Sara Addis intends studying wine science at EIT next year.

EIT students explored career opportunities this semester at events held on the Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti campuses.

For prospective employers, the job expos were also an opportunity to showcase their businesses and share their approaches to recruitment.

The Tairāwhiti Meet the Graduates meeting held on October 25 was an evening event that attracted some 20 businesses. It was attended by students completing programmes in business, computer science, Māori visual arts, hospitality and te reo Māori.

The organisations taking part included local government and energy, technology, media and hospitality enterprises.

Mr Apple, Bostock NZ, T & G and Rockit Management Services participated in the Hawke’s Bay event. Despite light rain, the free hāngī provided by the EIT Students’ Union proved an added attraction for a hungry lunch-time crowd. Among the job seekers was international student Avy Tian, who is close to completing EIT’s Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Management.

Avy, who discussed opportunities with Anna Cudby, Rockit’s sales and marketing coordinator, undertook a strategic marketing plan for Zespri as part of her diploma studies and she’s keen to work in a horticultural business next year.

“I believe consumers in China would pay more for Hawke’s Bay’s quality fresh fruit,” she says.

Anna considers it very important that the industry work with educators like EIT to offer graduates pathways into jobs.

“As a graduate in marketing myself, I would never have thought there were these sorts of opportunities in Hawke’s Bay.”

The range of positions available in the sector includes finance, marketing, sales, logistics, health and safety, food technology and technical areas – “we are encouraging people who might not have thought of these pathways,” she says.

T & G recruitment consultant Yvette May also feels it’s important that students and graduates understand that the job opportunities are not just out in the orchards picking apples.

Group manager Rhoda Simpson says T & G has worked with EIT for some time in placing students.

“We also have students visiting orchards so they understand what we do and how we do it and what our point of difference is in growing organically.”