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In these industries, young workers are in high demand

Sales, hospitality and trades industries are in need of young and inexperienced workers to meet current and projected skills shortages. In these fields, experts predict that hundreds of thousands of jobs will become vacant in the next five years. In other words, they will be available when current college students finish their programs.

Employment Department figures show caring – whether for the aged, disabled or children – is forecast to have 100,000 jobs created in the five years to 2021, while sales is expected to have about 90,000 roles for sales assistants and salespersons alone in the same period.

Retail and hospitality, along with agriculture, have the country’s lowest-skilled workforces as 50% or more of workers do not have any qualification beyond high school. Often, employers do not require people to have any experience to start an apprenticeship or entry-level job.

That said, SkillsIQ chief executive Yasmin King warns that “just because there is an important demand, this doesn’t mean employers will hire just anyone. You have to have some basic characteristics before these employers will give you an opportunity.” For instance, you need high emotional intelligence because you deal with people every day you need to have that ability to be able to relate to customers and understand their needs. According to King: “A lot of these jobs are the beginning of the pathway, ‘the assistant to …’ and it’s a really good stepping stone to go on in the sector, get an understanding of it and expose yourself to it.”

The accommodation and food services sectors employ the greatest proportion of young workers of any industry, with 44% of staff aged 15 to 24 years old. At least 37,000 new hospitality jobs will be created in the next five years.

The sales and commerce sector also has a high proportion of young workers, with around 40% between ages 15 and 24. By 2020, the Ministry of Employment and Social Development forecasts 104,900 new jobs for sales workers. Approximately 90,000 of them will be for entry-level jobs such as sales assistants and salespeople. This illustrates the need for job seekers to set themselves apart and demonstrate excellence if they want to access higher-level jobs in their field.

Adapted from The Advertiser, September 6, 2016.