The Office of Career and Placement Services at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona and Executive Motors hosted a two-day seminar for 39 guidance counsellors from across Jamaica recently. 
 
The seminar was born out of a need to better educate counsellors and students on the value of career information. According to Placement and Career Services Manager, Mrs. Merrit Henry, a 2008 study suggested that guidance counsellors were not aware of many of the career offerings at UWI, nor the entry requirements for these programmes. 
 
Its main areas of focus included: pursuing relevant courses at the secondary level in keeping with career objectives; successful transitioning to the tertiary level; developing skills and competencies; expectations in the 21st century work world.
 
Mrs. Henry remarked, “We realized that when students get to UWI, they have challenges transitioning and so we want to better educate and train guidance counsellors in this area so they can advise students, enabling a smoother transition for them.” Sandra Lyn Shue, Managing Director of Executive Motors added, “We feel that empowering guidance counsellors by equipping them with the necessary tools to better assist their students, is critical in today’s fast paced world.” She also said, “There are so many instances where young people are looking for jobs in fields that they are either under or over qualified for. As a society, we need to tackle these issues from early on, we need to start at the high school level,” continued Lyn Shue.
 
The hosting of such seminars periodically can facilitate significant benefits for school communities and society as a whole. The information disseminated should contribute to greater student satisfaction regarding career choices and majors. Additionally, the number of students transferring to other majors could be decreased since students will be made aware of adequate career information at the high school level. Eventually, employers will witness improved performance in the workplace, as students will be guided to choose careers that reflect their interests and their aptitude. 
 
Speaking on this occasion was Yaneek Page, Founder of Future Services International Ltd., and President of Women Business Owners Jamaica, who delivered the keynote address at the opening of the seminar. Other speakers included Michael Fennel, Chairman of the Placement and Career Services Board and Carlton Lowrie, Director of the Office of Student Services, UWI, Mona.