Local employment provider secures jobs for 250 unemployed Waikato residents
Mark Ryan is the 250th unemployed Waikato resident to step into a full time job in the last three years thanks to the
support of free employment provider TrainMe Employ Me Zone.
The Hamilton-based employment provider has placed people with over 50 employers Waikato-wide within this timeframe.
The organisation takes people 18 years or older, with varying range of skills and qualifications, through several
screening processes before accepting them onto the job search programme and matching them to potential employers
After nearly 20 years living in England, Mr Ryan returned home to Waikato mid last year in need of work, but lacking the
skills required to successfully find employment in New Zealand.
“I trained as a heating and ventilation engineer in the 80s and 90s. But I left the engineering industry many years ago
and went to work as a chef in West Yorkshire, England,” he said.
“Coming back to New Zealand, I wanted to pursue my passion for engineering. However, I was out of touch not only with
the changes in the industry, but with the employment culture here in New Zealand,” he said.
During a visit to Work and Income, Mr Ryan discovered TrainMe Employ Me Zone.
“I went through TrainMe Employ Me Zone’s Training for Work course. It focussed on up-skilling me in preparation for
re-entering the workforce. It helped me brush up my CV, took me through interview techniques, helped me look-up old work
contacts to question job availability, and when appropriate jobs came up they would refer me.”
After only five weeks with TrainMe Employ Me Zone, out of a maximum 13 weeks, Mr Ryan secured a job at Industrial Site
Services (ISS) in Te Rapa, testing the equipment for construction and manufacturing industries in New Zealand and around
the Pacific Employ Me Zone programme leader Rachel Peacham said Mr Ryan’s job success is a trend amongst those taking
the TrainMe Employ Me Zone courses.
“On average over the last three years we are placing an unemployed person into work more frequently than once every five
days,” she said.
“It’s our prerogative to play a part in shrinking generational unemployment. And numbers show we’ve had great success in
the last three years at equipping Waikato residents for the workforce and helping them to find jobs.”
Trainme’s impressive employment numbers support latest benefit numbers, released by the Ministry of Social Development
at the beginning of this year, which reveal thousands of New Zealanders have gained financial independence by coming off
welfare in the past 12 months.
Figures for the December 2013 quarter show over 17,000 fewer people are on the benefit compared to December 2012.
Mrs Peacham said what’s appealing to TrainMe Employ Me Zone participants is that they aren’t on their own in the at
times “daunting” search for work.
“Course participants are surrounded by other people in the same position as them; so alongside the support from our
staff, participants help and encourage one another. It’s the support from all sides that helps boost confidence and get
them into employment,” she said.
Other TrainMe courses for adults include National Certificate in Horticulture, National Certificate in Agriculture, and
National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering
ENDS