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Backing Local: Why Key Skills is Partnering with Kai Ika
Backing Local: Why Key Skills is Partnering with Kai Ika At Key Skills Recruitment, we’ve always believed that successful businesses have a responsibility to contribute to the communities that support them. As a locally owned and operated business, Wellington has backed us for nearly 20 years. Along the way we’ve been fortunate enough to work with thousands of local people and hundreds of local businesses. As we’ve grown, we’ve increasingly asked ourselves a simple question: How can we use that success to make a meaningful difference in our community? Earlier this year, we decided that rather than making that decision [...]
We thought we were helping him find work. We didn’t realise we were helping him escape.
When people hear the term “modern slavery”, they often picture something happening somewhere else. A factory overseas. Human trafficking. Organised crime. What they don’t picture is a young man working in a warehouse in Lower Hutt. But that’s exactly where one of the most memorable experiences in Key Skills’ history began. With the Government currently considering new legislation aimed at tackling modern slavery and worker exploitation, we’ve found ourselves reflecting on an experience from more than a decade ago that changed the way we think about our role as an employer and recruitment agency. At the time, we had a [...]
The quiet return of reliability as a hiring priority
This is highly relevant across NZ right now, especially in construction, manufacturing, logistics, and engineering. After a few years where businesses were desperately filling gaps, many employers are shifting back toward: attendance attitude consistency communication coachability Not just qualifications. That conversation is happening everywhere quietly in industry at the moment. Reliability is making a comeback For a while there, many businesses were just trying to get people through the door. The labour shortages following COVID changed hiring behaviour across a lot of industries. Employers had little choice but to move quickly, lower barriers, and focus on filling critical gaps. Now [...]
Meet James McLennan
How did you get to where you are today, what’s your story? Well, the story of the company starts back in 45 with my granddad and his brother. They came back from the war and started an engineering business. They were doing crushing and general engineering, then moved into quarry work, crushing plants, conveyor systems, road compactors, all the sort of work happening at the time. Then there was a meeting in the early 70s between my grandfather and a fellow from America who built air bridges. There is a story that they met on a plane and were having [...]
Launching apps
Key Skills are launching 2 new apps, 1 for employers and 1 for our workforce, details below Employer hub One simple place to manage your workforce with us. The Key Skills Employer Hub is your direct line to everything you need — whether it’s booking staff, reporting an incident, organising a site visit or ordering PPE. Scan. Sign up. Add to home screen. Done. What you can do inside • Submit a temp job order in seconds • Request permanent recruitment support • Report an accident or incident immediately • Access induction information • Book ConstructSafe assessments • Request PPE [...]
Meet Norm Tufue
Norm Tufue’s career is a story of steady progression, commitment, and learning on the job. Starting work straight out of school, Norm built his experience on the job, moved to New Zealand to start a family, and worked his way into leadership through showing up, learning, and taking responsibility when opportunities arose. How did you get to where you are today? What’s your story? I left school and got a job as a storeman in a supermarket. I couldn’t afford to go to university, so I told my parents I’d get a job instead. After a while, I decided I [...]
