Jobs for school leavers, no CV required

Jobs for school leavers, no CV required

Auckland, Tuesday, April 3

Fletcher Building has introduced a game-changing new online job hunting and application platform – Switch Up. It aims to help young people transitioning from school or unemployment into the workforce, and was created with the help of high school students.

Launched in October 2017, the award-winning platform is designed to engage youth through a digital no-CV-needed recruitment process, opening up employment in Auckland, Christchurch and regional North Island areas.
Interim Chief People and Communications Officer Claire Carroll says there is a large pool of young people in New Zealand who want to work and the company aims to open their minds to a wide range of potential careers.

“We ask potential recruits activity-based questions such as what would you do if you saw an upset colleague, or what would you do if a customer comes in to collect an order, but they can’t remember the details? There are no wordy job descriptions, instead we have videos of current young employees, their tasks, and their daily lives on the job. By showing, rather than telling what a job looks like, young people will be able to visualise their future career and be excited about it.”

Fletcher Building is aware that the traditional recruitment process can be a barrier. Switch Up is a way to find good people, especially young people who are less familiar with writing a CV and have had little practice at applying for a job.

To apply for a job applicants simply fill in a, ‘Facebook-like’ profile that takes less than 6 minutes to complete.

Once employed, Switch Up recruits and other young employees of the company participate in a six-month learning and development programme, fully supported by a mentor. The programme includes work and life skills such as budgeting, time management, and goal setting.

“We want to proactively support youth employment, which is as much about helping young people into their first job as it is about supporting them to be successful over time. We want a young person’s first experience of the workforce to be a really good one,” says Claire.

Switch Up was shaped by youth too. Fletcher Building collaborated with One Tree Hill College, among other partners, to ensure it hit the mark when designing the website and developing the recruitment processes to appeal to young people. The college students even came up its catchy name – Switch Up.

Beth Newton, one of the school’s careers advisors, says “Switch Up is very visual and easy to navigate, removing the fear from the job hunting process for our young people. Our students thought it was really exciting being involved in its development. The outcome is a job application platform the students felt almost anyone could use.”

Switch Up recruits for 20 of Fletcher Building’s businesses as well as head office in New Zealand including companies making roads (Higgins), concrete pipes (Humes), and steel products, and retailers such as PlaceMakers and Mico Bathrooms.

When applying, youth can indicate their interest in a job family (customer service, labourers, forklift drivers or operators), or create a generic profile. Jobs can be in Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Palmerston North, and Christchurch.

Following a ‘check in chat’ with a recruiter, applicants have the opportunity to attend an open day with hiring managers and be recruited directly by them.

Matthew Taylor the first recruit to come through Switch Up appreciated the simple and less formal recruitment process.

“I saw a Switch Up ad on social media and then went to the website. I watched the videos and they were good because I got to see what the jobs looked like. I was about to finish up my job at a kiwifruit orchard, so I decided to fill in the application which was really easy and quick.”

All applicants, successful or not, receive feedback. Those who aren’t quite work ready receive texts detailing what was missing in their application, and where they can go to improve before applying again.

“Being unsuccessful in a job application and not knowing why can be very disheartening, particularly when trying to get a job for the first time. By giving all applicants feedback and offering solutions, we hope to help them take action that leads to a job in the future,” says Claire.

“As a major New Zealand employer, we are in a unique position to help tackle New Zealand’s youth and regional unemployment issues in a new way, which has come out of the collaboration of a number of partners: Ministry of Social Development, Limited Services Volunteers, CadetMax, WorkChoice, First Foundation, TupuToa, ATEED, and One Tree Hill College.”

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