THE Eastern Cape’s long-standing careers exhibition, the Working World Careers Expo, will take place from August 12 to 14 – thanks to a world-leading game-play expo platform developed locally.
One of the largest career fairs in Africa, the expo has been run for the past 21 successive years, but was placed in jeopardy by lockdown regulations this year, spiking concerns that the Class of 2020 would not get access to essential career resources.
Exhibitors have embraced this shift when, over three days, all schools, job seekers and individuals interested in study options, funding mechanisms and careers are invited to enter the expo app to interact and gather resources.
Carmelia Miles, responsible for events, CSI and marketing at Woodlands Dairy and First Choice, says, “Woodlands Dairy and First Choice have been involved with the expo for the past three years and see it as an excellent opportunity to educate learners about our company and brand, situated right here in the beautiful Eastern Cape.
“We encourage learners to study towards dairy industry-scarce skills, such as technicians and engineers. As part of our CSI, we give learners insight into different careers that they otherwise might not have access to.
“Often there are misconceptions about certain career choices, so we avail some of our employees to give personal insight into their career fields and also inform them of the NQF2 learnership the company offers to school leavers in the Kouga area. Most of them would otherwise have very little opportunity to go to a tertiary institution.”
According to Miles, their stand has always attracted a lot of interest.
“Most people don’t realise we are an enormous milk processing plant and think they’d find cows grazing the fields. We tell them about our many departments including human resources, finance, logistics, marketing and even our two laboratories, that present opportunities once they have completed their studies.”
Miles continues that they want to attract talent to their award-winning company. “Once they have qualified, we share our ISO standards and company’s values, mission and vision. It’s then up to them to decide whether our company is the perfect fit for them.”
Woodlands Dairy looks forward to their first digital expo. “It is certainly a change from how we have done it in the past and we hope to engage learners over the three days of the expo,’’ adds Miles.
Virtual expo
The virtual nature of the Working World Expo this year means that visitors are not restricted by the limitations of venue capacity, parking and geographic distance.
Once visitors have downloaded the app to their computer, they will be able to have live voice or text chat with exhibitors, view company videos, download brochures and experience traditional features including career guidance counselling, watch a customised DVD on Careers of the Future and attend a leadership seminar designed to equip young people for the world of work.
“Annually around 15 000 visitors attend the traditional expo and benefit from its resources, but we are working with schools to ensure that they can access all the functionality of the expo without leaving their classrooms. We think that we could reach record visitor numbers this year,’’ Inkanyezi Events CEO, Andrew Binning, says.
School groups and individuals can register to attend free.
For more information, or to register to attend the expo, visit www.workingworldexpo.co.za.
