Longitudinal studies show that employer engagement is an essential ingredient within effective career guidance for students. Over recent years, the New Zealand Government has introduced a range of programmes that encourage and enable schools to work more closely with employers and people in work. New initiatives have therefore been designed to help students: i) understand themselves and their own interests better by broadening their understanding of labour market opportunities; ii) explore specific industries and jobs to confirm their interests; and iii) connect with workplaces to gain work experience or on-the-job training.
Employer engagement in career guidance – New Zealand
Abstract
Forms of employer engagement in career guidance being actively promoted in New Zealand. Schools are provided with an extensive toolkit to support greater interaction with local employers and people in work to support engagement across a range of activities including school visits and career talks with guest speakers, workplace visits, work experience placements, mentoring sessions and careers fairs, delivered both in person and online. In addition, specific programmes have been designed to enable engagement:
Inspiring the Future Aotearoa is a national programme connecting workplace volunteers with primary and secondary schools to broaden young people’s horizons, raise their aspirations and increase their motivation to learn. The programme makes it quick and easy for school staff to identify volunteers willing to speak (in-person or online) with students about the jobs they do.
More tailored career pathway initiatives, such as the Passport to Employment programme in Manurewa High School, allow students to gain work experience and work-related certificates while still in full-time secondary education. The programme enhances career readiness through the combination of part-time work, mandatory 20‑hour community volunteering, employment-related qualifications, and learning activities that develop self-awareness and confidence.
SpeedMeet is an initiative developed by the Industry Training Federation and several Industry Training Organisations in 2015 as part of an ITO-led promotional campaign to promote “earn and learn” training and apprenticeships. During a SpeedMeet event, final year students meet with ten potential employers over 60 minutes, allowing them to develop their career thinking, gain interview practice, and potentially secure an apprenticeship or job.
Guidance is also made available to employers stressing the benefits of engaging with schools and providing advice on how they can most effectively engage in education.
Between 2018 and 2022, PISA shows that students in New Zealand increased their participation rates in job shadowing/workplace visits, job fairs and work placements (internships). Inspiring the Future Aotearoa: Launched in 2021 in New Zealand, some 10 000 students have since engaged with people in work through the programme. Passport to Employment: At the end of 2020, four out of five participants in the Manurewa High School successfully completed the programme and were offered full-time employment. A year later, 81% were still in full-time employment with the same companies, while others proceeded to university. SpeedMeet: By the end of May 2021, close to 45 000 students and nearly 3 000 employers had attended a SpeedMeet event. Results have shown that participants are substantially more likely to consider a vocational pathway and that 95% of students who attended an event felt “more prepared with the skills necessary to be successful in their further education and employment”.
This practice also supports the implementation of provision II.7 of the OECD Recommendation on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People (OECD, 2022[1]).
Further reading
[3] New Zealand Ministry of Education (2021), Employer engagement toolkit - bringing young people and employers together.
[2] OECD (2023), “Career talks with guest speakers: A guide to delivering an effective career development activity”, OECD Education Policy Perspectives, No. 69, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/93594cb3-en.
[1] OECD (2022), Recommendation of the Council on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0474.
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