Greg Martin and Mike Hannah at Eastern Institute of Technology. Photo / Paul Taylor.
With the summer holiday shut-down looming, Hawke's Bay Today reporter Andrew Ashton examines how Hawke's Bay's labour force is increasingly taking to more "horizontal" career paths, and find out how an increasing willingness to "go back to school" is benefiting the region's business landscape.
While the region's schools are eyeing an extended holiday, for many already in work this summer will be a time to ponder their next move on their career path - and with more than half of those studying at EIT's Hawke's Bay campus classed as mature students, it appears it is never too late to chase that dream job.
Greg Martin was 33, living in London and struggling to find a job in his trained field, when he decided he needed to switch things up.
He couldn't find work in the automotive glazing field he had worked in since leaving secondary school. All the positions he applied for required qualifications. It was the same situation when he moved to Dublin.
"I had a shock realisation that I would be living on very little money if I didn't do something about it."
On returning to Hawke's Bay in 2016, he applied for various jobs without luck.
"It was a case of now or never to get into study to get a degree so I could move up higher."
Deciding that business was "a good overall degree that would help me get somewhere", he enrolled at EIT. He started out with a management major but after his first introduction to accounting, he was hooked and switched to an accounting major.
Two years later, he has all but finished his Bachelor of Business majoring in accounting through EIT, and already has a full-time accounting job lined up with top Hastings company Crowe Horwath.
Martin said with a new son born this month, the timing could not have been better.
"It's a relief to know that the money side of things is sorted now and I can be earning while my partner takes a year's maternity leave."
However, even before he starts fulltime work, he has already given back to the company's clients and the wider business community - helping small and medium businesses prevent fraud.
As part of his course he was tasked with implementing the research skills he had developed at EIT.
He was then tasked with presenting this information to the firm's clients. Covered were what controls were generally lacking and steps to address this.
"Designing and running a seminar was a bit of a step into the unknown for me. It was definitely out of my comfort zone.
"The world of accounting is about presenting clients with current and new issues."
On the opposite end of the career ladder, former chef Mike Hannah gave up a 23-year career to undertake a graduate diploma in marketing supported by courses in supply chain and operations management.
After stints in some of the leading restaurant kitchens in the region, including Mangapapa Lodge and Pacifica, he decided the work style did not fit well with a young family.
"I like a good challenge and going back to school was one. I had to learn to study again and there was a lot I didn't know how to do, like referencing, but I had a good goal so I was stubborn about it. In the end I really enjoyed the study."
His determination paid off, securing secured a position with JJ Richards, an Australasian waste management company.
He is now in a senior management programme, learning the company's business from the ground up, spending two to three months in all areas of the business including sales, operations, logistics and engineering.
EIT business school lecturer Regan Cotter said those were just two examples of many.
In fact, 52 per cent of this year's students were mature.
"These students are making a big investment of themselves in their choice so they aren't wasting any time or any of the opportunities we can provide.
"Being older, they can bring their world experience into their studies and they've developed the soft skills that employers are wanting."
Business Hawke's Bay chief executive Carolyn Neville said the upcoming summer break could see even more people assessing their career options.
"We know that the upcoming summer break period often acts as the catalyst for a career change, with time for thinking and self-evaluation. People may be looking for better salary prospects, enhanced job satisfaction, or an improved work life balance.
"The value of further education in switching careers can be in taking up training opportunities that allow a person to develop industry specific knowledge supporting the transferable skills that have been developed in prior careers.
"While not everyone can afford to complete a massive re-training programme, we're seeing a definite upward trend in the uptake of a wide range of short-course training, online learning and micro-credentialing which offer opportunities for upskilling or cross-skilling in shorter bursts that may be easier to achieve and help a person leapfrog into whatever they want to do next.
"Transferring a person's business acumen and experience into a new field introduces a fresh perspective; bringing a different focus to an existing business that may lead to innovative developments or enhanced processes."
Neville added the movement was not all one way either.
"We're seeing two-way movement between career paths; from a professional career path to a trades-based role, or from an academic pathway to a corporate one or vice versa.
"The opportunity to retrain is breaking down stereotypes of career pathways and progressing up the career ladder. There's a trend towards more horizontal career movement to explore new opportunities.
"The value of this is in the deepening of skills and capability across a person's lifetime in work."