Waiariki aims for stronger business links

Waiariki Institute of Technology Business School is looking to build a stronger relationship with local business through its advisory committee and new initiatives.

School director Alison Lawton said that relationship was crucial to keeping the institute's business courses relevant to the needs of today's business community.

"We want to work with our Local Advisory Committee to re-engage and get the business community interested in Waiariki and what we can do with them," she said.

The local advisory committee is already working closely with the school to provide feedback from the local business sectors and build up that relationship and Lawton said it was important that she and staff heard what they were doing well and ideas on how to improve the value of their students to potential employers.

A recent survey showed soft skills were one of the key areas employers had identified as a gap in new graduates and Lawton said she was working with Waiariki's senior management to initiate a whole-organisation approach to this, to develop skills such as working with people, communication and building business relationships in all the institute's students.

"This needs to be embedded in every course, but how do we do that? That's the challenge.

"We want employers to be fighting over Waiariki graduates and they want industry-ready students who can add value immediately."

She encouraged employers to get in touch with committee members to discuss how that could be achieved and said she wanted to know what was not working and what was.

Getting more "real world" experience into students' education was also a focus.

"This can benefit the business community and the students. They come back buzzing and excited. The question is, how can we get some of them out into your business?"

Head of school Joanne Duncan said that some students had already been out into businesses, undertaking research projects as one of their papers, and she was keen to develop this.

"This is a free service for people who need research done in any part of their business," she said.

"It is ideal for small to medium-sized business owners who do not always have the time and resources to undertake research. It helps our students and the community."

Employers are also being invited in to meet students and offer feedback on how they are presenting themselves - in person and through their curriculum vitae.

Contact with local employers also opened many students' eyes to the range and scope of job opportunities in Rotorua.

Duncan said input from the advisory committee had already highlighted the need for better business administration skills in its business graduates - especially around the technologies and programmes they would be expected to work with in their first jobs.

The School of Business local advisory committee is chaired by Mainfreight's Damien Radesic, who said he was already talking to a lot of business owners to help identify gaps and areas where the programmes could better prepare students for the workplace: "We need to find out what's missing and what they need to make students more ready for employment."

Radesic said many employers were experiencing a shortage of quality employees and were looking to candidates from elsewhere in New Zealand, when there were local young people looking for work.

"We have such a great campus on our doorstep and we need to utilise that to employ locally.

"We can do that with good input from the business community and people are welcome to talk to anybody in the committee."

Business School Local Advisory Committee

Damien Radesic, Mainfreight (chairman)

Alison Lawton, Waiariki

Chris Heywood, Rotorua District Council

Fletcher Tabuteau, Rotorua Boys' High School

Gregg Brown, Pig & Whistle and Capers

Joanne Duncan, Waiariki

Kellie Hamlett, Talent ID

Leanne Thomson, Association of Administrative Professionals New Zealand

Mark Jones, Hall Jones Finance

Paul Muggleton, Hume Pine

Peter Breen, Placemakers