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Kiwi career seekers: get heaps more than a job
Forget what you think you know. The next generation of Kiwi Careers is here. The roles are as diverse as Kiwis are, with each industry needing a mix of skills and personality types.
When you sign up to PIPI, you’ll get:
- More job certainty
- Training if you need it
- A pathway into a career
- Life-long learning opportunities
- Work that aligns with your values
- A boss who cares about your future
- A knowledgeable and experienced mentor
- Ongoing support from the PIPI team
Whether you’re new to the job market, ready for a change, or want to use your existing skills to have a big impact, we bet we’ve got something for you.
New Zealand’s primary industries are one of our biggest contributors to GDP – they’re not going anywhere, and they need you.
Honey is aka liquid gold. The New Zealand honey and beekeeping industry is growing rapidly into a major contributor to our economy, with thousands of registered beekeepers all over the country. Visit The Hive.
Arboriculture is all about working with trees in a residential environment – from pruning and transplanting to felling and removal. Whether it’s for private clients or government departments, trees always need care and maintenance. Visit The Treehouse.
Dairy farming is about people: operating the farm, making the decisions, and ultimately making farming successful. As farm systems become more complex and technology-driven, your skills must also grow and adapt. Visit The Shed.
If you have an affinity with horses and are committed to the high level of care needed to nurture quality horses, you’ll find a rewarding career here. Visit The Stable.
Forestry is a significant industry for New Zealand. The industry is based around sustainably managed exotic plantation forests, covering about 7% of New Zealand’s land area. Visit The Hut.
Growing healthy produce for a healthy lifestyle means people are needed for plant care and handling, growing staff, scientists, agritech specialists, educators, even robotics designers! Visit The Lab.
All over New Zealand we have impressive private and public spaces that need imagining, planning, creating and maintaining. Landscaping is a hands-on way to design and create beautiful surroundings in public spaces or private backyards. Visit The Pitch.
Nurseries and plant producers are so important to our country as they’re often the starting point for food production, forestry, beautification and environmentally focused projects. Nurseries are the quiet heroes of so many key industries, with acres of career opportunities. Visit The Greenhouse.
The opportunities are growing in an industry that gives so much to the economy and offers so much more than a job. From livestock to soil management, machinery to finance – you’ll never be bored with a farming career. Visit The Paddock.
If working outdoors appeals, where you literally see the fruits of your labour growing in front of you, this is the industry for you. Wine companies and growers need talented and smart thinking people to manage growth and harvest the grapes in the vineyards. Visit The Winery.
This thriving industry is committed to guardianship of the country’s kai moana. The industry offers clear career pathways in a variety of businesses with opportunities at sea, like fishing and fish farming, and on land, like processing, and quality assurance. Visit The Boat.
Join thousands of other Kiwis playing a role in producing, marketing, and delivering natural lamb and beef to the world’s dining tables and kitchens. Visit the factory.
FAQs for the career curious
We believe there’s no such thing as no experience! Although your experience might not be specific to the role you’re after, you will have a whole load of life experience and/or transferable skills from past jobs that will set you up for success with PIPI.
The best place to learn is on the job, so your employer is your teacher. You’ll learn about their business by being part of their business, so that’s where you’ll gain the skills to be a fully effective member of the team.
A career here can take you anywhere, working with amazing people who are into the same stuff as you.
You could be on a farm, an orchard, on fishing vessels or sports fields, high tech process plants, or production facilities. You could be flying drones, climbing trees, protecting the environment or inventing new technology to feed the world… and that’s just a small taste of what’s on offer. There are so many opportunities for smart people to do practical, useful work.
When you land a career in the primary sector you’ll instantly start learning valuable skills, climbing the career ladder and putting money in your pocket to finance the things you’re into.
You’ll find a massive range of options that keep on evolving as your interests change and grow.
The kind of careers are going to depend on the industry and the employer.
The great news is that the primary sector is all over the country. You could be on a sheep and beef station as a junior shepherd; you could be a farm assistant on a dairy farm; you could be working as a plant propagator, or landscaper, or learning to train racehorses. Your imagination is the limit!
Nobody gets to be a CEO straight off the bat; you have to start somewhere. PIPI will match you with a role that fits into the larger picture of your career goals.
You’ll hear from Eve or Jack within two business days. They’ll send you an email or give you a call for a chat. From there, we’ll send your CV to employers who are looking for career-ready people. The employers will get in touch with you to arrange interviews, and the formal employment process is between the two of you.
In the meantime, we will set you up with access to Learning Planet which has online modules to help you with soft skills around communication and resilience. We’ll also partner you with a mentor who is there to support, advise and guide you.
Then you get to start your new career, with a mentor, and you’re all set for a rewarding career in the primary industries!
By getting to know you first and pairing you with employers we think will be a good fit, we do as much as we can in the early stages to avoid this happening.
But if you don’t like it, what happens next is up to you. There is no obligation to stay in a role you’re unhappy with.
You’ll need to have a conversation with your employer around expectations and reality. It’s important to remember that starting any new career is daunting – but we think that the support of a mentor, and a good employer, will help ease this transition.
Good animal welfare is good for business, there’s no two ways about it.
In order for New Zealand to remain global leaders in animal welfare practices, regulation and policy is constantly evolving to keep pace with modern farming systems, science, technology, our environment, and biosecurity.
If you value practices that benefit both people and the planet, then you’ll fit right in!
Yes! This is why we exist. PIPI is designed to bring people into lifelong learning and careers in the primary industries.
We know that the primary industries provide heaps of opportunities for career pathways and development, both within and between industries – that’s the beauty of such a diverse industry!
We want to show that you can gain a career, not just a job, and PIPI is the perfect place to start.
PIPI is a new way of thinking about attraction, recruitment and retention. It’s a new way of thinking – so we are asking you to take a chance on the process and make the most of the online learning and mentor programmes.
We think that learning is a lifelong journey – so while you are getting your teeth into it, your employer will be developing their skills as a leader and a teacher too.
We know that attrition is highest in the first 6-12 months of employment – so we are asking you to keep in touch with your mentor for at least 6 months. How often, and how you meet with your mentor is between the two of you. We will provide guidelines on how the programme can be effective, and how to make the most of it.