A Career Capable Auckland

Business and government collaborate

Who are we?

• Fuji Xerox New Zealand

• Careers New Zealand

• Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern)

• Business New Zealand

• Other key supporters

» Albany Senior High School

» Auckland Council

» Auckland University of Technology

What motivated us?- Fuji Xerox

• Strong, kind and interesting corporate philosophy

• Human capital/skills shortage is real issue

• Passionate Managing Director – Neil Whittaker

• Commoditised market

• Demonstrate our commitment to the sector

• Demonstrate our passion for leadership

• Create a tangible way for us to differentiate ourselves

What motivated us? – Careers New Zealand

• A strategic need to coordinate a fractured sector

• Reducing poor student transitions

• Education and business not connecting well

• A chance to work with business and industry and talk about career development

• A chance to focus on creating a career capable Auckland

The purpose of our collaboration

• Auckland needs to provide enhanced and coordinated career development services in order for it to achieve its full potential

• Career development is the way organisation’s and individuals align to meet the strategic goals of the organisation and the personal career goals of the individual

• We believe that there are significant social and economic gains to be had for Auckland

• We felt young New Zealanders could get a better deal from the system

• Fix a real business problem

Three initial projects

• A study as to the economic cost of poor student transitions by Professor Erling Rasmussen, AUT

• A careers blueprint for Auckland

• My Career Portfolio

What processes did we follow?

• Use of the Capable Auckland network

• Socialised our goal and talked to lots of leaders

• Identified core partners with shared values

• Looked for a practical response

• Regular meetings

• Upfront about what each party is looking to achieve

• Heads of agreement to clarify roles

What problems did we face?

• Some false leads

• Taken us longer to get started than we thought

• Size and scope of our study

• We thought we had to spend more time convincing people rather than completing something practical

• Trying to identify our zone of operation within a fragmented “market”

• Keeping momentum – formal meeting, juggling busy diaries

What comes next?

• Launches in November

• Inviting other corporates to participate in this area and through the ideas of the blueprint

• Trialling of the My Career Space in South Auckland schools in 2013