Ganbina’s recent Careers Night once again was a success, with 20+ further education and employers from a wide range of industries exhibiting, speaking with and interacting with our Ganbina participants and their families.

Now in its eleventh year, the Annual Careers Night is an event exclusively for Ganbina’s participants in Year 10-12 or participants currently seeking employment and/or further education opportunities.

Many of our exhibitors have cultural-specific offerings and programs to share with our attendees.

After listening to feedback from last year’s attendees, we made sure to include exhibitors from a wider range of industries, particularly exhibitors with trade and apprenticeship career pathway opportunities.

A few of these exhibitors that offered more apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities this year included AFL Sports Ready, Winslow, Watters Electrical and many more.

At Ganbina we recognise that everyone has their own unique aspirations for further Education and career. Not everyone will want to work in the same industry or go down the same further education path, which is why we aim for the Careers Night to be as diverse as possible so there is something of interest for everyone.

This year we had a range of employers available, ranging from government services such as Victoria Police and the Australian Defence Force to large corporate employers such as McDonalds, as well as local businesses such as Inspira Kids. In the further education space, we had local further education exhibitors including GOTAFE and Melbourne universities such as Monash University, Latrobe University, and RMIT.

It’s not all about full-time jobs or career opportunities either, with many of our exhibitors offering part-time or casual job opportunities.

Ganbina’s Careers Night is not only about learning and finding job opportunities, we make sure the night is fun and interactive, with a lot of games, prizes and dinner to enjoy.

Each participant received a GanBINGO sheet, where they can collect an allocated number on a sticker by speaking with our exhibitors. If they receive enough numbers, they go into the draw to win a prize. This year the winners of the GanBINGO game were Breanna Saron, Shilah Grace and Ruby Cooper.

Other competitions on the night were a ‘guess the lolly jar’ and a colouring competition for younger siblings who attended. The lolly jar competition was won by parent Dylan Jones and the colouring-in competition was won by a Primary school participant and sibling Trini Atkinson who won a voucher. Our exhibitors also went into a surprise raffle for attending the night and had an opportunity to win a custom scented candle pack, which was won by exhibitor GV Health.

Every Careers Night includes Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander speakers who speak about their own education and career journey. This year we were privileged to hear from former AFL player and SKS Managing Director Chris Johnson and former Ganbina participant turned Ganbina General Manager Programs Lachlan Harlow. They both spoke about their journeys as Aboriginal men and how they have achieved their goals in their education and career.

A sincere thank you to the team at Riverlinks Eastbank who have continuously hosted us at their venue over the years.

And lastly a very big thank you to all of the Ganbina participants, families and stallholders who attended this year’s Careers Night. To see so many of our participants attend and engage with our exhibitors, as well as engage with the activities on the night, is what makes the Careers Night such a success.

We are pleased to say that we’ve had a good outcome post the Careers Night, two of our exhibitors on the night Kmart and Bunnings, provided our participants with interviews and employment opportunities.