The Job Tour: Graduating in Palmerston North

Photo / Duncan Brown

Palmerston North is known as Student City. It has Massey University, UCOl, International Pacific College, Hairdressers College and a variety of other training schools.

When we arrived on Friday, it was Massey graduation, so we thought we'd go along to support and find out what the graduates' plans are for the future.

We arrived at the Regent Theatre and were given some tickets (four rows from the front) and went on in. We were at the business graduation where a few hundred students received their bachelors, diplomas and PHDs.

We were keen to find out their plans for work, and whether they will stay in Palmerston North. Interestingly enough, only one of the people we spoke to had a job relating to their degree. Everyone else said it is a tough job market out their for graduates but they're willing to wait until the right one came along.

According to government statistics, 67 per cent of graduates with bachelor degrees end up in full time employment. The rest work part-time, are unemployed or are not in New Zealand.

A couple of the students said they were going to move overseas and travel, and then use their qualifications when more jobs were available back home. Most said they only came to Palmerston North for their courses, so would probably leave again.

But local students said that while they'd leave the city for work, they would probably return to live in the near future.

The other big career in Palmerston North is the army. About a five minute drive away is Linton Army Camp - the biggest in New Zealand. It has around 1600 soldiers at any one time, and they come here to become leaders in their chosen fields.

Here you can meet people from all ranks and areas of the army from engineers and gunners to medics. Most of them have been in the army for a few years and they spend around 12 weeks here to hone their leadership skills.

Here we met Glenn and James who both joined the army to take advantage of the travel opportunities the army offer. Between them they've travelled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Timor. Glenn, a maintenance fitter, fixes all the machines used in the army, while James is a gunner, so he gets to use the weapons.

Both say that the army is a great career, but it's tough work. They say that if you can handle the first 12 weeks (which they say is the toughest) then you'll be fine, but if you can't then you'll be out of the army very quickly.

They also say it's the type of career where you have to work as a team, and there's no such thing as working as an individual. For example, it takes seven men to fire a gun.

They both said that if you're fit, tough, team-spirited and have a licence then the army might be a good career option for you. It's also not bad paying either - entry-level jobs start at $38,000.

As Palmerston North is the kind of city where people come just to study, we thought we'd have a chat with some high-school students to see what their plans were. So we went to Palmerston North Boys' High School and met Michael and Callum.

They are just about to start seventh form, their last year at school, and both have plans to go to university. They say that Massey seems their best option due to a couple of reasons. They want to get into science, and Massey is one of the better universities for this, and because it's cheaper as they can still live at home.

Money seems to be a big issue on their minds. Both are aware how much it costs to study and have seen their sisters work so they can afford to pay for themselves. They said that the idea of a big student loan seems quite scary, and that's probably the reason they'd stay in Palmerston North.