Youth unemployment to be tackled
Programme plans to give teens work skills, writes Wayne Timmo. ‘‘I’d really encourage other employers to take young people on but they’ve got to have the right systems and processes in place first.’’
A new programme giving Waikato teens the skills to get into work is about to be launched to prevent them becoming a generation ‘‘lost to the labour market’’.
FutureForce Action Network (FAN) is the Smart Waikato Trust initiative equipping regional employers to offer better work opportunities to young people.
The free-to-join network aims to help employers and educators to offer young people more work experience, apprenticeships, internships, cadetships and jobs.
The network will be launched on September 18 in Matamata.
Grant Montague, the owner of Matamata business Viking Kayaks, encouraged other small employers to attend the launch.
‘‘I’d really encourage other employers to take young people on but they’ve got to have the right systems and processes in place first.
‘‘The tools Smart Waikato has developed can help them do that in a simple way,’’ he said.
He employs seven young staff parttime and offers the best of them the chance to progress in his business.
His young employees perform a range of tasks, from cleaning the workshop to cutting components for the kayaks his company produces.
He developed a performance appraisal system for his workers, giving them better boundaries, evaluation, mentoring and encouragement for doing a good job.
‘‘It’s a win-win because they are getting good work experience and I have got a growing pool of staff to choose from,’’ he said.
Organisations attending the launch will be given a prototype FAN Quick Guide on how to recruit young people. Employers would also gain free access to a set of robust on-line HR tools to help them with the planning, selecting, inducting, mentoring and evaluating process.
Smart Waikato chief executive and former Matamata College student, Mary Jensen, said she was delighted to be launching FAN in her hometown.
She found the global youth unemployment statistics alarming; more than 75 million people aged between 15 and 24 are out of work.
FAN was developed in consultation with a group of about 30 labour market stakeholders representing business, local and central government, tertiary education, industry training, and Gateway and career teachers.
Smart Waikato had using seed funding from various organisations including Work and Income.
‘‘The plan is to roll out the network based on where the need and funding is first. The Matamata-Piako district and Waikato west were high on the priority list as we know employers there are motivated to grow,’’ she said.
FAN’s recent Hamilton launch attracted organisations including Fairfax Media, ASB Bank, NDA Engineering, Vodafone and CTC Aviation, which represented about 25,000 jobs.
Other Smart Waikato projects include the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme, Principal for a Day project and Smart Waikato’s Youth Employment Survey.
The Matamata FAN launch will be held from 5pm on September 18 at Stanley Modular on 6 Garland St (off Mangawhero Road). Employers can RSVP to linda@smartwaikato.co.nz.
Former Matamata College student and current Smart Waikato Trust chief executive Mary Jensen is delighted to be launching FutureForce Action Network in her home town.