Kiwis' Careers Shift From Right to Right for Now

Kiwis' Careers Shift From Right to Right for Now

As NCEA exam time looms at the end of this week, over 60,000 young Kiwi adults will be feeling the pressure to decide what line of work they’re going to pursue, or what tertiary study they’ll apply for to set up their career.

But as new research from SEEK reveals, this decision does not need to dictate the next forty years of work life, as one career for a lifetime is no longer the norm.

In fact, 73 per cent of Kiwis are now working in a different job or career than they set out to when they finished school[1], showing career diversification is now standard in our society. The research also shows females are more likely to have different jobs or careers, with almost 80 per cent working in a different career than intended when leaving secondary school, compared to just 68 per cent of men.

“The pressure to define your career at 18 must ease,” states Janet Faulding, General Manager of SEEK New Zealand.

“Kiwi’s, particularly parents, need to wrap their head around the concept that having many jobs and careers is not a sign of their child’s inability to settle down, or make up their mind, and certainly doesn’t give indication to the likelihood of their career success. Businesses value innovative and fresh thinking and having a broad base of experience equips us with this capability”.

By working in a range of organisations across a range of industries we expose ourselves to
diverse tools and technologies, and new industry and business disciplines. This provides the opportunity to develop a highly valued skill set of; responsiveness, agility and resilience. It is these types of non-technical skills that are particularly appealing to employers.

By thinking of further learning less as defining your career and more as a chance for young adults to mature, develop skills such as critical thinking, researching, negotiation and team work New Zealanders will be more aligned to the reality of tertiary education’s role.

The same research revealed that 76 per cent of us seek further learning after school by participating in a course or degree. For many, learning doesn’t stop at graduation, with over 60 per cent of Kiwis continuing to upskill during their career, showing the importance of life-long learning to ensure we remain relevant to the workplace. As the industries and economies we work in evolve, we need to ensure we develop the skills to evolve with it.

“Career change goes hand in hand with continued learning, so it’s unsurprising the majority of Kiwis are upskilling beyond their initial tertiary education. What is interesting is that two thirds of us believe that learning on the job is where we learnt our most valuable skills. So to be experiencing different jobs can be one of the most effective ways to broaden and increase your skill set.

“My advice to parents is to encourage your child to make the most of each workplace they enter in even if it may not be their “dream job”. It is through turning up to work highly engaged, asking questions and putting their hand up to take on new responsibilities and opportunities that they’ll understand their strengths and weaknesses and gain those important soft skills. It is this attitude that will set them up for good career opportunities as they progress,” Ms Faulding concludes.

To understand where the most opportunity is currently available in New Zealand, these are the industries where the most jobs have been advertised on SEEK, New Zealand’s largest employment market place, to date this year.

1. Information and Communication Technology
2. Trades and Services
3. Sales

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