Employers seeking university graduates and graduates seeking employment are now able to visit NZUniCareerHub, a newly established website that provides a one-stop shop for job searching.
Set up by the Association of University Careers Advisers of New Zealand (UCANZ), the site is an improved version of jobs4grads, with the involvement of seven out of eight of the country’s universities.
Registered students can view advertised jobs on the central website and within their university’s local website. “The local site has job search advice, career workshops, seminars, and employer presentations…everything [is] right there,” says VicCareers Manager Liz Medford.
Otago University Careers Advisory Service Manager Mark Cumisky told the New Zealand Herald that employers using open job boards can end up with hundreds of unsuitable applicants, such as non-graduates who choose to apply for positions that explicitly call for graduates.
“NZUniCareerHub gets around that kind of issue.”
With CareerHub, employers register on the central site, fill in their details and list their vacancies. They can select which universities to advertise it with. “It does make it very easy for them,” says Medford.
According to Cumisky, a “smorgasbord” of employers are registered on NZUniCareerHub, ranging from large organisations who take a number annually to much smaller organisations who may take one every second year.
Universities then choose whether to accept the vacancy or not.
Employers can advertise a range of employment opportunities, such as internships, holiday employment, research projects and contract positions.
“We have had great feedback from employers who use [NZUniCareerHub], not only because it’s convenient, but because it targets specific students,” says Medford.
“It was easy because I didn’t have to randomly work through lists to find graduate roles. Other sites can take ages to sift through. It also was more specific about the areas of study employers were looking for,” Victoria University commerce graduate Emily Davidson told the Herald. Davidson landed a role at Telecom through the site.
Last year VicCareers conducted a student survey on how well the service performed. “CareerHub was right up there,” says Medford.