Maritime Solent celebrated a successful return to this year’s Seawork exhibition in Southampton (10-12 June), by facilitating a careers day which saw around 300 young people visit the event and engage with key organisations promoting careers in the maritime sector.
The students, aged between 11-18, were from 20 different schools and colleges both from the region and as far afield as Basildon in Essex – such is the draw of the opportunities in this exciting sector.
The careers fair included 27 organisations exhibiting and talking to the young people about opportunities across the sector, including Carnival UK, Just Be Maritime, Serco, the Maritime and Transport Action Group and Royal Navy.
Other highlights from the day included an electronics hands-on activity run by British Marine, a ‘Marine’s Got Talent’ session of talks and a selection of practical activities run by the Workboat Association.
In addition to activities for the students, this year Maritime Solent ran a CPD session for teachers, tutors and education support staff to help give a better understanding of the industry and the skills needs so more schools bring more young people next year.
One of the talks during the day was given by Shea Wallace, Deck Officer Cadet, Maritime London / Warsash. Afterwards, Shea said, “I’m studying at Solent University and during the three-year course you get to have one year at sea. During that time, I have worked on a range of vessels including the RRS Discovery and the Sir David Attenborough, which was the best time of my life! From the age of 17 to now being 20 I have travelled to Antarctica, the Arctic, Japan, Caribbean, and the Med. I just want more students to be made aware of these amazing opportunities and to hopefully be inspired.”
This is the fourth year that Maritime Solent has supported Careers Day at Seawork, building on the first year where 70 students attended and working towards the target of 500 attendees in 2026.
Simon Lofting, Marine Engineering Lecturer / Assessor at South Essex College said, “We come every year with our 16-18 age group so that they can learn about the industry and what jobs are on offer, network and take the next steps into potential employment. They’ve really enjoyed the day and have come away from it buzzing and with lots of information, including a talk from a former student of ours!”
Lorna Wagner, Programme Manager at Maritime UK Solent said, “We were thrilled with the attendance at the careers day which doubled the number of young people who came last year for a whole programme of events throughout the day. At Maritime Solent, we are absolutely committed to making sure young people in our communities are aware of the amazing and rewarding career paths available to them in maritime. It was great to see the students, adults and exhibitors came away from the day feeling so positive and energised about the opportunities that the maritime sector offers, and we’re really working to working with Seawork on making this an even bigger event next year.”