Hundreds of female secondary school students around the country have had their hands on the controls of some of New Zealand’s top infrastructure companies over the past two months through Connexis Girls with Hi-Vis® (GWHV). Since May, civil contracting, energy, and water companies from Northland to Southland have hosted GWHV events to encourage more young women to take up careers …
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Training Takes Hollie Through the Civil Construction Ranks
When Hollie Atarau was 17, she started at Bay of Plenty’s Waiotahi Contractors as a receptionist. 25 years later she is now the Waiotahi’s quality and environmental advisor, thanks to an unbeatable combination of hard work and good training, through Connexis. In fact, Hollie was one of the first people in New Zealand to complete a brand new qualification in …
Earning and Learning Sparks Britney’s Career Change
When Britney Scammell was at school she always wanted to be a nurse. “I had no back-up plan.” Part-way through a nursing degree, however, Britney realised nursing wasn’t for her, and she began to look around for new career ideas. At first, thinking it made sense to stay in the health sector, she worked for several years in dentistry. All …
King’s Service Medal for Kat Kaiwai
Kat Kaiwai has been honoured with a King’s Service Medal for services to women and the civil construction industry. Kat, who has been a strong supporter of Connexis Girls With Hi-Vis® and a huge advocate for the opportunities offered by training and apprenticeships, is the owner of Tairawhiti Contractors in Ruatoria, on the East Coast. With her team of 38 …
A Word From Our Director – May 2024
Kia ora koutou, As the year progresses, infrastructure continues to be a key focus for the new government and building workforce capability and capacity to deliver quality infrastructure continues to be a critical need. While our industries continue to advocate for longer term planning, the government have announced investment in ten roads of regional significance to sit alongside the two …
GWHV connects trainee to bright future
A visit to a Girls With Hi-Vis event in 2023 opened up a whole new world for then 16-year-old Sofie McCormick. Sofie attended a Canterbury GWHV event hosted by infrastructure services company Ventia while still a student at local Ellesmere College. With her interest piqued in an infrastructure trade career, Sofie then landed an introduction to a possible apprenticeship with …
Apprentice lights the way for others
Tamea Te Rauna is not one to be tied to a desk. Her first career was with the Royal NZ Navy as a chef. When her time in the Navy ended she cast around for new career ideas and struck upon an advertisement from WEL Networks because the hands-on nature of the work appealed. Tamea is now more than a …
Girls with Hi-Vis 2024 – secondary students connect to infrastructure careers
Wellington, 1 May 2024: New Zealand’s female secondary school students are taking their place among New Zealand’s major civil infrastructure companies to try out different career opportunities as the industry looks to solve critical skills shortages. Throughout May and June, female secondary school students from around the country will take part in industry experience days, onsite with companies in the …
A Word From Our Director — March 2024
Kia ora koutou, The first quarter of 2024 has included some reshuffling within our operating environment following the government’s announcement that it intends to disestablish Te Pūkenga. However, the key “need to know” from that process is that Connexis will continue to deliver infrastructure training for apprentices and trainees throughout New Zealand as we always have with no disruption to …
Powering dreams as a Senior Faults Coordinator
“It wasn’t as overwhelming as I thought it would be. I remember my first day at Aurora six years ago, seeing the system that they used and thinking I could never do that job. “Here I am now, doing exactly that job,” she says. The biggest challenge for Courtney so far has been that she started the role without an …
