Career expos: remedy for sector’s national skills shortage

The Go with Tourism Expo, in partnership with NZ Careers Expo, plans to visit five cities across the nation, over a two-month period to inspire tens of thousands of Kiwis to apply for job vacancies within the hospitality and tourism sector.

The Go with Tourism Expo, New Zealand’s is an annual event delivered by Go with Tourism – a government-funded initiative to build New Zealand’s Tourism and Hospitality workforce. It launched in 2019 to address the growing skills shortage, when a predicted 40,000 Tourism workers were needed by 2025.

The only dedicated careers expo for the Tourism and Hospitality industry began its tour in Christchurch on May 15 and will help the tourism and hospitality industry as it seeks out new talent. There are high hopes the expo will inspire a whole new generation of workers.

With industry professionals, employers and educators onsite, students and jobseekers will be able to discover their next step from a range of opportunities such as work experience, job vacancies and tertiary study. As well as showcasing the exciting and viable career pathways available in the industry, the main objective of the Expo is to break down negative perceptions about Tourism and Hospitality work.

Matt Stenton, Programme Director of Go with Tourism said: “Despite being a billion-dollar industry for New Zealand and employing some of our highest paid people, Tourism work is often snubbed by the average person. In our schools it’s looked down on because it is not an achievement standard subject.”

“The problem is that people associate this work with frontline jobs only. They forget that every industry has entry-level roles that you eventually move on from; and they don’t know that in our industry you can progress quicker and find success sooner.

“By showcasing success, separating fact from fiction, and demonstrating how wide-ranging Tourism and Hospitality careers are, we hope our expos can help change the narrative.”

Four out of ten Tourism jobs were lost in the past year because of COVID-19; however, due to the recent bubble with Australia and domestic tourism doing better than ever, the Tourism and Hospitality industry now needs new talent to fill hundreds of available roles.

The Go with Tourism Job Search Hub has featured more than 770 vacancies in the past year, but it has proven difficult to get Kiwis to apply for these roles.

“This situation exposes how reliant our industry is on migrant and visa workers, when Kiwis don’t want the jobs migrants will happily take,” says Stenton. “It’s another reason why it’s so important for us to remedy negative perceptions within New Zealand.”

The Go with Tourism Expo will visit five cities over the next two months:

13-15 May, Christchurch Arena, Christchurch

20-22 May, ASB Showgrounds, Auckland

9 June, Dunedin Town Hall, Dunedin

13-14 June, Claudelands Showgrounds, Hamilton

25-26 June, TSB Arena, Wellington

Visitors are asked to register in advance to make entry into the Expo quicker and easier. It is free to attend.

• Go with Tourism event registration links:
  • Christchurch: bit.ly/CHCExpo2021
  • Auckland: bit.ly/AKLExpo2021
  • Dunedin: bit.ly/DUDExpo2021
  • Hamilton: bit.ly/HLZExpo2021

Wellington: bit.ly/WLGExpo2021

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