Expansion works for pop-up job store
Expanding their pop-up job store into Gore and Te Anau has proved fruitful, with the new additions to Venture Southland’s initiative deemed to be a success.
The shop, which opened for six days in Invercargill and one each in the new locales, had more than 700 jobs listed for the whole province, and provided advice on CVs and job interviews to jobseekers.
In its sophomore year, the initiative looked to expand upon last year’s popular event, with the additional sites and innovations such as job search skills seminars being new additions to the format.
Venture Southland labour mar- ket co-ordinator Kirsten Diack said the new locations had been well received, with Gore in particular well received by locals.
‘‘We had over 130 jobs for that area alone and we had roughly about 70 people plus go into that store and we had heaps of people on hand [to help them].’’
Te Anau had been quieter than expected, which Diack chalked up to the time of year.
‘‘It was reasonably quiet, which was what we expected because its the end of the peak season ... we didn’t have as many people as what we thought, but it was still successful in the way that we were able to help at least a handful of people get on the right track that they needed.’’
The seminars were another drawcard, with some people visiting the shop for the sole purpose of attending them.
‘‘We had quite a few people for each session that we ran, which to us was a success that people were actually interested in hearing about some of the information that we could provide.’’
While final attendance figures had yet to be calculated, Diack said more than 500 people were estimated to have been through their doors over the duration of the week.
Jobseekers came from a wide variety of backgrounds and had differing needs to help them find work, she said.
‘‘Most of the people that came into all of the shops, most of them are trying to get back into the workforce, or they were students wanting to get part time work ... mothers trying to get back into the workforce, and people moving to Southland.’’
Venture Southland would ‘‘definitely’’ run the event again in the future, although the timing of future events might be changed to suit the various venues.
‘‘For Te Anau we’d probably have it at the start of the peak season, so that we can help some of the locals get people into employment, I think for Gore it wouldn’t matter what time of the year, gypsy season is a good time [although] over 50 per cent of the jobs weren’t just farming.’’