THE Swan Chamber of Commerce will host the Jobs Galore event on August 15 with the theme of investing in the next generation and addressing the state’s skills shortage.

Now in its third year, the networking business event will aim to sponsor up to 300 students from City of Swan high schools with 200 business owners and professionals invited to join.

In 2023, the Swan Chamber of Commerce were able to sponsor 150 students through the business community.

The year following had 200 students sponsored by 200 businesses in the City of Swan.

Swan Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Tom Smilovitis said the event welcomed students who were uncertain about what to do in the future but had the ambition to work.

“Everyone’s different and we’re not there to tell people what to do but we’re there to create opportunities,” he said.

“A lot of kids feel like they get forced to stay at school until they’re 18, but if they’d left a couple of years early and got an apprenticeship or some sort of traineeship, by the time they’re 18, they’d be well on their way to their future and bought their first car.

“We say it’s called jobs galore because you create your own opportunities.

“Unfortunately, the digital world creates this anxiety through influencers and things that are just not real.

“But once these students sit next to a guy or a lady that’s built an amazing business and (they might realise) they’re just like them.

“Often, even in a business perspective, many business owners and professionals feel as nervous as the kids, that’s all things being equal and that’s when you get the best out of a room.”

Mr Smilovitis said if students were feeling overwhelmed at such an event, there were key questions they could ask to guide their experience.

“I think one of the best questions they could ask is, ‘How did you start your business?’” he said.

“Or ‘How did you get to where you are today?’ and it’s a wonderful thing to watch what happens next.

“I dare say 98 per cent of them would say, ‘I felt like I was a nobody’.

“They would relate to them, because no one actually is born with a silver spoon in the mouth – even the people that are privileged.

“They struggle with all sorts of other frustrations that we don’t know about so no one really has their act together – no one.

“Especially even the guest speaker, who is an incredibly successful individual – they just started in retail and they didn’t have a clue what they were doing.

“It’s in all of us but a lot of people actually forget where they are and asking that question brings people back to a sobering reminder of where they started from.”

Tickets to the business breakfast can be found on the Swan Chamber website under Jobs Galore 2025.