Jobs for school leavers, no CV required
Auckland, Tuesday, April 3
Fletcher Building has introduced a game-changing new online job hunting and application platform – Switch Up. It aims to help young people transitioning from school or unemployment into the workforce, and was created with the
help of high school students.
Launched in October 2017, the award-winning platform is designed to engage youth through a digital no-CV-needed
recruitment process, opening up employment in Auckland, Christchurch and regional North Island areas.
Interim Chief People and Communications Officer Claire Carroll says there is a large pool of young people in New Zealand
who want to work and the company aims to open their minds to a wide range of potential careers.
“We ask potential recruits activity-based questions such as what would you do if you saw an upset colleague, or what
would you do if a customer comes in to collect an order, but they can’t remember the details? There are no wordy job
descriptions, instead we have videos of current young employees, their tasks, and their daily lives on the job. By
showing, rather than telling what a job looks like, young people will be able to visualise their future career and be
excited about it.”
Fletcher Building is aware that the traditional recruitment process can be a barrier. Switch Up is a way to find good
people, especially young people who are less familiar with writing a CV and have had little practice at applying for a
job.
To apply for a job applicants simply fill in a, ‘Facebook-like’ profile that takes less than 6 minutes to complete.
Once employed, Switch Up recruits and other young employees of the company participate in a six-month learning and
development programme, fully supported by a mentor. The programme includes work and life skills such as budgeting, time
management, and goal setting.
“We want to proactively support youth employment, which is as much about helping young people into their first job as it
is about supporting them to be successful over time. We want a young person’s first experience of the workforce to be a
really good one,” says Claire.
Switch Up was shaped by youth too. Fletcher Building collaborated with One Tree Hill College, among other partners, to
ensure it hit the mark when designing the website and developing the recruitment processes to appeal to young people.
The college students even came up its catchy name – Switch Up.
Beth Newton, one of the school’s careers advisors, says “Switch Up is very visual and easy to navigate, removing the
fear from the job hunting process for our young people. Our students thought it was really exciting being involved in
its development. The outcome is a job application platform the students felt almost anyone could use.”
Switch Up recruits for 20 of Fletcher Building’s businesses as well as head office in New Zealand including companies
making roads (Higgins), concrete pipes (Humes), and steel products, and retailers such as PlaceMakers and Mico
Bathrooms.
When applying, youth can indicate their interest in a job family (customer service, labourers, forklift drivers or
operators), or create a generic profile. Jobs can be in Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Palmerston North, and
Christchurch.
Following a ‘check in chat’ with a recruiter, applicants have the opportunity to attend an open day with hiring managers
and be recruited directly by them.
Matthew Taylor the first recruit to come through Switch Up appreciated the simple and less formal recruitment process.
“I saw a Switch Up ad on social media and then went to the website. I watched the videos and they were good because I
got to see what the jobs looked like. I was about to finish up my job at a kiwifruit orchard, so I decided to fill in
the application which was really easy and quick.”
All applicants, successful or not, receive feedback. Those who aren’t quite work ready receive texts detailing what was
missing in their application, and where they can go to improve before applying again.
“Being unsuccessful in a job application and not knowing why can be very disheartening, particularly when trying to get
a job for the first time. By giving all applicants feedback and offering solutions, we hope to help them take action
that leads to a job in the future,” says Claire.
“As a major New Zealand employer, we are in a unique position to help tackle New Zealand’s youth and regional
unemployment issues in a new way, which has come out of the collaboration of a number of partners: Ministry of Social
Development, Limited Services Volunteers, CadetMax, WorkChoice, First Foundation, TupuToa, ATEED, and One Tree Hill
College.”
Ends