National Career Skills Competition
On September 25th, the first National Career Skills Competition Awards were presented by Minister for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary at a ceremony at the Department of Education and Science. The competition was developed by CareersPortal.ie and sponsored by McDonald’s Ireland. Prizes were awarded to winners from the three Leaving Certificate streams – Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, Transition Year and Leaving Certificate Applied. It was a successful end to the pilot year of the Career Skills competition and is a starting point for a greatly expanded skills competition for 2009-2010.
Background - Career Skills Competition
The Career Skills Competition was launched on a pilot basis in February 2009 to students of the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, Leaving Certificate Applied and Transition Year. The competition runs under the supervision of the coordinators of the three programs within the school, who alone can submit the competition entries. Entries were received from schools representing 24 of the 26 counties who took the opportunity to participate in the inaugural year of the competition. A wide variety of careers were explored by students for the competition. Teacher feedback is extremely positive and the award ceremony on September 25th served as the launch of the programme for the 2009/10 academic year.
Competition Details
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The Career Skills competition offers students the opportunity to present both information gathered and insight’s gained from a work placement or work experience. Work experience is generally regarded as having a strong influence on a person’s choice of career, and offers an excellent opportunity to experience first hand the realities of a work environment, the various different job roles that operate within it, and the responsibilities and challenges faced by workers on a daily basis.
The Career Skills Competition requires a student to complete a Career Investigation. The Career Investigation is a record of a persons experience on such a placement. Students are encouraged to investigate one particular job role that they have had the opportunity to observe closely during a placement, and to submit this information as their entry to the competition.
In addition to helping a student understand the core work and responsibilities of a particular job role, this Career Investigation encourages students to notice the importance and frequency with which common non-academic skills are used in the workplace.
A finished Career Investigation would show a good understanding of a particular job role, the tasks and responsibilities that characterise it, the specialist knowledge needed, and an awareness of the non-academic (transferable) skills required to fulfil the role competently.
The focus of the competition is on the ability of a student to observe, identify and demonstrate the development of transferable skills through engaging in a work placement.
Speaking at the event, Minister Calleary said; “With so many people in the workplace looking to develop and broaden their skills, this exciting competition offers our employees of the future a great opportunity to experience and assess what skills they will need to succeed in their potential places of employment.
“Providing our young people with appropriate skills and training has never been more important. The National Career Skills Competition is a great first step to provide them with an understanding of the skills required across different work environments; I would like to congratulate all those who took part and I would urge all eligible young people to enter this year’s competition.”
According to Michele Ryan HR Director, McDonald’s Ireland, “Work experience plays a part in a person’s ultimate choice of career, and offers an excellent opportunity to gain an insight into the realities of a work environment. This programme focuses students’ attentions on the various skills at play within a given job, and the responsibilities and challenges faced by workers on a daily basis.
“As a large employer of young people, we have seen people blossom and grow as they acquire skills through our training programmes. However, it is only when they reflect and understand what they have learned that real confidence and pride grows. This is why the competition is a great fit for us with the emphasis on developing awareness of the broad range of transferable skills that are required to succeed in the workplace.”
Eimear Sinnott from CareersPortal.ie added, “Students from across the country were asked to present both information gathered and insight’s gained from a work placement or experience. The standard of entries received was particularly high and the competition has demonstrated that students of today are fast learners and can develop and adapt with ease– key characteristics for success within their future employment.”
Careers investigated by the winning students included a Pharmacist, Photographer, Metal Fabricator, Receptionist, Primary School Teacher, Psychologist, Graphic Designer, Childcare Worker and Doctor. The school of the winning student in each category received a cash sum of €1,000 for the relevant programme with the winning students receiving an Apple Mac Book Air, while second and third placed students won Nikon cameras and Apple iPhone Touchs.
More information on the National Career Skills Competition can be found on www.careersportal.ie.