The sky's the limit

The sky's the limit for staff wanting to earn National Certificates and Diplomas at Skyline Enterprises.

The Queenstown-based company, which operates four major tourist attractions in Queenstown and Rotorua, and caters for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, has set up an accredited internal training scheme that allows employees to -earn while they learn'.

The scheme has seen the company align with two major training organisations to offer NZQA-approved qualifications. The training will see staff members walk away with National Certificates and Diplomas at no cost.

While gaining NZQA qualifications on the job is not a new thing for the tourism industry, it is for a company the size of Skyline Enterprises.

Kirsty Hamilton is among the Skyline Skyrides' staff members in Rotorua who are to get NZQA qualifications on the job

Companies such as McDonalds, Sky City and the Accor Hotel Group offer similar schemes. However, Skyline Enterprises operations manager Maryann Geddes said the company was leading the way for smaller organisations.

"Tourism is a maturing industry," she said.

"People are realising they have to invest for the betterment of their staff, themselves and the industry.

"New Zealand is a quality destination and this is an important initiative to add value to the industry and its employees," Mrs Geddes said.

New employees at Skyline already undergo a six-week trial period where they get in-house training. Now, once their jobs are confirmed, they will already have enough unit standards to earn themselves a National Certificate in Customer Service.

It is then up to the employee to decide whether they want to take their learning further.

If they decide to go ahead, all they have to do is give Skyline Enterprises a commitment to stay with the company for two years while they carry out their training.

The company is working with the Aviation, Tourism and Travel Training Organisation (ATTTO) and Hospitality Standards Institute (HSI) to offer National Certificates in Food and Beverage, Tourism and Travel, Cookery, and Engineering.

They have taken on a number of Modern Apprentices who are completing training in areas such as engineering and travel and tourism.

Skyline's first NZQA graduates Mike van der Kaag, Vanessa Zietsman and Simon Haslett

Skyline managers have completed courses through the ATTTO and the HSI, enabling them to assess the employees for their unit standards.

"Staff do it all in work time and we assess them because it is mainly about skill-based qualifications," Mrs Geddes said.

"Staff just carry on doing what they are doing.

"We are also developing management and supervisory qualifications that senior staff will be able to access through their work with Skyline."

Mrs Geddes said the entire company was taking a major leap forward in its quality processes.

Kim Ibberson, manager human resources and quality at Rotorura Skyline Skyrides, one of Skylines' tourist attractions, said gaining a qualification on the job made an employee an extremely valuable asset to the company as well as making them more marketable for future jobs.

"Training on the job gives you the theoretical training while you gain practical experience at the same time. This gives an employee a lot of added value," she said.