Jake Curran, Academic Programme Manager for the School of Trades and Services, opened the event. Click the pic to watch a video snippet
Last Wednesday the School of Trades and Services ran its first 2021 Carpentry Apprenticeships Employers Evening. This event was designed to provide a pathway for employers to connect with potential apprentices graduating from our Level 3 Carpentry Pre-trade (Housebuild) course. Getting these students in front of employers, is a key step in moving them from pre-trade to our NZ Carpentry Certificate apprenticeship programme.
Eight employers who were actively hiring apprentices came to the event and participated in the ‘speed-dating’ format, that put the sixty students who attended in front of a range of building businesses.
A student engages with an industry representative
Thanks to the great support from our Industry Partnerships team, our students were well prepared to impress and some even handed their CVs to potential employers. and this has already resulted in offers being made to some of the students who attended, which is exactly the outcome we were looking for.
Feedback from the employers was positive with confirmation that “good talent” had been found and job offers have already been made to some of our students.
Lenisiloti Fifta, our Carpentry Liaison Officer and ITaBS Manager, briefing our students
Jake Curran, Academic Programme Manager for the School, says that this is the outcome they were hoping for, and the event concept has proven that this is a great way to drive and support growth. This was particularly important after such a challenging year for staff and students, with getting the house builds completed while navigating lockdown.