New year a good time for career planning

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

For immediate release

New year a good time for career planning

DairyNZ has released an upgrade of its popular Career Pathways tool this month providing a one-stop shop for career-planning tools and resources in time for the new year.

Having goals and plans in place gives you a better chance of success, says DairyNZ’s people and business team leader, Geoff Taylor. “The start of a new year is a great time to reassess what you want in your career in the dairy industry, set some goals and decide on practical steps to get you there.

“DairyNZ’s Career Pathways Tool helps people assess career options, and navigate step-by-step through the process of career planning. It’s a real time-saver – we’ve worked hard to put everything in one place to make it easy to use,” says Geoff.

The tool, which is a portable USB flash drive, was launched two years ago and tested with a wide range of people in the industry.

“We’ve taken feedback on board to make navigation around the tool easier. For

someone totally new to the dairy industry there’s an interactive guide to what happens on a dairy farm during the year and a description of options such as sharemilking, equity partnerships, on-farm roles such as herd manager and farm assistant and near-farm roles such as scientists and rural professionals.”

Tools to help build a CV, manage money, set goals and determine the learning and training needed to achieve those goals are also included in the Career Pathways Tool. Information about different career options, video interviews with people at various stages of careers and in different roles in the dairy industry and self-assessment guides to help understand current skillset, values, and communication styles, all help to support decision-making and practical action-planning.

Geoff says the tool is also an excellent resource for employers. “Good people management makes good business sense - employers are using the Career Pathways Tool with their staff to help them make informed decisions and develop and grow into their next role. Supporting staff in identifying training and progression opportunities and planning their career is not only beneficial for individual staff morale and job satisfaction – it pays back real returns through retention of good staff and reducing the cost of staff turnover,” he says.

A copy of the new version of DairyNZ’s Career Pathways Tool can be ordered online at www.dairynz.co.nz

-ENDS-

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