Fred Koenders, EIT’s Executive Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Technology (left) with Glenn Fulcher, EIT’s Head of School; Tourism & Hospitality, and Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst at a Serve the Bay workshop in July.

EIT’s School of Tourism and Hospitality is supporting a new website by the Serve the Bay initiative, which has been set up to connect jobseekers in the hospitality and tourism sectors with employers looking for casual, part-time and full time staff in Hawke’s Bay.

The website. https://www.servethebay.nz/ stems from a taskforce that was formed earlier this year to address the short and long-term skills shortage in the hospitality industry in Hawke’s Bay. In July this year EIT hosted the region’s hospitality business owners and managers, along with government agencies and local authorities at a “Serve the Bay” workshop.

EIT, the Hastings District Council, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment have been working in conjunction with The Restaurant Association and Hospitality NZ on initiatives to support local businesses to find staff.

The new platform, which has been provided by Go with Tourism, a government-funded initiative to build New Zealand’s tourism and hospitality workforce, has two sections – Job Connector and Job Search Hub.

The Job Connector section allows job seekers to sign up to create their own online job profile and get matched with a Hawke’s Bay employer, while the Job Search Hub has vacancies in Hawke’s Bay recently listed by businesses in the hospitality and tourism industry.

The Head of School for EIT’s School of Tourism and Hospitality, Glenn Fulcher, says the local industry is in a critical time and all interested parties need to work together to ensure it thrives.

“Our local tourism and hospitality sectors need to have a competent and reliable workforce in order to provide a quality service and it is up to us to show school leavers and other young people that there are viable career paths to be followed.”

As part of the Serve the Bay initiative, EIT has also come on board with a new training programme giving a taster in both hospitality and tourism. Focused on customer service, destinations, café and restaurant basic service, food safety and barista, this programme is over and above the normal New Zealand qualification suite offered at EIT.

“We have always taken pride in the fact that we provide our local industries with graduates who are not only work-ready, but passionate about the career they have chosen,”

“By working together with the industry, we can show prospective students that they do not need to leave Hawke’s Bay to study further and that there is the potential to move on to employment in what is a dynamic local hospitality and tourism industry,” says Glenn.

The Mayor of Hastings Sandra Hazlehurst says Hastings has a thriving hospitality sector with many award winning restaurants, wineries and cafes, and we need to put everything we can into supporting this industry to overcome the ongoing staffing shortages post COVID-19.

“Serve the Bay is one initiative where we hope by working together we can use all our resources to encourage our people to take up jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors,” she says.