Kaikoura rebuild brings job, training opportunities

A three-week workshop is helping jobhunters take advantage of the employment prospects the earthquake rebuild will bring.

Training and employment coordinator Harrison Hunt said there was about to be a massive influx of work in Kaikoura and he saw this as an opportunity to get as many locals into work as possible. The course is based on getting people ready to work by making sure they have the right qualifications.

These include the constructsafe passport, which provides employers with the confidence that employees are competent and safe to work on site, as well as communication, interviewing and inter-personal skills.

Hunt said the course would go beyond the basics and offer support and mentoring to help people into the industry.

‘‘The course will run like a ‘big brother’ principle – a lot of these people are looking for direction and we will be with them through the employment process.

‘‘This course has been aimed at the construction industry, but we have found a lot of people who are looking at other ways to broaden their career,’’ Hunt said.

Programme assistant Hemi Inia said the aim was to get people into work and keep them there, and take up the business opportunities which may come through the 300-bed accommodation camp about to be built in Kaikoura.

‘‘We are making sure we place these guys into work and apprenticeships, so they don’t have to remain a labour force but become part of a skilled work force.’’