Let’s face it, when you are 15 or 16 it is difficult to imagine life beyond school. However, a future mindset is paramount to transition positively and seamlessly from school.

At Inspiring the Future Australia (ITF), we team up with schools and youth services to host events that support positive transitions.

On Wednesday, 16 June 2021, ITF  hosted a ‘Future in Focus’ workshop for 150 Year 10 students at Jamison High School. We led the students through a journey of career foundations and exploration.

The career foundations are linked to our employability challenges, highlighting the soft skills required to be successful in any career path. Groups of students work collaboratively to complete tasks that are hands-on and highlight adaptability, teamwork, communication, problem solving and self-discipline. We emphasise the correlations between these challenges and the world of work.

Our exploration session begins with student groups examining industry representative’s career journeys through the ‘Career Steppingstones’ game. This provides a fun and visual way for students to see that career paths have many steps, career changes are common and to overcome the notion that careers are not linear.

This all provided the back-drop for the students to be in a future mindset and embrace the final key session. 25 industry representatives from an array of industries entered the school hall and engaged with students in small groups for one and a half hours. This is what we call the ‘Art of Conversation’. Industry representatives share their career journeys and occupational insights to broaden the career aspirations for the future generation.