The inaugural GET Engineering Careers Fair was held at South West College Dungannon Campus in March 2015; this event was very successful with in excess of 600 young people attending and discussing careers opportunities in the local Engineering sector with 25 companies from the Mid Ulster Area. Following on from this event many of these young people have taken up employment with local companies and are perusing Engineering Apprenticeships at South West College.
On Saturday 5th march 2016 the Get Engineering Careers fair will again be held at South West College Dungannon Campus from 10.00am – 3.00pm. The event will celebrate engineering excellence across Tyrone and encourage more people to ‘get engineering.’
The ‘Get Engineering’ initiative is a partnership encompassing South West College and leading engineering companies who have joined forces to raise awareness of the range of careers opportunities which exist with local employers and are available to everyone thinking about a future in engineering or actively job-hunting. However, a key objective of this year’s fair is to raise awareness of the myriad of careers opportunities available for females, so the college is looking forward to seeing more women involved.
Tyrone is recognised globally as a centre of excellence in the design and manufacture of materials handling equipment with locally produced solutions exported to customers worldwide for applications across a diverse range of industries including manufacturing, quarrying, recycling, mining, aerospace and construction. In fact the majority of the world’s materials handling equipment originate from the cluster of engineering firms based in mid-Ulster.
The careers event will host an array of local employers and provides an opportunity to view at first hand a range of machinery and equipment manufactured locally and exported across the world. The employers participating in this event have developed innovative products for the global market and will provide an exciting range of live demonstrations and activities, including 3D scanning, a CNC plasma, rapid prototyping and virtual welding training simulation, all of which are designed to showcase the exciting and ever-evolving world of engineering.
The event will also host various employer-student information sessions and exhibition stands to share insights into the career and training opportunities for design engineers, technical service engineers, welders/fabricators, CNC operators and other engineering business support roles. There will also be careers advisors on hand to offer guidance and support to those considering a course or career in engineering.
That’s not all – kids with a curious mind and competitive spirit are encouraged to get a taste for engineering with an exciting and challenging Lego robot building activity hosted by the STEM Centre!