Maori job search scheme launched

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 7

Maori job search scheme launched

A pilot programme aimed at helping young unemployed Maoris to find jobs was officially launched on the Nga Hau E Wha National Marae yesterday afternoon by the Minister of Employment, Mr Burke. After a powhiri (welcome) Mr Burke was ushered into the Kokiri centre to launch the computer-based programme. Known as Job Search, the programme was bought by the Maori Affairs Department from Control Data New Zealand, Ltd. Mr Burke said that the programme was an attempt to improve the, job prospects for young Maori people. He said that the rate of unemployment for Maoris was four times as high as that for the nonMaoris. “I believe this job-search programme is an example of the sort of thing Steve

O’Regan was talking about at the (Maori) summit (conference) when he called for another layer of education aimed at developing selfesteem and work-readiness, based around the marae and Kokiri, rather than the traditional school setting,” Mr Burke said. Job Search is an intensive two-week programme which teaches job seekers how to sell themselves on the job market. They learn how and where to look for jobs, how to arrange interviews and to cope with the interviewing process. Learning activities are presented through the use of a multi-media approach, which includes computerbased instruction, audiotapes, videotapes, literature, written exercises, discussions, role-playing, and lectures. The programme is based on one used in the United

States, and its use in Christchurch will be the first in the Southern Hemisphere. The programme will begin tomorrow, with 25 young people, aged 17 to 21, taking part. The first four days of the course will be spent in learning skills. On the fifth day the young people will begin to approach employers. “This programme has been extremely successful overseas, and we believe it will be here as well,” said Ms Jann Gregor, educational consultant from Control Data in Australia, who will run Job Search. “We expect 50 per cent to be placed within the first two weeks, and the others in varying periods after that,” Ms Gregor said. “The goal is to find unsubsidised employment for 100 per cent of the participants.”