More jobs on offer in Tauranga

Bay job listings are increasing. Tauranga's Whitney Shaw got a job as a beauty therapist. Photo / George Novak

Plenty of positions going in retail, healthcare and engineering

Tauranga's job listings on Trade Me are up significantly on a year ago as employment opportunities improve "across the board", local recruitment specialists say.

Trade Me Jobs data for the July-September quarter shows job listings in Tauranga were up 14 per cent compared with the same period last year, with 1557 listings.

Jobs in trade, healthcare and engineering were Tauranga's biggest movers.

The wider Western Bay of Plenty had 99 listings in the past quarter - a 62 per cent jump - with trades and construction highlighted as the biggest drivers of growth.

Manager of Right Click Employment Solutions in Tauranga Paula Baker said the number of job listings were increasing "across the board".

"I think [the market] has been healthy.

"This year has definitely been better than years gone by.

"At the grassroots level we're starting to see a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel so that's filtering up the chain," Ms Baker said.

Claudia Nelson, recruitment consultant at The Right Staff, said retail and construction had picked up in Tauranga.

"They're definitely all busy and taking on staff. When things started to pick up 12 months ago, there were very selective pockets of where business started to grow, and I think it has now changed and is more across the board."

Nationally the employment market enjoyed solid growth in almost every region, with listings in the three months to September up 16.4 per cent on the same quarter last year.

Construction and architecture roles on Trade Me were up 41 per cent, property up 40 per cent and agriculture up 29 per cent - marking the three strongest areas of growth nationwide.

Head of Trade Me Jobs Peter Osborne said growth during the quarter was in the double digits in most areas.

"It's been wonderful to see job ad numbers go from strength to strength for a whole year now and most of New Zealand has benefited from the ongoing trend.

"It's interesting to see the average number of applications has dipped, meaning that all things being equal, it would have been slightly easier for people to find work over recent months."

While this was "great news" for job hunters, the slump in applications made it tough for advertisers to find staff.

Three weeks to find beauty job in Tauranga

It took about three weeks after graduating for Tauranga's Whitney Shaw to get a job in the city.

Miss Shaw (pictured), 20, got a job at Tranquillo Beauty Clinic soon after graduating from a beauty therapy course in Hamilton.

"It didn't take me long to get a job, about three weeks of searching. I think it's quite easy to get a job in Tauranga, but I suppose it depends on what industry you're in. I've found it easy to get a job so far."

She enjoyed her new job because each day was different.