NEW REPORT FEEDING INTO NEW ZEALAND’S CAREER STRATEGY

Hidden Links, New Opportunities – New Zealand As the government agency responsible for careers, the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is tasked with supporting all New Zealanders to raise skills and aspirations to meet the demands of work, now and in the future. Around 1.2 million people in New Zealand start a new job each year and matching their skills with the right role can be a challenge. A recent report shows that New Zealand has one of the highest skills mismatch rates in the OECD, leading to high churn (1 in 8 workers have been in their job for 2 months or less), low productivity and depletion of an employer’s resources for recruitment and training. On the flip side, a good match means the employee is productive, is satisfied with their job and contributes to the overall economic growth for the country. We also all know that trends including globalisation and digitisation will lead to the rapid adoption of technology that will make a large number of existing jobs redundant and new jobs created. Aging populations will also mean longer working lives and increased demand for continuous learning. To take advantage of the opportunities that come with these changes, we need to identify and build on our current set of skills. The Tertiary Education Commission commissioned a report that used big data and scanned one million job ads to identify the common skills in demand and the preferences of employers in New Zealand. You can access the report here. They found that workers could use their skills across a cluster of jobs across many different industries rather than being restricted to a narrow set of jobs within one industry. The analysis revealed six main job clusters: Inventors – people with technology and business skills, coupled with creativity and problem-solving abilities. Organisers – people with service-orientated and administrative skills. Healers – people with caring or wellbeing expertise plus sensitive personal skills. Operators – people with manual skills, good communication skills and a positive attitude. Crafters – people with sophisticated industrial and organisational skills.     Engagers – people with sales or communication skills combined with deep interpersonal skills. Tim Fowler, Chief Executive, Tertiary Commission commented: “Thinking about these skills clusters could help us to broaden our career horizons and find opportunities outside of our experience and work history. It is estimated that one job helps to prepare workers for 12 others. This is useful for workers who may find their current job choice limited by declining industries. Employers could also use the same framework for considering a broader range of workers to fill jobs experiencing a shortage of talent so it’s a win-win.” The Commission is using this discussion paper, along with global mega trends and international future of work reports to help inform the development of the New Zealand Careers Strategy.   Click here to access the report.