OxLEP to welcome 3,000+ young people for Careers Fest 2024

Published by

Daniel Face

This March, Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) will hold its annual Careers Fest, connecting businesses with secondary school students exploring future career opportunities.

The two-day event will see more than 3,000 young people converge on Oxford’s Kassam Stadium, along with a ‘twilight session’ later in the day for parents and carers.

It’s focused particularly on supporting students in Year 9 and above, offering guidance on post-16 and post-18 education, training and careers options.

OxLEP Careers Hub has secured over 70 exhibitors from organisations across the county from an array of key sectors.

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Nigel Tipple, chief executive of OxLEP, said: “Careers Fest has successfully brought together young people and businesses for several years now and has undoubtedly led to many of the county’s students making positive decisions about their future career pathways and the types of industries that they wish to pursue.

“It’s important to remember that in Oxfordshire, we benefit from being home to a range of world-leading businesses and sectors, whether it be science and innovation-led companies or perhaps a tourism industry that can rival any international location.

“With this in mind, we look forward to continuing to play a really important role in linking young people with top employers, helping to inspire future career choices, as well as – in turn – supporting the retention of talent here in Oxfordshire.”

Many exhibitors will also be showcasing their apprenticeship opportunities ahead of this year’s Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards, with entries closing at midnight on Monday 19th February.

From October 2016 to March 2023, OxLEP Skills worked with 36 businesses to help them recruit apprenticeships, while also building partnerships with another 500 organisations to enable engagement with local communities and schools.

Nigel added: “Through events like Careers Fest and the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards, we hope that we can help to show businesses the value of apprenticeships, as well as demonstrating that there’s never been a better time to engage with them, given the support and advice available to companies through organisations like OxLEP.

“It’s just one part of our overall programme of activity that aims to see Oxfordshire leading the way in apprenticeship provision.

“Our wider work really complements this and can help to give businesses the guidance and boost they need to create or develop an apprenticeship scheme.”

The event is set for Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21th March at the Kassam Stadium.

The twilight session for parents and carers will take place on the Wednesday between 4:30pm and 7:30pm. To sign up, visit the Eventbrite page.

Daniel Face

Born and raised in Berkshire, Dan fell into journalism after completing his bachelor’s degree in English at UCL. Writing for The Business Magazine and local Biz News sites has given him the opportunity to chat with all manner of small business owners and share their success stories with a wider audience. Outside of work, Dan enjoys live music, board games and quiz shows, and is making a slow but persistent effort to learn Spanish.