Technical Careers expo in October highlights opportunities

The average age of an artisan in South Africa is 45, industry figures predict the demand for skilled artisans and technicians to be approaching the 30 000 mark, while the need for semi-skilled labour is increasing by more than 20% per year.

Danie Swart, marketing manager at SABC Education says "Science, mathematics and technology can lead to building great careers but the youth are largely uninformed about the exciting, lucrative technical careers waiting for them out there and what they need to achieve at school in order to successfully embark on a career as an artisan, technician or engineer. The technical careers expo is a platform for learners with technical aptitude to access information about available learnerships, training opportunities and requirements."

Lack of technical skills

Mandisa Nyathikazi, business development director at élancommunications says, "The futures of our youth, the problem of unemployment and skills shortages in South Africa are concerns we all need to find answers to. The lack of technical skills is spoken about in government and engineering skills almost every day. Each year tens of thousands of school leavers are eligible for the technical workforce but don't have direction or information about what is on offer for them. We want the expo to be the start of an era where effort, concerns and money are put into action to address the situation and take the necessary information to the youth."

Learners will meet organisations offering information, in-house training and opportunities, all of which have a common goal; to alleviate the technical skills shortage in South Africa. This event is a prime platform for learners and industry players to meet, network and exchange crucial information.

Industry players include higher learning institutes, career guidance centres, financial institutions, entrepreneurial skills organisations, national youth development programmes, government departments and relevant SETAs. Educator seminars will be hosted daily during the expo.

The expo is a partnership between élancommunications, the Department of Higher Education & Training, the National Youth Skills Development Programme and SABC Education.