Walking into a career’s expo, meeting inspiring people and learning about a wide range of jobs you might never have heard of before is a potentially life-changing moment for any teenager.
Providing these sorts of opportunities to young people is vital for any industry trying to attract more young people, especially when faced with a skills shortage. This is why Capricorn has partnered with the Motor Trades Association Queensland (MTAQ) to introduce hundreds of young people in QLD to the potential for an exciting career in automotive.
Capricorn worked with MTAQ to add a careers expo element to their existing Capricorn trade shows. With seven locations in 2024 so far, and plans to continue, the expos have been successful in both regional and metro areas. Capricorn was impressed to see around 45 attendees at regional events, including Roma, Toowoomba and Cairns, and over 100 interested students at the Brisbane trade show.
MTAQ Director of Industry Initiatives Brad Flanagan said the expos were an opportunity for the industry and individual automotive businesses to showcase themselves and for young people to see the breadth of opportunities available to them. In 2023, 45 per cent of Capricorn Members surveyed believed attracting young people into automotive careers was the second biggest challenge for the industry –up from 36 per cent a year earlier.
“We bring the students in, give them a tour of the trade show, introduce them to different suppliers and different employers, talk about their businesses, show them a bit of equipment, a bit of technology, and talk about the kinds of roles available in those organisations,” he said. “Unlike traditional careers expos, which were ‘a hit and miss strategy’, partnering with Capricorn’s trade events meant young people could meet hundreds of potential employers in the automotive industry.”
The expos are promoted to local schools through the Department of Education, with the MTAQ and Capricorn leveraging the Queensland Government’s School to Work Program—designed to help kids who might otherwise leave high school and fail to go on to either further education or employment learn about job opportunities. Brad said while some businesses might have apprenticeships available immediately, that wasn’t the only way the expos helped get young people into automotive careers. Some young people might try a work experience placement. Some might start a conversation with a potential employer about an opportunity in a year or 18 months’ time. Some might decide to go to university and study something related to automotive. Others might even decide the industry isn’t for them—potentially saving both themselves and a potential employer a costly false start.
In the State of the Nation Special Report: The Skills Shortage, 22 per cent of Capricorn Members surveyed said one of the biggest challenges they faced in running their business was finding good apprentices—up from 14 per cent in 2022. The special report also found Members weren’t just sitting on their hands waiting for someone else to solve the issue with our pipeline of talent. Forty per cent of Members said they were either extremely or very likely to take on an apprentice in the future—up from 35 per cent in 2022 and 31 per cent in 2021. Tackling the auto industry’s ongoing skills shortage challenge will be an industry effort, but when reflecting on the expos Brad believed the attendance had been encouraging.
“Some of them are really enthusiastic because it’s their dream career,” he said. “Maybe their parents have been involved in the industry, or they just like to tinker and fix things, or they just love cars. You also get a cohort of kids who are just at the exploring stage and auto sounds like a great idea, so they come along and have a look. They might see the tech and think it’s really cool and say, ‘I want to work on that’.”
“We had a girl from Toowoomba who said, ‘I came in thinking I wanted to be a motor mechanic, but actually now that I’ve heard more about the industry, I think I want to be a parts interpreter.”
Brad said the expos are most successful when Members get engaged. “We find that when we get buy-in from the local community it 'is easier to engage with the schools,” he said. “And if the students think there’s local employers there they’re going to have a chance to get in front of, they’ll turn up in droves.”
Capricorn Group Chief Executive Officer David Fraser said the careers expos were more than simply an opportunity for Members to find potential apprentices—although they were certainly that.
“These events are generating such enthusiasm among the young people who are invited along, and who attend,” he said. “We might know that a career in the automotive industry can be exciting, that it can take you places, but it’s about making sure young people get that message and see the opportunities of auto. The attendance and enthusiasm have been really encouraging, so we’ll certainly be looking to expand on the success of the 2024 events—not just in Queensland, but elsewhere across Australia and New Zealand where we can find groups to partner with. Securing a pipeline of future talent is the best investment we can make for our industry.”
