From small beginnings

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As a kid growing up on a dairy farm in the Waikato, the National Fieldays at Mystery Creek was a Seriously Big Deal.

We talked about it for weeks and farmers would save up any big machinery purchases for the Fieldays sales. There was a giddy pleasure in traipsing through the mud towards the tractor racing, collecting plastic bags full of pamphlets and sniffing out the free sausage sizzles.

I was always intrigued by the inventions, and that hasn’t changed. This year’s Fieldays starts June 14 and some of our clients will be going public with amazing creations aimed at making life easier and more profitable for farmers and orchardists.

Last week, I was reminded of the innovations on our doorstep which improve productivity on a daily basis. One of our clients, Eastpack in Te Puke, uses QR codes to locate any individual pallet on its 15 hectare site in Quarry Road. And the company’s fruit is sorted by grading machines developed by Compac – a company started by the son of a kiwifruit grower in response to his family’s need for better grading technology.

Looking through Eastpack’s operations reminded me that, while the Bay of Plenty may be best known for tourism, horticulture and our incredibly successful port, this is also a thriving innovation hub.

And then there’s Trimax Mowing Systems – a workplace defined by its entrepreneurial spirit.

In his spare time, Global Marketing Manager Karl Stevenson co-founded Design Thinking BOP so he and fellow innovators could share their knowledge, insights and enthusiasm for design. Karl embodies the Trimax way – thinking creatively to stay at the forefront of innovation. Trimax’s creative urbane vibe is not what you’d necessarily expect from a company which creates huge tractor-pulled mowers, but the engaged workforce and its impressive export success show what a thirst for innovation can do for your staff, and your bottom line.

Perhaps Tauranga attracts innovation because of its size? The city is large enough to offer a decent scale of success to a new business, but small enough to have nurtured a give-it-a-go mentality which is so vital to innovation. The Bay has given birth to a host of huge companies, such as Comvita, Zespri and Ballance, and countless exceptional medium-sized businesses, such as Page Macrae, Heilala Vanilla and Kale Print. The Tauriko Business Estate is growing fast and then, in home offices and co-working spaces across the city, there are all the small, grunty, start-ups launched by people who wanted to be their own boss (and surf at lunchtime).

And there is still so much room for the local technology and innovation sectors to grow. We regularly hear from people with amazing skillsets in engineering, IT, the traditional sciences, food technology, and marketing – and they’re often looking to be part of something ambitious and exciting, and see where the ride takes them. If they’re lucky, they’ll jump on board when the company is small and find themselves part of a great idea that goes gangbusters.

The Bay of Plenty and Waikato have always been known for their traditional rural strengths – agriculture and horticulture. But along the way, our farming forebears’ appetite for hard work and much-lauded No8 Wire mentality seem to have laid the foundations for a new era of innovation in regional New Zealand. And that’s a Seriously Big Deal.

Executive success in regional NZ

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You’re a Marketing Manager in Auckland, and you’re applying for a Marketing Manager’s job in Tauranga. It’ll be exactly the same kind of job, right? Similar support, similar focus, similar outputs.

Um, no.

One of the most significant differences that I have observed between the regions and the main centres for Senior Executives and middle management is the requirement to do more operationally. Limits on headcount and budget are apparent and thus, those who are used to having a large team, find themselves doing more of their own analysis, report writing, or hands-on people management. This does not mean that these managers are any less capable in the Strategic space than their Main centre counterparts – it just means that the workload requirements are skewed in a different way. And it is sometimes difficult for those that are moving here to get their head around it.

I’ve seen candidates struggle with the transition from a large well-resourced corporate to a smaller, all-hands-to-the-pump operation in the provinces. The move can be especially challenging for people who have enjoyed a job description with a clear, narrow focus. They can be discombobulated by the wide-ranging nature of the supposedly equivalent (but, in reality, vastly different) role in the regions. They struggle to get their head ‘up’, to find time for the blue-sky thinking required for success in Senior Management roles because they have become so focused on the day to day operations, because that is what the role requires from them in that moment.

And I’ve also seen people flourish. I’ve seen people given opportunities and take them by the horns and grow at a rate of knots. I’ve seen people change entire careers – mid-life – on the back of an opportunity that would never have come their way in London, or Auckland or Wellington. I’ve seen people thrive in this new environment – successfully finding a way to balance the strategic and the operational skill-set that is required of managers in the regions.

In a smaller team you get the chance to widen your area of expertise. If you’re the head of marketing and the sales manager resigns, you might get a chance to act in the sales role for a few months – purely on the basis on your management nous, without any sales experience at all. If you have the right ‘can-do’ attitude, illustrate ability and you really love it – they might even offer you the job.

It can be hard to get that first job when you hit a town like Tauranga, but once you’re in, employers in smaller cities tend to be fiercely loyal to their people. People get opportunities as internal placements that would never be offered to externals.
Practical go-getter types – people who aren’t easily fazed, who can square away the operational stuff quickly and leave themselves room to learn and grow and leap at opportunities, and who aren’t too proud to call their own taxi, get down into the numbers, or write the bulk of their Board reports – tend to do incredibly well in a fast-moving, nimble work environment.

If that sounds like you, give me a call. Tauranga could be just the place for you.

Happy Birthday to Us!

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This week a year ago, Ryan + Alexander recruitment agency was born. We met potential corporate clients, worked our networks to track down top talent to place in great roles, ferreted away on our website copy – and held our breath.

We knew we had the skills, a clear niche and, economically, the timing felt good. But you just never know, do you? In fact, Sydney’s University of Technology reports that one in three businesses fail in their first year. New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says roughly a quarter of all small businesses die within three years. Other reports have varying figures but most agree it takes a blend of tenacity, hard work and luck to make a year in business.

And this certainly wasn’t an easy year. Bernadette lost two much-adored family members in quick succession. First her Mum and then, not long after the launch of Ryan + Alexander, her eldest brother. It took grit and bravery to press on with our fledgling job recruitment business even though Bern was in Christchurch most weeks in her brother’s last months. I was able to carry the load and, of course, there’ll be times when it’s my family that needs me and Bern will take the reins.

Even though we have different specialities, we’ve both worked in each other’s area of recruitment agency expertise. This shared skill set has proved invaluable in juggling our ‘part-time’ hours too. We started Ryan+Alexander determined to pursue work-life balance. We make time for exercising, have walking business meetings, and support each other to attend school plays, sports days or events. I can’t pretend we’ve nailed the work-life balance thing yet but we’re certainly giving it a nudge.

I have three children, including a two-year-old daughter, so I work three days to give me time with her. Bern works most days but generally only school hours so she can spend lots of time with her sons and her elderly father. It’s hard work juggling part-time hours when your employment agency clients and candidates work a full working week. I schedule meetings around my daughter’s naps on my days off, and we both work the phones in the evening. It’s a juggle, but we have also learned to share the load between us. I wouldn’t have wanted to attempt self-employment on my own – I feel like we can be bolder and aim higher because we are a team. And besides, it’s more fun. You should have seen our Christmas party for two!!

We had worked together previously and I knew we would be compatible as co-owners of a fledgling employment agency business. Bernadette was worried our work relationship might one day sour our friendship, but the highs and dreadful lows of the last year have built an even stronger bond between us. We’ve got each other’s back.

Thanks to all who have supported us this past 12 months, in ways big and small. We’re especially grateful to our husbands. They never doubted we could make this work and, even though it meant a fair bit of fiscal uncertainty in the beginning, they supported us to give it a go.

And our recruitment agency success thus far has allowed us to embark on the next phase a bit earlier than we had planned – securing premises in Tauranga and looking for our first team member!

There’s now a lot of competition in the Tauranga recruitment market and we certainly don’t take our early success for granted. We’re proud to have developed a culture of hard work, respect for our clients and candidates, honesty, and integrity. And we are good mates who look out for each other; that’s pretty cool, too.

If your employees are leaving for the lifestyle and relative affordability of the regions, maybe you should join them?

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recruitment agencies

Moving your business to Tauranga is no small consideration. The upheaval, the cost, the hours spent establishing new relationships. And yet, more and more companies are doing just that.

The Bay of Plenty’s innovative Priority One economic development agency has followed its determined business attraction strategy since its inception in 2001, and in a targeted way since 2011. The agency works to make it easier for companies to relocate to the Bay of Plenty to realise the competitive advantages on offer, by smoothing the process and helping make important connections.

As at this week, Priority One is working with 18 firms actively considering the move to the Bay. It is estimated those companies have the potential to create 352 new local jobs and pump $16.4 million of capital expenditure into the region. Those who have already moved to the Bay include Jenkins Freshpac Systems and Brother International.

Others, such as South Africa’s Multifid Technology International, have chosen Tauranga as the site of their New Zealand offices.

While shifting your business to another location may seem a daunting prospect, especially when you consider the effort and logistics required, there is one consideration a new employer in the Bay of Plenty need not worry about: the highest calibre professional staff.

Every day our Tauranga employment agency takes enquiries from clever, talented, driven and successful people around the globe who desperately want to live in the Bay of Plenty. They hope to apply their big-city experience to fulfilling careers in a smaller city, where families enjoy sunshine, beaches and a laidback holiday-every- day vibe.

But at this stage there are nowhere near enough Bay-based jobs for all of these exceptional professional candidates.

We have talent on our books that would be snapped up in a nanosecond in a more fluid job market. These jobseekers have high-level experience, often in demanding offshore roles, and would be capable of using that experience to help their new employer achieve previously unattainable gains. These are the types of candidates who could offer your business an entirely fresh perspective – but they don’t want to live in Auckland.

Maybe they’re onto something.

We’ve already established you’d have the privilege of cherry-picking from exceptional international-standard talent for professional roles if you moved your business here. You’d find the Bay of Plenty is characterised by a talented and happy workforce where long-term loyalty is the norm. And you’d find, as my family and I did, that Tauranga offers a warm welcome, an incomparable lifestyle and huge opportunity.

If you set up in the new Tauriko Business Estate, you’d be based just 10km, on a 100km/h road, from the largest port in New Zealand. Kiwifruit and avocados are booming, the Port of Tauranga – which handles five times the export volume of Ports of Auckland – continues to outstrip all competitors, and tourism is a relentless earner for this region.

There is a healthy spread of jobs for wage earners here, but salaried positions are rare and heavily-contested. You could bring much-needed professional jobs to our vibrant local economy.

The Bay is a growing player in the New Zealand economy, but it still isn’t anywhere near as large and influential as it could be. Perhaps you should consider bringing your experience, and those exciting job vacancies, to Tauranga.

You’ll soon wonder what took you so long.

$10 Tauranga

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R+A June Blogpost

Anyone who has ever contemplated a move to the Bay of Plenty will be aware of the term $10 Tauranga. It originated back when wages were much lower so the $10 figure is well out of date, but the implication is clear: you won’t earn much in Tauranga.

These days, the truth is quite different. Sure, we are placing candidates in jobs which pay less than the equivalent role in Auckland, but Tauranga pay rates have risen dramatically, and continue to inch upwards.

A qualified Auckland management accountant might earn a salary of between 95,000 and 130,000 ; a Tauranga accountant with an equivalent 5 to 8 years’ experience could earn 80,000 to 110,000. These figures are of course dependant on the size of business but offer some insight to the discrepancy.

At executive level, where there is strong competition for fewer openings, we advise anyone earning upwards of $150,000 to expect a pay cut of around $20,000-$40,000. While this not an insignificant amount, it still equates to a generous income in a region where – thanks to the dream combo of great weather and hardly any traffic – many fill their weekends with free and uncomplicated activities like meeting friends for a swim at Pilot Bay, riding the waterfront Daisy Hardwick trail or going for a picnic at McLaren Falls.

Compared with the City of Sails, this is a cheap place to live. While CoreLogic research shows Tauranga house prices have risen 23.1% in the last 12 months, your Auckland house sale will still put you in a strong position to buy well in the local property market.

During your hunt for a home, you can rent a 3-bedroom home, 2 streets back from Mount Maunganui beach, for $480/week. Parking in the Tauranga CBD is $2/hr; at the Mount, it’s free. Private childcare generally costs less, and naturally you’ll pay less than in Auckland if you engage a builder to renovate your home or an accountant to finalise your tax.

 

We moved here almost four years ago and noticed an immediate saving in fuel costs – not to mention being freed from the torture of the inner-city traffic crawl. We lived 3km from Queen St, where I worked. My daily commute took at least 40 minutes each way. I now live 4.7km from the CBD. Even though locals have seen a definite increase in traffic on the roads in recent months, it still only takes me 10 minutes to drive into the CBD at peak hour. We are also 10 minutes’ drive from the beach and I walk my children to our excellent neighbourhood school.

 

But when the lifestyle is that idyllic, it’s no wonder some aspects of the supply and demand that created $10 Tauranga remain.

Many Western Bay of Plenty employers are flourishing in the current economic climate and can now offer more competitive pay rates. The construction industry is screaming out for talent. In Auckland, qualified builders with 5-8 years’ experience earn around $60/hr, and the same person in the Bay could now demand $40/hr. There are record numbers of jobs advertised in the trades, manufacturing and transport – but not in professional service roles (the jobs we used to describe as “white-collar”).

So while a truck driver, kiwifruit picker or drainlayer can enjoy confidence in their chances at securing a job in the thriving Bay economy, it’s a different story if you’re a banker, website designer, or operations manager. In fact, in professional roles, the competition is more fierce than ever.

In salaried positions, the increase in Bay jobs is no match for the increase in people wanting to move here. In recent weeks, a number of highly-specialised roles – in areas such as IT and executive-management – have attracted upwards of 70 applicants.

This is why, in my experience, those eyeing professional services roles should definitely get a job before moving to the Bay.

If you’re looking for a senior or executive-level opportunity, you’ll be battling it out with applicants who live locally, elsewhere in New Zealand and offshore, and you’ll need to be primed for a determined campaign (be assured, though: it’ll be worth it!!).

I’ve lived all over the world and the Tauranga lifestyle is second to none. It’s not a backwater; it’s not a giant retirement village. It’s a vibrant city, offering excellent career prospects to those who can secure great jobs.

Please come and join the fun as this energetic region grows in scale and prosperity – but, given the competition you could face, don’t cash up and head south until you have a job to come to.