More Rotorua firms wanted to offer work placements

It's a win-win situation. A business gets an extra pair of hands while a student or job-seeker gets valuable experience on their CV.

Work placement opportunities are becoming more sought after in Rotorua, by job-seekers keen to get a foot in the door and by students needing "real-life" experience.

To meet that demand and with placements a crucial component of many of its courses, Waiariki Institute of Technology has just created a new position to source and co-ordinate placements for students in Rotorua.

Industry placement coordinator Nadene McClay is currently looking for opportunities for about 80 degree and post-graduate diploma students for next semester. She said while those higher level students tended to do one-off industry projects, undergraduate students are more likely to need traditional work experience.

"We are always looking for more businesses to get involved," Mrs McClay said. "There's been a big growth in [student] numbers and international students and we want to do the best we can by the students."

She said opportunities were needed across all faculties but especially in computing, applied management, tourism and Maori development. The practical experience helped students become work-ready and made them more employable and attractive to businesses when they graduated. She said that while most placements were unpaid, some businesses did pay the students particularly where significant time and effort was invested.

Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Roger Gordon e encouraged local companies to facilitate work placements if they could.

"There are definitely benefits for businesses, especially if they have research or projects they haven't been able to find time for," he said. "You can get people of various levels of experience and it can help gauge whether there is a need for more staff."

Rotorua's Dr Julia Charity, director of fledgling online business Look After Me, agrees the benefits go both ways.

Dr Charity set up her Kiwi homestay network and "virtual hotel" business from her kitchen table last year. With plans to go global, she is now in talks with potential investors. In the meantime she is offering 10 distinct work placements of 20 hours each. In return she will provide a written reference. "It's not financially viable for me to employ people at the moment but I am able to offer those," she said. "I want to make it a win-win for everybody, it's hard to get a job without a reference."

The volunteers will be entrusted with everything from working on the website to setting up an online shop to assisting with year end accounts.

"There's such a diversity of tasks that need doing at the moment. It would be good experience for people, having real life tasks to do in a finite period of time."

Dr Charity has been in touch with Settlement Support, believing it may be of interest to migrants looking for New Zealand experience. She has also spoken to Waiariki, aware holidays are coming up. If all goes to plan, the unpaid 20 hours could turn into more.

"It's a no-brainer they could get a job if investment comes through and they have impressed me," she said.

Kellie Hamlett of recruitment agency Talent ID said work placements were being talked about and considered more and more by her clients.

But what about those who say businesses are just taking advantage of free labour? "I guess it's in the eye of the beholder how you see it," said Ms Hamlett. "Some people will see value, others will say I am not going to work for free."

However she believed if done properly it would always be a win-win situation.

"There are people out there that need that valuable experience to get a foot in the door. The first job can be hard to get and is so important," she said.

"There's definite value if they can be offered a placement that's relevant and they can get a good reference from."

If you are interested in offering a placement to a Waiariki student email Nadene.McClay@waiariki.ac.nz or phone (07) 346-8720. For information on the Look After Me opportunities go to www.lookafterme.co.nz.