Helping to map out geospatial careers
Shadow Day at the State Land Service of Latvia gives school pupils an insight into the day-to-day activities of a geospatial professional, reports Rasa Bērzina, Strategic Planning Expert.
Organised by the Latvian subsidiary of Junior Achievement, the annual careers event connects employers and young people to help them make choices about their future professions and prepare for the labor market. For employers, it is a good opportunity to raise their company's profile and attract future colleagues.
In April 2024, 24 curious students from various educational visited the State Land Service to find out more about its activities and gain an insight into its everyday work. Applications were received from students who wanted to shadow the Director General, Public Relations specialist, Archivists, Customer Service specialists, as well as Building Cadastral Surveying specialists and Cadastre Development managers. The youngest participant was a 2nd grade student interested in the archivist profession, but there were also many students who will graduate from high school this summer and are eager to choose their field of study.
Rasa Bē
rzina explained: “The shadows were mostly concentrated in our Riga Coworking spaces, some of them being in our Jelgava office as well. We organised the first part of the event as getting to know each other by playing the ‘association game’ together. The Director General and the Cadastre Development manager gave the students a general introduction to the areas of activity of the State Land Service. An interesting story with practical demonstrations of various archive documents was given by the Head of our Archives. Students had a chance to learn how to use various tools to carry out building measurements also. In addition, we played a short quiz and took a walk together to get to know the co-working office premises, so that afterwards the students could get to know their chosen professions more closely.”
“Our colleagues had prepared various tasks for the students - the shadows of the Public Relations specialist, for example, created a joint photo collage; the shadows of the Cadastre Development manager had a lot of questions about various topics related to maps, Cadastre and various buildings; and future archivists had the opportunity to walk around the spacious premises of our Archive and familiarise themselves with various documents of one of the most notable buildings of Riga.”
“We are thankful to all the curious shadows who spent Shadow Day at the State Land Service! We are happy to have such knowledgeable, purposeful, attractive and communicative students! Our future is in good hands.”