Greater Shepparton Secondary College hosted nearly a dozen employers from a wide array of employers - from hospitality to freight to the health sector to the courts - last week.
They spoke to teachers about what sort of jobs existed in their industries - some which school graduates could walk into and others which required degrees or further qualifications.
Each of the 11 employers in the room took turns spending five minutes at a table with half-a-dozen educators at GSSC's Wanganui campus last Friday.
Ingrid Thomas from The Teller Collective spoke about hospitality venues with openings to people with no experience, while other freight and construction businesses spoke about entry-level roles.
Patrick Cummins from the city's law courts spoke about roles which didn't involve law degrees - from staff who run the courts’ administration to the "therapeutic" side of the court in drug and alcohol and family violence specialists - all of whom have qualifications but in different fields to law, but are employed by the court.
Donna Holmes from GV Health, Matt Farrow from Coleman Rail, Lynda Bruce from Greater Shepparton City Council and Peter Hill from Kreskas Bros Transport were among those to address educators.
GSSC partnerships facilitator Mary-Ann Linehan said it was "fantastic" to have industry give teachers and careers staff an insight into what employers were looking for.
“We need industry to connect with us and let us know what's happening so we can train our students to match the industries when they leave school,” she said.
“Teachers will come away with us knowing the growth of Shepparton and knowing what industries are coming, they can look at their curriculum and think ‘we could be teaching this in our class’, ready for an explosion of work ready to happen.
“It's about making that connection and making sure we've got that pathway for when these students leave school."
She said the flow-on effect to students would be "enormous".
“To have teachers meet these people, and they may get them into classes to talk to their kids so their classwork has some realism so kids can connect to these people,” she said.
Committee for Greater Shepparton chief executive Sam Birrell said these sort of sessions were beneficial to business and students.
He said there were benefits for students from teachers being able to curate their curriculum to target current and future growth industries, and by providing a connection between the school and the business community.
“There's a real opportunity for us in business to help staff relate their curriculum really well,” Mr Birrell said.
“If a maths teacher's teaching and talking to an earth-moving contractor about a job in Shepparton and she can tap into what the actual use of mathematics is in that project then when kids ask ‘why do I need to know this’, there's a real-life synergy to it."
Last week's was the second session run by GSSC, after one was held at the college's Mooroopna campus last year. Another is scheduled for the McGuire campus on Thursday, May 13.
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