Ireland Inc took time out this week to bridge the gap between industry and the education system as senior executives met with more than 200 guidance counsellors to help them steer students towards careers in the knowledge economy.
Employers body Ibec held its first careers conference in partnership with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors to showcase career options in sectors ranging from science and technology to business, financial services and construction.
"In becoming a leading know-ledge-based economy, we need to ensure that our young people make the right career choices," said Kathryn Raleigh, director of Ibec's ICT Ireland. "Guidance counsellors have an onerous task in keeping abreast of the rapidly changing world of work and careers."
Ibec plans to make the day-long conference an annual event in an attempt to encourage business to work hand-in-hand with guidance counsellors and prepare students for a changing work environment. The emergence of a knowledge-based economy and the decline of traditional manufacturing are diver-sifying once-traditional careers and guidance counsellors need to be informed of future trends, according to Ms Raleigh.
"There will still be the same type of professions, whether it be in science, the medical devices sector or engineering, but because of changes in the global economy these jobs are evolving," she said. "Twenty years ago, people were studying engineering because Ireland had a strong manufacturing base but now engineering is important for research and development."
One of the industries that guidance counsellors need up-to-date information on is the medical device sector, the conference heard. The sector employs 26,000 people at 140 companies in Ireland, with as many as 40 per cent of that workforce holding a degree. The sector is growing 7 per cent a year worldwide, with that pace of growth set to continue, according to Noel Fogarty, managing director of Boston Scientific in Galway and vice-chairman of the Irish Medical Devices Association.
"The medical devices sector is a growing market but it is also quite stable, because it's an industry that supports the health and wellbeing of people," Mr Fogarty said. "The demographics of developed countries are changing and people are living longer and longer.
"What's big in Ireland today will not necessarily be big in five years, like the construction industry. Students and guidance counsellors should not just think about the immediate situation."
However, guidance counsellors are having to encourage students to consider a career in the medical devices sector amid competition from more glamorous or better-paying industries, Mr Fogarty said. "I think guidance counsellors are doing their bit but the general perception is there are more lucrative careers they could follow, thanks to the hype in the media," he said.
"In this industry, it's hard to provide role models, unlike sport and business. And so many kids want to get into the construction industry or become lawyers and financiers.
"But this industry is exciting too. I'm an electronics engineer by trade and I have travelled from Zimbabwe to Japan to Singapore with work and experienced different types of work environments. Also, science and engineering-related degrees prepare you for social and economic change and adaptability is important."
Teenagers, though, are not getting this message. Out of the 50,000-plus students who took the Leaving Cert exams this year, the numbers opting to study a science-related subject hovered around the lowly 6,000 mark.
Combined with the poor performance of so many students in maths and the sciences, and the relatively small number taking these subjects at higher level, industry and guidance counsellors have their work cut out for them in helping to build a knowledge economy.
Ibec believes more students would aim for careers in the knowledge economy if the Government increased support and resources for guidance counsellors.
"There is only one guidance counsellor for every 500 students in Ireland - which equates to less than 80 minutes per student over an entire year," Ms Raleigh said.
Indeed, Leaving Cert and third-level students are currently not being given the information they need to make correct career choices, according to a recent report commissioned by the Government's expert skills group. There is a "huge lack of awareness" about career options among students, the report found.
