A variety of information stalls were held by businesses, trades, mines, tertiary organisations, as well as emergency services Fire and Rescue, Police, and Ambulance.

Students from Years 5 and 6 at Gulgong Public also joined their older counterparts.

Gulgong High School careers adviser Carly Sewell said the goal is to get the students thinking about their options are available to them.

“Sometimes kids can have blinkers on in that they don’t realise what opportunities are not only within our community, but what they can start in our community and go away and come back with if they like,” she said.

“We wanted to showcase to students and get them to start thinking about their careers and start conversations with each other and their families, and start putting some goals together.”

She added that Years 11 and 12 were also given information on the other elements of life after school.

“There’s breakout sessions focusing on personal finance and planning for the future, there’s also one on real estate when you’re moving out of home, and one on the law and consequences if you were to break the law.

“Just things that they need to be aware of as well, which is all going to be useful to them beyond their school years.”

One of the challenges for students is how to prepare for jobs that don’t exist yet and knowing what won’t be around in the future.

Guest speaker was Airlie Bell who this year received the Career Development Association of Australia’s 2017 ‘Excellence in Career Development Practice (Individual)’ award.

She spoke about the type of jobs likely to be automated, but emphasised that it’s not all gloom.

And that creativity – in particular – is among the human characteristics that can never be replaced by a machine, her advice was “be eternally curious” and “don’t be a robot”.

“She was invited to talk about lifelong learning and that we need to be adaptable and ready to change,” Ms Sewell said.

Volunteer-based organisations the Gulgong Rescue Squad (VRA) and Rural Fire Service (RFS), were also a part of the expo.

Ms Sewell said that they offer qualities that come in handy in employment.

“I thought it would be great to get the volunteer groups on board because students need to build their skill set,” she said.

“And those organisations provide fantastic opportunities to further develop skills and training, a lot will do their firie badge course or their first aid certificate.

“It also gives them the opportunity to work in teams and start to get some of the foundation employ ability skills that they can then transfer into other roles.”