Hundreds of summer jobs on offer for Southland students

Tuesday, 21 September 2021

James Hargest College pupil Madison Grieve, 18, checks out holiday jobs on the Southland Summer of Work website set up by Great South and Southland businesses. Renata Gill, back left, and Liz Clark, from Great South, are in the background.

A rural contracting business has joined The Southland Summer of Work programme to find staff to help with the busy harvesting and cultivation season.

With the New Zealand border closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Caldwell Contracting, of Edendale, needed to replace the overseas workers it usually employed through the spring, summer and autumn. It would like to recruit two students to train up with the prospects of them staying in the industry.

“We rely heavily on overseas workers coming in every year,” Caldwell Contracting manager Bevan Caldwell said.

“But, with the border restrictions we can’t do it this time, so we’re looking at different avenues [to find staff]. We’d like to show young fellas and girls our industry.”

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They would be trained to drive tractors, trucks and harvesters, Caldwell said.

His company is amongst 20 Southland businesses which have joined forces with Great South to launch the inaugural Southland Summer of Work. It is an online job fair designed to match students looking for summer holiday jobs with employers needing staff during that period.

The businesses are offering 250 jobs in total.

Great South Southland youth futures team manager Renata Gill said it was a great opportunity for youth wanting a holiday job.

“Registrations [of interest] are coming in from students throughout Southland.”

A variety of jobs are on offer, including the retail, tourism, hospitality and agriculture sectors. No experience is needed as training will be given.

FreshChoice Te Anau co-ower Monica Cullen said her business would probably have 15 to 20 jobs available for The Southland Summer of Work initiative.

Tasks given to students would include working in the bakery, butchery and service deli departments, Cullen said.

“Fulltime jobs could come out of it.”

FreshChoice currently has six job vacancies. Since last year’s lockdown, there had been job vacancies popping up regularly at the supermarket, Cullen said.

The Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park is also part of the work programme. Its marketing and administration manager Megan Graham said at least two or three students would be needed for duties, ranging from making beds to room service.

If the borders opened to Australian tourists, Te Anau could become busy and more staff would be needed, Graham added.

The Southland Summer of Work was initially planned to be held at a venue where students could meet business representatives in person, but because of Covid-19 restrictions it had to be moved to online.