 here in Donegal. Well, the wait is not all but over because the Donegal ETB's Further Education and Training Fair or FET for short is on this week and it's Wednesday and Thursday actually in the Radisson Blue Hotel in Lerner, Kenny. And there you'll find out all sorts of information about where to go and about what to expect when you do go there. The Assistant Training Center's Manager is Deirdre McColgan and Deirdre is with us in studio now and I have a chat about this and we're streaming live as well if you want to have a look in. But Deirdre, this is important for people who maybe they've decided that they're going to make a change in you know where they work and more to the point where they can go next and how they can take that next step or somebody that's been maybe out of school for a long time feel that they've underperformed and want to go back into education. Absolutely. To be honest with you John this year as you said we're on the two days we're on the evening of the Wednesday the 23rd and we're on the morning of the Thursday the 24th. Is there is the same information in both or is there a difference? We've kind of targeted young people and perhaps those in employment for the Wednesday night because what we were thinking is you know you might get parents of young people bring them along and then find out something for the parents themselves in terms of their education and training needs. So on the Wednesday night we look at things like traineeships we look at apprenticeships but we'll also help moms and dads see and other guardians see what's available for them in terms of maybe improving their employability prospects. On the Thursday we've kind of kept it very much the traditional fair so anyone at all who's interested in education or training be that full time or part time and it's everything from brushing up when you're reading your writing learning how to work in this digital world everything is IT that's the one thing we've learned over the last couple of years so if you need to improve those skills or even just for people who'd like to maybe retrain into a new area because a lot of people have changed jobs and changed occupational areas in the last couple of years and they need the skills they need the confidence and they need the certification to be able to do that so on Thursday you'll get that too. So a lot from right from the very the basics right up to you know next step college absolutely from the basics right up to the likes of data science so you know and everything in between and we have you know our traineeships in healthcare we have our our stalwarts that are always there our childcare our healthcare our computers ICT skills from the basics right up to quite advanced and those are the skills that employers are looking for so we're trying to balance that all the time. So you can train people to go then after the training courses straight into the workplace or you can train people as well and give people the confidence I suppose to then go back to further education and by that I mean go on maybe to college. Absolutely I mean we would we find the benefit of further education and training type courses they give people the skills and the confidence to progress into higher education if that's where they want to go and they get a really good ground and they understand the idea of an assignment they understand what's expected of them they understand about referencing and just relate the skills to succeed at higher education and that can be quite a daunting experience especially if you're a more mature adult or if you've seen a bit of the world and maybe haven't progressed straight from school it can be intimidating when you're sitting in a room with young people who are very savvy and IT literate and what we find as we give adults or people who've had maybe a wider view of the world the confidence to use the skills and experience that they have and the knowledge to succeed in that way. So it's not an intimidating setting that's the important thing. Definitely not the skills to succeed that's what we want. Alright so that's Wednesday evening and that's from seven to nine and then on Thursday well from the morning from ten through until two o'clock and that's both of those in the the Radisson Blue and I suppose it's it's about pathways pathways to progress. Pathways and it's about the individual's pathway. Donegal, ETB really don't mind what your motivation for being there is as long as you get what you need and you know your pathway is a bit clearer at the end of it. We're here to serve the people of Donegal and that's that's what we take great pride in doing. So Wednesday evening you might be maybe providing transport and we're bringing somebody alone there and find it. Oh hang on a second I can't see that. Absolutely. Absolutely. The world of work is changing John. Don't sit in the car go in. No come in come in and look out as we'd say. Yes yeah and and as you touched on there there's various qualifications and at the end of some of these courses I'm thinking like City and Guilds for instance. Well we try and particularly in our employment focus courses we look for the qualifications that employers feel give the most appropriate standard and level of people that they're looking to employ. So we could use City and Guilds. We have ITech and even now I'm even thinking about things like our apprenticeship motor mechanic and we're also adding an additional qualification in an electrical vehicle. So we're we're always trying to innovate and evolve and give people the qualifications that matter either for the HE institutions or for the employers that's what we're about. And there's various sectors that are crying out for a staff and crying out for trainees to get people trained up and these are sectors that pay really well. Extremely well and there's very well paid jobs here in the Donegal area you know and that's something that we're working a lot with employers to try and highlight to the people of Donegal and it's not just school leavers it's you know people like myself it's people who have been out of the labour market for a number of years trying to get them to look at other areas of employment that maybe or other areas of work that they thought were beyond them perhaps something like the data science or IT sector. We're working phenomenally well with the likes of CERSET, KN, Networks in Communication Systems and Installation. So we're trying to bring good well paid work or give qualifications that allow people to have good well paid work in Donegal so they don't always have to be looking further afield for those jobs. And some people might be listening and they're stuck on a job they really don't like and you know the payers so so so open your mind come along you never know. Look John and plus as an old guidance counsellor I'm going to say come and speak to the guidance service let's see what your opportunities are but what I would say to those people is don't be thinking you're starting from the bottom because you're not. You'll have loads of skills from the job that you're already in and what we need to do is look at how they would transfer into whatever area you know you're interested in exploring further. Okay that's Wednesday evening and a Thursday Wednesday seven to nine and a Thursday then ten to two at the Further Education and Training Fair at the Radisson Blue Hotel in Etter Kenney. If somebody wants to go online get more information about anything. Yeah Donegaletb.ie the website you can contact the adult guidance service on 07491 78088. Speak to somebody there or you can email info at Donegaletb.ie we'll be pleased to hear from you. Brent, Deirdre McCalligan thank you. Thank you John. 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