By SARAH MATTHEWS

Wimmera-southern Mallee students will have access to a wide range of employment, education and further education providers at next week’s Western Victorian Careers Expo.

Country Victoria’s largest careers expo, on Tuesday next week, will again be solely online, a decision organisers made back in January amid uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project officer Annie Mintern said the decision had paid off, particularly given the current situation.

“We had to run last year’s expo online and the feedback was really good,” she said.

“A lot of the smaller schools in particular said they got more out of the virtual event than they did in person. 

“A lot of teachers said it was great because the students had to sit down and engage with the presentations.

“At the in-person event, they might not make the most of the opportunities, so the online format is particularly good for students who are less engaged.”

Ms Mintern said about 70 exhibitors would host online interactive webinars, including regional, metropolitan and interstate career, industry and course advisers. 

“I still have a few to chase up, but I think we will end up with a full schedule again, the same as last year,” she said.

“We have a few new exhibitors lined up. For some reason, we’ve had a lot of interest for student accommodation places – that’s really taken off.

“We’ve also got McDonald’s coming along. They haven’t been involved for about 10 years, so that’s good.”

Ms Mintern said Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN would again have its own virtual room, focusing on trades and industry.

“We did it last year and it went really well, so we thought we would bring it back again this year,” she said.

“There’s a lot of interest in trades, as well as apprenticeships. We always have a lot of information about that because so many people choose to go down that path.”

Ms Mintern said the Western Victorian Careers Expo was the major platform for information and advice for students in years nine to 12 in the Wimmera and southern Mallee. 

“The event also attracts participants from outside our local catchment and with the introduction of a virtual event we have the ability to reach schools across the state,” she said.

“The expo provides important pathway information, to help students pick their subjects to ensure they are doing the ones required to get into the courses they want.”

Special guest

This year’s guest speaker is The Naked Farmer, Ben Brooksby, from St Helens Plains.

The Naked Farmer is a social media movement designed to start ‘important conversations’ about mental health. 

Mr Brooksby uses the platform to raise money for Royal Flying Doctor Service’s mental-health programs.

“Ben is someone a bit different, because he’s not used to talking about his career path,” Ms Mintern said.

“He will be talking about how he went from being a farmer to a mental-health advocate to all the other things he’s doing.

“The theme of this year’s expo is ‘entrepreneurship’ and Ben falls into that category. He’s quite down to earth and approachable and I think he’ll be really good.”

Mr Brooksby will address expo crowds during a lunch break at 12.30pm.

“Last year a lot of the schools ran a big screen and the students ate their lunch while they watched the guest speaker,” Ms Mintern said.

“I imagine it will be the same this year.”

Ms Mintern said because students often shared screens, it was difficult to accurately gauge the number of participants.

“We usually get about 2500 people at the in-person event and we think we get even more online, because it is more accessible,” she said.

“All the Wimmera-southern Mallee network schools are involved and I will also send out a broader email to schools not in our catchment.

“Because the expo is online, it creates opportunity for further reach. Last year we had a Melbourne school participate, which was really good.”

The expo will run from 9.30am to 3pm.

Ms Mintern encouraged people to follow @westernviccareers on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to keep up to date with event information.

Exhibitor registrations close on Friday. People can email admin@wimmeracareersexpo.com or call Ms Mintern on 0419 300 405 to register or for more information.

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