By Vanessa Broadbent
Oliver Chronicle
Deciding what you want to do for the rest of your life isn’t an easy feat, especially when you’re still focussing on balancing homework assignments.
WorkBC’s Find Your Fit tour, which made a stop at Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) on Thursday, aimed to make that decision a little simpler for students.
The Find Your Fit tour showcases different occupational skills and how those skills are transferable into the work force, said Ryley Ellement, Find Your Fit tour manager.
“It’s about planting the seed of interest in these kids and getting them interested in things that may have seemed dry in the past,” he said.
For Grade 10 SOSS student Kelan Harty, the tour was a reminder of how diverse the job market is.
“There’s a lot here that could help students figure out what they want to do,” he said. “It’s good to be able to talk to people that known the ins and outs of the area, and to be able to look at what each specific job pertains to.”
Like many high school students, Harty still isn’t sure what direction he’ll head after graduation.
“It’s really important to glean information from as many sources as possible because I’m not even old enough to decide that yet, but I will later.”
Ellement said that this is exactly what the Find Your Fit tour focusses on: helping kids gather enough information about potential careers so that they can decide when they are ready.
It’s what makes the tour different from the annual career fair at the high school where different employers and universities, as well as WorkBC, talk to students about what they offer.
“It’s all about getting kids interested, not necessarily with the jobs we have here, just in something, and letting them know there’s more than just doctor, firefighter, nurse or teacher,” Ellement said.
The tour also introduces students to WorkBC’s website, where they kind find information about potential careers, everything from which post-secondary institutions offer the requirements, to what the employment rates will be in 2025.
“So when these kids are going to school or taking a year off, they know that the job will be there in the future, or if it’s low now it’ll be higher later.”
