Central Hawke's Bay students get taste of picking work

Students board the bus back to CHB after a day working at blueberry farm. Photo / Supplied

Every day more than 40 students from Central Hawke's Bay are travelling to Hastings to pick blueberries for a summer job.

For many of them it's their first job, and has been great experience, says CHB College teacher aide Angela Ross who organised it.

The initiative started when Angela wanted to help find summer work for her 15-year-old daughter.

After Gourmet Blueberries attended the CHB College careers expo, more students became interested and it soon grew to a bus-load of students.

The Central Hawke's Bay District Council's Mayoral Taskforce for Jobs has assisted with transport costs.

Angela estimates she has put through 55 student applications through to Gourmet Blueberry.

It's a casual job but every day there are more than 40 students taking the bus to Flaxmere for work.

The majority of the students are from the college, but there are others in Central Hawke's Bay who heard about it through word of mouth.

"[The benefit] is huge, it makes [the students] realise what a dollar is worth," she says.

Jordan Mooney, Ayden Boyd, Trelise Durham-Hunt and Bradley Booth at the blueberry farm. Photo / Supplied

It's also benefited their organisation and communication skills as they have a messenger group to share information and have been communicating with other pickers from elsewhere in the world.

Since it is many of the students' first job, they've also gained experience opening bank accounts and getting IRD numbers.

Some of the students have also challenged themselves with how much they can pick.

"They might've started with 5kg and some of them are now doing 25kg a day, there's definitely that challenge for them."

Gourmet Blueberries site human resources manager Shamina Lala says the students have made a difference during the season of uncertainty they were going into due to Covid-19.

"It's more hands in an uncertain time but it's also an introduction to horticulture longer term because it's not just a short fix for us.

"We've had to move away from our traditional ways of recruiting and look outside the box quite a bit which is where Central Hawke's Bay has come in.

"It has expanded the radius from our workforce."

Angela says it has been particularly good for one student in the Gateway programme. She is looking towards returning to learn other parts of the harvest season throughout the year.