Covid-19 coronavirus: Pilot, apprentice builder among those to lose jobs after impact of pandemic

The impact of a nationwide lockdown has decimated Kiwi businesses, forcing them to lay off staff.

A Herald analysis shows more than 14,000 people have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We spoke to two Kiwis who have lost their jobs.

Pilot

Pilot Mike Kenyon said the saddest part about losing his dream job was not knowing his last flight in early March would become exactly that.

The 35-year-old was made redundant by Virgin Australia on April 3.

He had not been in a plane since.

Former Virgin Australia pilot Mike Kenyon was made redundant during the coronavirus lockdown. Photo / Supplied.

Not knowing when airlines would start taking to the skies again only added to Kenyon's distress.

Living in Taupō, where his wife is employed, Kenyon said there were only a small number of jobs around and most were tourism-related.

"The number of jobs coming up isn't high and tend to be quite specialised: medical stuff, sciences, electricians.

"There have been a few I've been able to apply for but I haven't managed to nail one yet. It's just a case of continuing to cast a wide net and seeing who might be interested."

In 2003, after finishing high school, he started training at Ardmore in early January before he had even turned 18.

He was then a flight instructor at Ardmore before taking a job with Eagle Airways, the turbo-prop operation of Air New Zealand, in 2008.

Three years later he was offered a job at Pacific Blue Airlines, which later rolled into Virgin Australia, where he had been for the past nine years.

Kenyon had helped train new first officers since midway through 2019.

Flying Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Kenyon flew between the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand, and flew transtasman.

While his professional career was a life in the sky, Kenyon said out-of-work pilots had plenty to offer employers.

A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, which Mike Kenyon used to fly, takes off. Photo / Supplied

At the forefront was leadership, they were also great communicators and people who were constantly learning and adapting.

"Pilots have a lot to offer in regards to our transferable skills," he says. "We don't just sit there, fly aeroplanes and press buttons, there's a hell of a lot more to it.

"If someone was prepared to take five minutes, give it some thought and talk to us, they would realise there's some potential here to do something different or really cool."

JOBLESS3

Apprentice builder

Just one month into his new gig as a chippy, Sam Crosson was let go at the start of the lockdown.

Tauranga-based apprentice builder Sam Crosson was hoping for another job in the industry. Photo / Supplied

The Tauranga-based apprentice builder, 22, is on the hunt for another job.

He had moved to the Bay of Plenty to start the apprenticeship after working in Dunedin as a brewing and packaging technician at Emerson's Brewery.

"It's hard to describe … a little bit surreal," he said when explaining how he felt at the time.

"I can totally understand. If I were in my boss' position, I would have done the same thing so there are no hard feelings."

After the lockdown, Crosson and his wife, Izzy, started working in a kiwifruit packhouse near Katikati to pay the bills.

There were a number of other employees at the packhouse who had also lost their jobs amid the coronavirus lockdown and pandemic, Crosson said.

Sam Crosson (right) and wife Izzy (left) are currently working in a kiwifruit packhouse. Photo / Supplied

But the aspiring carpenter said he did not belong in a packhouse and he was keen to find another job in the industry soon, hopefully with his old boss.

However, Crosson was not opposed to trying another profession in the immediate and uncertain future.