Career Exploration and Discovery for Canadian Youth
Let’s Talk Science is committed to motivating and empowering youth to fulfill their potential and prepare for future careers and roles as citizens. We have launched a dedicated career resources webpage to help students explore real career profiles from STEM role models, and we are collaborating with ChatterHigh to present a Canada-wide competition for career discovery, with a $25,000 cash prize pot! The Let’s Talk Careers: Canada’s Most Informed School Competition will run in two rounds - one in November 2019 and the second in April 2020. Our aim is to provide youth and educators with an incentive to explore and discover a wide variety of career profiles and post-secondary pathways.
What do career prospects for today’s youth look like?
Rapid technological advancements are driving significant transformation in every field. According to the World Economic Forum, 65 percent of the children now entering primary school will ultimately work in a job that doesn’t exist today. In addition to the changing competencies required, attitudes towards career paths are changing. We have entered into a 'gig economy' in which people are increasingly likely to have many careers throughout their lives, rather than the traditional linear path. Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills are inherently transferable and are critical for success in this changing landscape. Yet, most students leave STEM studies early simply because they don't understand where it can lead.
Why do I need STEM?
With our career discovery resources, we aim to show youth that an interest and background in STEM skills is important to their future lives and that it can lead to a variety of interesting careers. And while some of these careers will be the ones we traditionally associate with STEM (e.g., medical, engineering, research) many more are less often thought of as STEM-based (e.g. Agriculture, skilled trades, technical certificates, the legal system, public safety such as firefighters, nutrition, etc.).
Skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, questioning, prioritizing, communicating with others, using graphs and tables, recording information, working with others collaboratively - these are all STEM skills highly valued by employers, and they can help you advance in your career.
When given the choice, most Canadian students drop senior-level high school sciences and math because they don’t see the relevancy for their futures. At Let’s Talk Science, one of our main goals is to engage youth with STEM to ensure they keep their doors open to future work opportunities in all fields.
How does Let’s Talk Science help?
Our new career-focused resources encourage open exploration of career options for youth, as well as provide educators with the tools to help take students from their initial career interest to a deeper understanding of how STEM skills can advance and expand career prospects.
With our career resources, we are trying to provide youth with as broad a range of careers as possible so they can see “what is out there” but also framing it like a conversation you might have in person. Answering questions like “What motivates you?”, “What advice do you offer to others?” and “How do you affect people’s lives?”. The more they know about the different careers available to them, the better!
What is the Let’s Talk Careers Competition?
Let’s Talk Science and ChatterHigh have teamed up to offer an exciting opportunity to engage students in career discovery and win prizes. The Let’s Talk Careers: Canada’s Most Informed Classroom competition has $25,000 in prize money and great tech prizes valued at over $50,000 to be won by the top ranking schools in the competition. Parents, teachers and any student in the school community can quiz and help the school’s ranking!
With the ChatterHigh platform, students receive a fun, 10 minute, daily quiz that allows them to research and explore thousands of higher education and career pathway options that they may not have been exposed to any other way!
The competition will take place in two rounds:
Round 1: October 28 - December 6
Round 2: April 6 - May 13