Youth Conference
  
• Film-making & Production
  
• and Science and Science Camps
  

You’re Going on a Job Hunt?

Many students attended workshops or came in to the Careers Resource Centre for one on one support in building the following job search skills:

• The C.V. – Essential to your Personal Marketing Campaign
  
• The Letters – How to write Speculative, Application, Cover and Thank you letters and when!
  
• That Personal Contact – Keeping your application alive, cold calling, telephone skills and online image
  
• How to Get that Elusive Job Experience – Work experience and volunteer opportunities
  
• Best Ways to Look for a Job – The Top 10 Mistakes Job Hunters Make – and How You can Avoid Them!
  
• The Interview – What you really need to know!
  

The Career Maze

As the year developed we spent time supporting students in their quest to find their place in the world, identifying their values, interests and strengths and guiding them in discovering potentially satisfying careers through our career guidance services and our wide selection of brochures, websites, prospectuses, DVDs and more, to support explorations.

Further Education

Students visited the Career Resource Centre to find out about applications, courses, Universities, Polytechnics and Training Organisations.

Liaison Visits – We were visited by many University, Polytechnic and Training Organisation Liaison Officers to help with course selections, preparation for University life and comparisons of courses.

Campus Visits – Tertiary Open Day was held in May and gave senior students the opportunity to visit a variety of training organisations. We also arranged individual visits to various campuses and Open Days including .

Scholarships – The BreakOut Scholarship programme is increasingly being used as students hunted out what scholarships they were eligible for.

Applications – We guided students through their applications e.g. for Teachers' College, Nursing, University Polytechnic etc…

Maori and Pacific Islands Student Happenings

A wide variety of activities are supported through the Careers Department such as the Thursday Homework Programme, Tupuranga (Maori and Pacific Islands Student Leadership Team), Pacific Islands Community Group Meetings, PI Pearls (PI Cultural Performing Arts Group), and topic-based career education workshops including Career Exploration, CV Writing. We also enjoy a close relationship with the Otago University Maori Centre and the Pacific Island Centre.

The Classes

The Careers Department also provided two subject classes for the school, Career Pathways, a Level 2 class which actively teaches key employability skills and supports students in identifying suitable careers for themselves, and Gateway, a workplace-based programme for students who have already identified their chosen career and want to gain face-to-face time in the world-of-work!