In light of the cancellation of the Taranaki Careers Expo 2020, the Recruitment Team at Taranaki District Health Board (DHB) took matters into their own hands and held healthcare careers expo at both Taranaki Base and Hāwera hospitals recently.

Students from high schools throughout Taranaki were invited to attend the expos, giving them the opportunity to have a look around the hospitals and talk face-to-face with staff from throughout the various clinical and non-clinical teams about their roles. Feedback from the schools that attended was overwhelmingly positive.

Brett Zimmerman, New Plymouth Girls’ High School head of department - Careers said, "Our students got immense value from this expo. It certainly opens up their perspective on all the different pathways in the health profession."

Chantal Brophy, Ōpunakē High School careers administrator said, "I took eight year 11 and 12 students who were interested in the health sector as a possible career pathway. The sessions were interesting and informative. Dr Hannah Lawn (Rural Hospital Medicine consultant) was a star, sharing her story/pathway with passion and enthusiasm. She was very relatable having grown up in a rural area, which made it seem very do-able for our students."

Jenna Kensington, Taranaki DHB recruitment coordinator said, "Given the great feedback we’ve received from the schools we hope to make the expo an annual event. We encourage Taranaki high schools to contact us if they would like to attend in future, or if there are any other ways in which we can support their students into healthcare training and roles."

For more information about careers at Taranaki DHB visit www.tdhb.org.nz/careers/careers.shtml and www.whyora.co.nz/.

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