Bay entices business with its talent pool

Danny Blair, leasing manager, Colliers International, in front of the old Farmers building in Queen St, Hastings, site of a proposed Kiwibank Contact Centre. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay is in a better position to capitalise on more local contact centres, thanks to a ready-to-go-talent pool.

Following Kiwibank's decision to set up a contact centre in Hastings, with about 200 new jobs for the region, a social media campaign was instigated by Business Hawke's Bay, Hastings District Council, Napier City Council, EIT and Ministry of Social Development to ascertain potential employee numbers and experience.

Napier City Council economic development manager James Rowe said the team was "wholeheartedly pleased with the success" of the Contact Centre Shout Out! campaign, with 750 people responding.

The talent pool will be used to strengthen approaches by local agencies to businesses considering setting up or moving contact centre services to Hawke's Bay.

"There are several different projects in the pipeline," Mr Rowe said.

About 600 respondents - those who included their email address - were contacted with details of Kiwibank's first round of local positions. More were expected over the coming months after the centre was established.

Business Hawke's Bay CEO Susan White said "we were delighted with the response to the campaign and, more importantly, with the calibre and profile of the respondents and what that means for the region from a business attraction viewpoint."

The campaign ran over four weeks. Joshua Woodham of Snapp Mobile said the four-week campaign was "totally different" to his usual assignments.

"I think it was a great use of the various platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to reach a large targeted audience with cost-effective spend," he said.

The survey revealed a good spread across all age groups, with 90 per cent of respondents under 55 years, 87 per cent female, 75 per cent with NCEA level 1 or higher.

Thirty per cent said they had contact centre experience, 91 per cent had worked in a customer service environment and a large number were willing to work flexible hours.

Most lived in Napier and Hastings, with 41 from Central Hawke's Bay and four from Wairoa.

More than half were currently employed.

Regional commissioner for the Ministry of Social Development, Lindsay Scott, said results showed "a skilled and active workforce in the region, and the creation of new jobs opens up many opportunities for all job seekers".

Grow HR director Murray Cowan said the ongoing development of contact centres was a "great opportunity" for new jobs.

"Hawke's Bay has all the required resources to provide, assess, develop and support contact centre operations," he said.

"The impact of the Kiwibank and other potential contact centre opportunities for our people and our local economy is huge."

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said the results reinforced council confidence in workforce depth and skill.

"We are also an attractive region, providing a great and affordable lifestyle and solid opportunities for people to move here and take up employment or invest in business," he said.

"In short, we're open for business and welcome new investment."