Rotorua Chamber of Commerce joins job taskforce

KEEN: Darrin Walsh is passionate about youth employment.

The Rotorua Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with Te Waiariki Purea Trust in a bid to give unemployed Rotorua youth the chance to get a job.

The two organisations have combined under the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs to launch the project which takes unemployed youth under the trust and teams them up with an employer for a period of work experience that hopefully leads to a job, or into further training, according to chamber head Darrin Walsh.

"I'm really passionate about this. There is an issue here, and we are the link to connect them to the employers. I'm certain there are some employers that can help us make a difference."

Mr Walsh said the aim was to initially put 20 youth into local businesses to give them hands-on experience in the industry they had aspirations for.

He said the idea was something he'd been "kicking around" for a while but had been given a boost after the mayors taskforce for jobs.

Mr Walsh said if successful he wanted to see it extended to wider than just kids from the trust, but it was about getting processes in place and getting it started.

He said while they'd been working with chamber members, any employers wanting to get involved were welcome to contact him. "I believe if we are seeing some great success more employers will come on board."