Have you ever wondered how it is you would be able to break into such industry? Recently we have had a chat with Barrie who is the site manager in Dunedin and has been for 24 years! He is keen to encourage youth to get stuck in and not be afraid of the end result. He entertains the fact that not all youth want to stay in the Dunedin area, but he is trying to give opportunities that will help grow the community around us.
"I want young people to be given opportunities - Because that is our future. Dunedin is a community - we want to make it strong."
His advice is that there is always a start point and it is how hard you are willing to work to get to where you want to be. “It all comes down to how driven you are as a person. It is the task of actually getting up and knocking on doors so that you can get your foot in the door and show how hard of a worker you are”.
When asked if he had any advice to himself when he was younger it was the fact that he needed to have a better work life balance.
“As a young man, all I was interested in was earning money (working double shifts) to one day be able to be living the kiwi dream. As a result of that, I had a house at 23 and a family at 27. The downfall of this was that I missed a lot of opportunities when it came to my family and friends. All of a sudden my kids were out of the home and at university - I felt like I had missed out on so much.”
After we had a chat with Barrie, we sat down with Kate, a 24-year-old load out supervisor. She had started about a year ago, and she began packing boxes and then was given a chance to become a supervisor. Her piece of advice to youth is that you should always put yourself forward and not be afraid of new opportunities, but most importantly - always to be on time!
“If you put in the effort it will be repaid to you. You’ve just got to work hard and have a good work ethic to succeed.”
As a youth-friendly employer T&G offer a number of opportunities such as; Business Walkthroughs, Coffee Dates, CV Reviews, Entry Level Discussions, Role Reversals, Mock Interviews and Mentoring. To check out the youth employer page for T & G click here.
