Great South’s career exploration programme, Southland Youth Futures, regularly promotes local entry-level vacancies to highlight the range of employment opportunities available for Southland youth.
These roles are mainly ‘jobs with prospects’ such as apprenticeships, cadetships or graduate opportunities, and roles offering on-the-job training and qualifications which help to retain talent and skills in the region and support the region’s future workforce.
During the 2019 year, 399 vacancies of this nature were promoted showcasing the range of employment and training opportunities that are available to Southland youth. As expected with Southland being a primary-sector dominant region, farming and forestry vacancies were most prevalent, followed by trade apprenticeships and thirdly, summer jobs.
These positions are listed on the work section of Southlandnz.com and are shared via the Southland Youth Futures Facebook page, which targets youth between the ages of 14 and 25.
Given that one of the primary goals of the programme is to strengthen the connection between education and employment, local businesses are invited to share employment opportunities that are relevant to youth, with Great South's Southland Youth Futures team.
Along with promoting entry-level vacancies across the region, Great South also reviews the job listings on the Southland jobs portal to identify trends and demand for certain sectors across the region.
Since data collection began, the biggest spike in employment opportunities occurred in the last week of January with 670 employment vacancies promoted during this period.
The largest provider of job listings for the portal is TradeMe (accounting for 53.4% of the overall listings), followed by Seek and Farm Source.
From the data obtained so far, it is assumed that there is a demand for plumbers, fitter/welders and electricians, with these roles in these professions taking the longest to fill.
The recent extension of the Southland Youth Futures programme will help youth to realise the range of opportunities that are available in Southland, expanding focus beyond the primary sector to also include tourism, retail, construction and hospitality.
If you are interested in learning more about the Southland Youth Futures programme or have an employment opportunity you would like to share, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
