Comment: Industry to lead Road to success
Road to success trainees are filling valuable roles in a number of transport companies around NZ
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Road to success trainees are filling valuable roles in a number of transport companies around NZ
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After successfully placing 38 trainees in the industry, the time has come to hand over Road to success to the industry
With Road to success designed and set up to be easy to use and straightforward to implement, it was always envisaged that at some stage, Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand would hand it over to the industry.
Well, it’s pleasing to announce that having successfully placed 38 new trainees to the industry in roles with enthusiastic operators, the time has come. The programme is being transitioned for operators to take ownership of and make work without the day-to-day management of Transporting New Zealand.
While we’re pleased with the achievements of Road to Success so far, it’s also fair to say that the perceived risk in taking on new and inexperienced staff has been somewhat of a barrier to uptake for some operators.
We’ve recognised this issue, which is why we’ve evolved the programme so that it can now be applied to those already in training or developing their career in a transport business. This means operators are free to use Road to success to supplement their own recruitment and staff retention processes.
Brand-new recruits will still be available through Road to success, but operators now won’t have to take people through that and can adapt their existing in-house recruitment or staff career development to incorporate the programme.
This means that a business can take an unqualified, unlicensed store person, yard worker, school leaver, or someone they just believe deserves a shot at career development all the way through to a highly-productive Class 5 driver with industry-recognised qualifications.
Another big advantage for operators going forward will be in the recruitment space. By promoting Road to success, the industry has another string to its bow when it goes out there to attract people to the industry.
Being able to go out there into the market and promote industry-recognised qualifications along with varied career pathways when advertising job vacancies will attract a wider and more diverse range of applicants.
The criteria for having a trainee in your business graduate through the Road to success programme is that they complete the four NZQA-recognised micro-credential qualifications (Introduction to Commercial Road Transport, Commercial Road Transport—Heavy Combination Vehicle Loading Fundamentals, Commercial Road Transport—Driver Safety, and Commercial Road Transport—Mass and Dimensions), have progressed to a Class 5 licence, and shown competence at all levels to meet the standards set by the operator.
Having already established a large pool of potential recruits, Transporting New Zealand will no longer actively go out and find trainees for the programme but is committed to supporting businesses by offering assistance where required and undertaking quarterly checks on trainees’ progress.
We will also still try to place the remaining trainees on our books with suitable operators in their area who are keen to take them on. I’m confident that as it continues to evolve, Road to success can further establish itself as the industry-recognised way of recruiting and training that provides operators with the confidence that a graduate has a high standard of industry knowledge and is a dedicated professional driver.
It will provide qualifications that are accessible and allow for the recognition of skills that will remain relevant in the industry for a long time. Road to success will also become a great retention tool for operators who want to provide professional development opportunities for key members of their team.
So, let’s as an industry continue to build on what we’ve started and make Road to success the recruitment, training, and career development pathway that positively contributes to alleviating our ongoing workforce issues.
With the pivot towards the industry, the Road to success administration fee for operators is reduced to a one-off charge for the initial sign-up, resources, ongoing support, recognition of qualifications, and trainee graduation. To find out more about Road to success, including how to go about taking on a trainee, please visit roadtosuccess.nz.
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