A pool of skilled workers
South Waikato has a great pool of potential employees who are keen to live and work locally.
The region’s strong sense of family and community provide businesses across a variety of sectors with a great source of labour.
It’s not just about having a ready labour supply. It’s about having the right skills. We provide a range of education and training initiatives to give locals those all-important skills that will help your business grow.
Tailoring skills for your business
Every year, over 200 secondary school leavers start work or move in to further education with local tertiary providers such as Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology.
The South Waikato District Council works closely with Toi Ohomai and employer groups to give students relevant specialist skills across a wide range of industry disciplines. This can be a mix of full-time campus training and work experience, or work-based apprenticeships. Toi Ohomai, which is one of New Zealand’s largest tertiary institutions, continues to work with local businesses to tailor training modules to suit the needs of the workplace.
The Skills for Industry Programme, which is operated through the local Ministry of Social Development’s Work and Income division, contracts training providers to facilitate pre-employment training for up to three months.
Education & Training
The South Waikato community is served by four secondary schools and a total of 200-250 young people leave these schools each year to go into further education, training or employment.
Approximately 45 young people leave these schools and do not enter employment, education or training (NEET).
For the past 10 years, South Waikato District Council has partnered with Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and employer groups to develop work ready recruits with practical, specialist skills across a range of disciplines that are tailored to meet the needs of local businesses.
Engineering Transport & Logistics Auto Mechanical
An average of 60 young people enrol in these Toi Ohomai courses each year and, upon completion, readily embrace new opportunities with local employers.
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology is keen to explore further opportunities to support the skill development required for your operations. Training and support could take the form of full-time campus training, supported by work experience placements, or work-based training through an apprenticeship model. Courses could range from entry level to diploma and degree level. Training can be delivered locally from the Tokoroa campus in areas such as manufacturing, engineering, construction, road transport/logistics, and computing/IT.
Existing courses can be offered in their entirety, or tailor-made courses can be developed to specifically meet employers’ operational needs. Our young people can also access teritary education with Hamilton based Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC) and the University of Waikato, with the latter accessible through a daily free bus service to and from the District.