Hutt Valley Education to Employment Coordination Service

CONNECTING YOUNG PEOPLE AND SCHOOLS WITH LOCAL EMPLOYERS

The Education to Employment Coordination Service encourages and supports the coordination of employers and the local business community to be involved in vocational education, employment and development opportunities for young people.

In 2019 the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce’s business strategy recognised the need to help facilitate our local young people into careers in local employment.

We identified a need to bring our young people into local jobs after our business community was consistently telling us that the single biggest barrier for business confidence was their inability to employ skilled and unskilled people across the Hutt Valley.

Local businesses also told us that they were not engaged with local young people, though many had a desire to employ directly from our community. All they needed was some support to understand the Government programmes and develop relationships with our community schools and students.

Our business community has identified it is critical to address this by building strong relationships with our local secondary schools and employers, to channel the young talent within our community into rewarding, local vocational employment.

Meet Amanda Walters, Education to Employment Coordinator

Our aim is to increase and enhance opportunities for young people to be aware of and improve access to vocational education prospects for future careers and trades.

In July 2019 Cabinet agreed to the Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE). This reform offered an opportunity to encourage more people to consider vocational education as a pathway to employment. As part of this initiative, 20 brokerage positions were created throughout the country and tendered to suitable organisations.

This aligned very well with what we were seeing in the community as well as our long-term strategic plan. The Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce is in an ideal position to assist in this capacity. In 2020, the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, working in conjunction with Hutt City Council and Upper Hutt City Council, secured a contract to provide an Education to Employment Coordinator for the Hutt Valley.

Through our brokerage service, students engage with employers to develop a real world understanding of the world of work. Local employers in turn, are supported to engage more effectively with schools with the aim of raising the profile of trade vocations and help to create work ready students.

Get in touch with us

If you are a local employer who would like to be more involved with helping to raise the profile of vocational trades in the Hutt Valley, please get in touch with us. If you are an employer who would like to connect with a school to help educate our young people about your industry, please also contact us directly. We are also always looking for employers who would be happy to host small groups of students onsite to help them learn about your industry.

There is no obligation. Our Education to Employment Coordinator, Amanda Walters would be happy to talk with you to see how we can help work together to elevate the profile of vocational trades. Call Amanda on 04 939 9821 or email amanda@hvchamber.org.nz.