WORLD’S FIRST VIRTUAL REALITY CAREERS EXPERIENCE LAUNCHED BY CITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON COLLEGE

A world-first virtual reality careers experience for young people will be launched at City of Wolverhampton College’s Skills and Apprenticeship Show at Wolverhampton Racecourse this Thursday, April 4.  

Tamworth-based innovation company Dev Clever has developed the virtual, interactive, careers, training and apprenticeship robot – VICTAR – to give youngsters a hand in choosing their future career.  

Using the same innovative technology that many young people use to play computer games, they don a virtual reality headset and VICTAR takes them through an interactive personality test to determine their individual strengths and interests. 

The robot then matches them to the careers that they will excel at and enjoy, shows videos of people working in that career and gives information on the different pathways they can choose to get there – such as doing full-time qualifications at college or combining working and studying on an apprenticeship scheme.  

The robot is also linked to live labour market information which shows the young person the predicted growth of the selected career and what they can expect to earn once they are qualified, as well as college courses, apprenticeship vacancies and employers in their area to help them begin their journey.  

Chris Jeffries, CEO of Dev Clever, said:

“We are delighted to be launching VICTAR at such a major event as the Skills and Apprenticeship Show and it means that young people from Wolverhampton and the surrounding areas will be among the first in the country to benefit from this exciting and innovative way to get careers advice. 

“The robot will change the way in which careers’ information is delivered to school pupils and provide them with the opportunity to make an informed decision about their future which should dramatically reduce the risk of making the wrong choice, which leads to mis-education and additional cost to the UK tax payer.  

Over 2000 young people from 24 schools across the region will be attending the Skills and Apprenticeship Show to explore different career options, inspire them to find out more about the world of work and learn about college courses as an alternative to stopping on at school. 

As well as getting careers advice from VICTAR they will also get the chance to go have a go in a tram simulator, perform on a live music stage, go head-to-head with friends in football, basketball and fitness challenges, take part in army games, get hands-on with hairdressing and cupcake decorating, try designing computer games and get to grips with ECG, ultrasound and retina scanners.