The Eastern Bay of Plenty Careers Expo brought hundreds of students together on Wednesday, giving them the chance to explore study pathways, trades, and future employment options.

Held at the War Memorial Hall and attended by schools around the region, the long-running expo has been connecting students with employers and training providers for around two decades.

Whakatāne High School careers department head Jo-Anne Stuart, who helped organise the event, said it continued to grow and remained focused on giving students exposure to a wide range of potential careers including defence, policing, aquaculture, healthcare, hairdressing and more.

Ms Stuart said the aim was to spark curiosity and encourage students to follow up after the event.

“It’s an opportunity to have the tertiary providers, trade and local industries come and show how they operate, and an opportunity for students to interact with different scenarios and different industries.

“If students have talked to at least three different providers, they get some idea of what’s available for them to study, to train in, and that leads to further investigation. They can go back to school and have a look at the websites to find out more information.”

Whakatāne Police’s Rob Jones said the interactive approach was a good way to engage with young people.

“It’s all about the young people; providing them with information about future careers, to give them a bit of guidance and let them know the process.

“On the police recruitment stall we’ve got some young fullas who are doing the jump test, which is part of the recruiting process.

“Part of our fitness test for the police is that you have to be able to do a stationary jump test.

“You’ve got to be able to jump about 48 centimetres for males, and 40 centimetres for females.”

When asked about their future career aspirations, Whakatāne High School student Dina Salah said, “I actually don’t know yet.”

Fellow student Angel Tran said, “probably somewhere in the medical field.”

On jobs they would avoid, Dina said, “Probably the maternity ward” while for Angel, a no-go career was beauty salons.

If money were not a factor, Dina said, “maybe a barista and cafe owner.”

What careers on display at the expo looked good?

“Fonterra – they look pretty cool,” said Dina, referring to a butter-making exercise at the Fonterra stand that drew a crowd.