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Strategies for the Recruitment and Retention of Millennials in the New Zealand Construction Industry

According to a recent report prepared for Waihanga Ara Rau, New Zealand’s Construction and Infrastructure Workforce Development Council, the New Zealand construction industry faces significant challenges, including an ageing workforce and skilled workers leaving for other sectors or overseas jobs. The research shows that many people lack awareness of career opportunities in the construction sector and often view construction trades as unattractive career choices, especially from within the millennial demographic. Millennials aged 26 to 44 who were surveyed commonly viewed construction jobs as unattractive compared to jobs in other areas, such as engineering, business, law and government. They tended to believe that a lack of fitness or strength and insufficient math or science skills were significant barriers to working in the construction industry. This report and other research highlight that while a construction career is seen as a financially beneficial and valid profession, roles ...
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New Zealand Industry-Based Careers and Training

Here are a selection of some articles I wrote between 2019 -2021 when I worked as a Content Writer/Developer for the New Zealand Government careers website   (click on the article titles below to go to the online version). Articles about careers and training in the New Zealand Building and Construction sector: Great pay for jobs in the Construction Industry  Why you should consider a career in Building Science Turn heads with a Tiling career   Skills you need for Building and Construction apprenticeships   Building a new career   Articles about careers and training in the Food, Fibre and Forestry sectors: An exciting future is yours in the Food and Fibre sectors Improving Forestry through innovation     Another article I wrote about a company who won a Skills Highway award: Bespoke training leads to personal growth at HEB Construction Miscellaneous articles I wrote about career-related things:  Staying positive through redunda...
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Review of Wellbeing app - Groov by Mentemia

Living in our increasingly stressful world, many people have difficulty coping with everything that life throws their way. COVID, job losses, increased cost of living, and family health concerns are some of the main sources of anxiety in our society. Despite these extra burdens, there are things we can do to reduce our stress and anxiety levels and improve our mental wellbeing. Every other day there seems to be a new wellbeing app or mental health initiative announced and it can be difficult deciding which one is the most useful or relevant. One stands out amongst the crowd – the New Zealand-created app/website ‘Groov’ (formerly Mentemia). Since its inception back in 2018, Sir John Kirwan has been the brains behind the development of the Mentemia/Groov app, which is designed to improve users’ mental health and wellbeing. This tool is very easy to use and has up-to-date information, advice and exercises that can help most people navigate their way through difficult times. John Kirwa...
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Jacques Lacan's Mind F*#k 'Mirror Stage'

Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (April 13, 1901 - September 9, 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, who made prominent contributions to the psychoanalytic movement. His yearly seminars, conducted in Paris from 1953 until his death in 1981, were a major influence in the French intellectual milieu of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly among post-structuralist thinkers [1].           Lacan's ideas centred on Freudian concepts: e.g. the unconscious, the castration complex, the ego. He also focussed on identifications and the centrality of language to subjectivity. His work was interdisciplinary, drawing on linguistics, philosophy, and mathematics, amongst others. Although a controversial and divisive figure, Lacan is widely read in critical theory, literary studies, and twentieth-century French philosophy, as well as in the living practice of clinical psychoanalysis. Lacan's first official contribution to psychoanalysis was his theory of the 'Mirror Sta...
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