'The Future is Green' Careers Fair
Young people from across Thanet joined Co-relate and Discovery Planet to find out about green jobs and skills through taking part in'The Future is Green' Careers Fair on the 24 October.
The fair, hosted at Ramsgate Space alongside a wider community event, showcased the plethora of green jobs available to young people, offering employment support and the potential for paid placements and short-term work experience.
In spite of Storm Austen, the event gained a decent amount of traction, with a steady flow of sign ups and activities being run over the course of the day. Joshua Raisbeck, 22, and a local Thanet resident said:
I loved the fair as it was very informative and had lots of fun, educational and interactive activities! The people there were very helpful and I feel like new doors have been opened for me.
The community event was also used to inform locals about the new Green Campus, so they could ask questions, share their perspectives, and meet people already working in green jobs in Kent.
The careers fair also provided an opportunity for 12 young people aged 16-24 to do a day's paid work to help with the smooth running of the day, and to get a sense of what goes into running events. It also created freelance work for a young events assistant, marketing assistant and designer.
London Array wind farm, which is visible from Thanet's coast and operates out of Ramsgate, funded the careers fair and shared information on their virtual work experience and opportunities.Young people could try on the kit they would wear as a wind farm engineer and learn about apprenticeships..
Other stalls included Kent Community Energy with a green job profiling quiz that helped young people match green jobs to their interests.
SGS Energy gathered sign ups for an upcoming tour around their workshop. They also shared information on apprenticeships and the range and versatility of jobs in green energy.
Windmill Community Gardens were there to talk about organic growing methods and help people planting their own herbs, Waste Will Save Us showed how to upcycle our old clothes, and offered a patch making activities for those who had not brought their own clothes. Circular Margate persevered through the rainy weather outside, and showed practical uses for old materials, including building your own chair!
Discovery Planet helped people design their own wind turbines and demonstrated how solar works using small panels and cardboard houses. Creative Catalyst shared information about their programme helping young people into creative opportunities, and to help connect them with like minded people, as well as their green jobs placement scheme. Ramsgate Space hosted lightning talks, green corridor mapping and community conversations about the green campus.
We hope that everyone who came can see that there are more green jobs than you might have previously thought. Co-relate and Discovery Planet are continuing to work with employers and partners to secure placements and run further events like this in future.
Find out about our Green Careers programme and keep an eye on Discovery Planet's website for more opportunities.
Learn more about the stallholders and host:
