Sadie Gilbert chats with minister Daphne Cain and Andy Stewart from the DfE at the Isle of Man graduate fair 2025
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00:00So hello and here we are with the lovely Daphne Cain, Minister for Education, Sport and Culture.
00:06So then today obviously with it being the grad fair, why do you think it's important for young people to have stuff like this that they can go to?
00:13I think it's a wonderful showcase of the very wide range diverse careers that are possible to enjoy on the Isle of Man
00:21and it's very valuable not only for homegrown students but also any visitors.
00:26The value of today is to enable students of post-16, 18 or graduates to know the wealth of opportunity that they have right here on the Isle of Man
00:37and increasingly hoping to encourage more of them to return even if not immediately after graduating for their future careers
00:47because young people are a valuable commodity and we want them.
00:51I agree, I agree.
00:52But I think it's very valuable to me to speak to some of the storeholders, many of them with the re-hiring signs
00:59and to hear their positive comments about the value that this is to them
01:04and also to see the young people and the realisation that actually the world is their oyster
01:09and they are welcome to enjoy a career and when you ask what I started as, what you start as is sometimes just a stepping stone.
01:18Hello and if you'd just like to introduce yourself and then what your role is.
01:23Sure, thanks. My name is Andy Stewart. I'm the Interim Chief Officer for the Department for Enterprise.
01:27So day-to-day, what does your job look like?
01:30So I'm relatively new into this particular job after having it for a couple of weeks
01:34but I've been at the department in various forms for over 20 years.
01:39My kind of main day-to-day role is around policy and strategy development
01:43and then implementing actions off those policies, sometimes on economic development matters directly for the department
01:50and other times on cross-cutting strategic issues around government like connectivity or air connectivity and sea connectivity.
01:57Interesting. So when you first started out in your career, where did you start out and then what were your dreams and aspirations?
02:05That's a great question. So my first job was at 13 years of age in a petrol station, which of course you can't do now
02:13and that's one of the things we're trying to support businesses with at the moment
02:16is how they give younger people opportunities in an economy which has changed a little bit
02:21and what younger people can do.
02:23I progressed through various roles, all on the Isle of Man.
02:27I was at the Steam Packet for eight years just before joining government, so just over 20 years ago.
02:31So dreams and aspirations. When I joined government in particular, it was around a commitment to public service
02:38and supporting people, the people of the Isle of Man through the various initiatives and things we have done
02:43and continue to do to this day and that's kind of what drives me every day at the moment as well.