Do you know what and where you are going to study when you leave school? Do you know how to apply or find information?
EP Media, a division of Media24, held a career webinar with a panel of career guidance experts to equip and empower learners with valuable information. This webinar is sponsored by Isuzu SA and can be viewed for free.
EP Media and Isuzu South Africa held its first free online career webinar on 20 May, with experts giving high school learners a lot of advice and food for thought on choosing the right career and study institutions after Grade 12.
The panellists who were selected for this first webinar were all experts in the field of career guidance.
Anovuyo Tshemesa, who is an event and CSI coordinator for Isuzu, shared her journey of being schooled in a small village near East London, with no access to computers, getting an NSFAS bursary, to studying public relations at NMU and now working at Isuzu.
Also on the panel was Andrew Binning, who heads up marketing and corporate communications company, Inkanyezi, who has organised the Working World Careers Exhibition for the past 22 years, as well as Nola Payne, who is Head of Faculty at the Independent Institute of Education. The Independent Institute of Education is the largest, most accredited registered private higher education institute in SA. They operate on more than 20 campuses and have more than 100 qualifications on offer. Their brands are Varsity College, Vega, Rosebank College and IIEMSA.
Another panellist was Izelle Palmer, head of marketing and recruitment at Sol-Tech Occupational Training College in Pretoria. She is also president and chairperson of the X2Y Career Guidance Programme.
X2Y is a platform that gives learners access to advisors that are experts in their fields to give the best possible advice and guidance to high school learners that are unsure about which career or qualification to embark upon, or the best institution to study at for that qualification.
During this webinar learners and their parents were also introduced to the Centre for Student Recruitment at Stellenbosch University which offers subject, as well as career counselling assessments to support all prospective students in making realistic choices in terms of tertiary programmes and career options.
Questions and answers from the panellists
When and how do I start planning for my future career?
Izelle: The most important thing is that you need to start planning for your future right now. Follow your own field of interest. This is not about anyone else’s dream but your own, you need to follow your own passion. Make sure you have chosen subjects that will give you a chance to secure a job. Find out about yourself, about possible job opportunities and careers. The challenge is to not make one final choice about a profession. Explore different opportunities. If you can, do research, as much as you can. And stop making excuses. Your career is in your own hands. Once you have an education, no one can take that away from you.
Teenagers are often not equipped to decide on a career at such a young age. What is the best way to decide on a qualification to study when they don’t have a clear direction?
Nola: The most important thing is to identify what your passion is. That’s the starting point. If you know what you like, then that is the kind of field you need to look into.
Then it’s important to identify careers that will enable you to put use your talents and passion. Look at the courses or qualifications you can do to get you into those careers. Many people follow these pathways to find out what they want to study, but to add an extra: It’s all good and well if you know what you want to be, but are there jobs available out there? This is the step many forget to look at.
I’ve been in education for decades, and I’ve seen many students come through qualifications where they’ve either been pushed into it by their parents or they studied something they didn’t want to, and they become unsuccessful because their heart isn’t in it. You need a combination of everything. As Izelle said, do your research. Find out more about your chosen career, try to job shadow. Be curious and ask questions, even the ones you think you know the answers to. But don’t make rash decisions.
What factors should be considered deciding on a career? And what are your thoughts on where a young person should look for the best career advice?
Andrew: You must follow your passion. If you don’t get out of bed excited each morning, it becomes a drag and you’ll be disheartened and disillusioned.
In our days, we talked about one 45-year career. Now, statistics show us that young people will jump between careers, even different sectors, quite a few times in their working career. And that’s not a bad thing.
Then it’s important to think about the skills one can acquire. The last statistic I saw showed that about 7% of high school learners actually study further after school at a university. Which begs the question, what are the other 93% actually doing?
Look at all opportunities. Find out as much information as possible. Going to a career exhibition is one option, ask your teacher to invite a guest speaker to your school, speak to your parents and people around you. I like the idea of job-shadowing. I’ve heard of many learners doing this and then changing their mind about that career after. In short, follow your passion, get advice and don’t be afraid to fail, to change careers.
What are the important things to look for when choosing a higher education institution to study at?
Nola: One of the first things is to look at an institution that offers qualifications that reflect the world of work. Look for places that have qualifications where there are jobs available. Find a university that has qualifications that are aimed towards employability. Check the qualification to make sure it’s got some kind of work integrated learning as part of the curriculum. This will help you build up a portfolio, something you can take with you when you go for a job interview, especially getting into a first job when you don’t have references yet.
Can you perhaps tell us more about Occupational Training Colleges such as Sol-Tech and how this type of training differs from the occupational training given say 20 years ago.
Izelle: Occupational training is vastly different than it was ten years ago, even five years ago. And this is due to the fact that technology has changed so much.
At Sol-Tech, for example, we try to keep our students updated on new technology. We as a generation are standing on the front line of the fourth industrial revolution and this also introduces new jobs for future careers in robotics, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, 3D printing. We need to keep ahead of these technologies.
At Sol-Tech we have some of the newest equipment where students do practicals. We teach them entrepreneurial skills, not just technical skills, but also the ability and the tools to open their own business, run a business and train others to do the same.
A recent study said that artisanal skills are among the ten critical skills in South Africa. And by 2030 we’ll have a shortage of about 30 000 qualified artisans in our country. We believe that occupational training should be dynamic and innovative in equipping students with a bright future and enhancing their life skills.
ALSO READ: ‘EXPRESS’, ISUZU BRING LEARNERS FREE CAREER WEBINARS
How important is it to choose a scarce skill career?
Andrew: It is important, but it’s not always a game-changer. Scarce skills are skills that are required more by employers at a particular point in time. These scarce skills also change quite regularly. But it’s so important for young people just to be aware that there are always some skills that are more in demand than others. While you are planning your career, while you are studying, you can be aware of what those scarce skills are and position yourself really well as a result. Even specialise or take extra courses part-time to gain this skill.
What happens if a learner doesn’t achieve a bachelor’s entry matric pass. Can they still study for a degree or will they never have the opportunity unless they repeat matric?
Nola: There is another avenue that is open to matriculants. Let’s just say they were hoping to study a degree, but they only managed to get a diploma pass or even a higher certificate pass. The quick short way there is to study the higher certificate in the particular field you would like to do your qualification in.
After a year, you will graduate with a higher certificate and that will give you entry to a degree. So, matric isn’t the only way to enter into a degree. You are also not just repeating a year of matric; you are gaining a qualification in that year which is going to support you in your degree studies as well.
What advice can you give to learners who have math literacy. Is it true that they cannot study at any university?
Izelle: It is absolutely not true. Remember, maths is not the beginning of the end. You can still go to university and do a bridging course. You can start with a higher certificate in a qualification. Rather than struggle to pass matric with maths, do maths literacy and get good grades. There are 86 institutions in our country, and 56 of them are higher education and accredited where you can still study a degree, where you can do a higher certificate that can promote you to a degree.
What are your thoughts on gap years. Is it best to study further directly after school – or take a gap year or consider other options such as trying to find work?
Andrew: I think it’s quite fashionable and also quite controversial. It depends on different factors and also on each person individually.
A gap year usually appeals to those who are not sure what they want to do, who can’t afford to study further or can’t get admitted to any institution.
What to do when you leave high school? You have to consider your options. The gap year can be a good thing if you’re not sure what you want to do and you don’t have money to waste on studying something you’re not sure you want to make a career out of. Many would then say don’t just waste the year by sitting around doing nothing. Be proactive.
Volunteer somewhere to gain experience, job shadow where you can, try to find a job to earn some income, start your own business, do something practical just to keep yourself busy and at the same time try to figure out what your way forward should be. The other popular option is to join the Defence Force. It’s quite a growing phenomenon, along with going overseas to au pair, work in the US, on cruise ships, etc. Whether the gap year is a good option or not depends on the individual.
If there is one piece of advice that you can give to learners – what would that be?
Anovuyo: My advice is to be realistic and know what you want. Believe in yourself. Don’t just sit back and wait for help. Go and seek it.
Upcoming webinars
- NMU and Isuzu Mechatronics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Education
- Journalism
- Logistics
You will find more information on our upcoming webinars on the Express Facebook pages.
