Jobs and Skills Showcase goes beyond past events

SERVING UP: Lions Club of Gambier City volunteers Trevor Bowden and John Moreland greeted everyone at the door of the Jobs and Skills Showcase with a sausage sizzle, while Workforce Australia support officer Caitlin Kennedy and Local Jobs Murray and South East employment facilitator Christine Willersdorf ensured the event's biggest outing to date ran smoothly. Picture: EMMA STOKES

Tyler Redway

THE Limestone Coast Jobs and Skills Showcase returned bigger and better than ever at the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre earlier this week.

The year of 2024 marked the event’s third outing since its debut at the Mount Gambier City Hall in 2021.

A total of 50 employers from across the Limestone Coast and parts of south-west Victoria attended to show community members the many career paths and work opportunities the regions had to offer.

Workforce Australia support officer Caitlin Kennedy said this year’s event held more employers than it ever had in its history.

Ms Kennedy said the event was trying to expand coverage into more northern regions of the Limestone Coast as well as further into Victoria.

“We are really trying to expand our reach because even though it is a Limestone Coast event, we are really happy to bring in people from south-west Victoria as well because they are close by,” Ms Kennedy said.

“We are also trying to expand into places like Naracoorte to try and get those employers here just so they can showcase what they have to offer.

“For people looking for work or students looking for a career opportunity or gap year job, it’s just an opportunity to walk into a room and have everyone in the same place rather than having to go door-to-door.

“People can just bring their resume into the employers because it’s not every day you can have all of these employers from so many different industries all in one place.”

Ms Kennedy said it was not only a place for people to learn more about job opportunities, but also a place for local businesses to increase interest in available positions.

“Some people might not be aware of what a council or forestry company has to offer, so it is a good place for them to show people the positions they can offer,” she said.

Ms Kennedy said the event constantly looked to expand and develop new ways to include more businesses and opportunities for the entire community of the Limestone Coast and south-west Victoria to discover.

“Each year we have the motto of it is going to be bigger and better, so we are really striving to make it bigger than this year,” Ms Kennedy said

“Obviously in Wulanda, it is a great space where we can actually expand onto the other courts as well and on a nice day, we could also have the opportunity to move it outside too.

“We just want to stand an event each year which everyone knows about and all the schools attend to make it something to put in their calendars so they have something to look forward to.”