Hundreds of young people and adults have visited a careers fair to find out about employment and apprenticeship opportunities.
The ‘Your Future’ careers fair was held at Bishop Auckland College on Wednesday with over 100 representatives from more than 60 companies and organisations on hand to provide information and advice to visitors.
The event took place during National Careers Week. Pupils from primary and secondary schools as well as students at Bishop Auckland College and adult learners were able to find out about options available in the area.
Exhibitors at the event included local employers like GSK and Tekgem. Students were able to speak to current apprentices at the organisations to find out more about the roles and experience of being an apprentice at the companies.
“It’s gone really, really well today. We’ve had lots and lots of enquiries from a lot of year 10 learners which is really important, because at the college we run lots of taster events with the local schools,” says Michelle Andelin, Head of School for Construction, Motor Vehicle, Creative Industries and Employability Skills at Bishop Auckland College.
Michelle explains that many students have been asking about the courses that the college runs and the qualifications required.
“We’ve had quite a lot of people wanting to know the difference between T-Levels, full-time courses, apprenticeship courses – I’ve had quite a lot of people come in as well looking for part-time pathways, maybe wanting a change of career.”
“We do quite a lot of that in our construction and motor vehicle area where they might work shift work but then they come in through the day and they retrain as a mechanic or a joiner or a brick layer.”
From September the college will offer three T-Levels in the creative industries area in fashion and textiles, ceramics and media production and broadcasting.
Local organisations with volunteer opportunities, such as NSPCC and 11Arches, were also available at the event with visitors able to find out more.