Pathways into Primary Industries (PIPI)

Attracting, recruiting, and retaining people

Pathway into Primary Industries (PIPI) is a project looking at paving a path to secure futures for New Zealanders and the country’s industries. It’s about training, mentoring, and supporting learners, and connecting people with employers in primary industries.  

Our mission is to build partnerships 

The mission is to facilitate and nurture partnerships that lead to meaningful careers and successful businesses. We’re still piloting the programme, which we’re designing to do three main things. 

  • Attract — increase the appeal of primary industries, so its appeal equals its contribution to GDP 
  • Recruit — make sure the right people get the right training for the right jobs
  • Retain — keep New Zealand’s talent committed to the country’s primary industries. 

Our steps to achieve our mission 

To achieve our mission, we want to: 

  • develop a clear learning pathway between school, lifelong learning, and employment  
  • encourage you to join the primary industry if you’re changing jobs 
  • support the likely paths to COVID-19 recovery for the industry 

Our pilot project is well underway 

This three-phase project began in August 2020 and will wrap up at the end of March 2022. 

  • Phase One — scoping 
  • Phase Two — developing ideas and researching 
  • Phase Three — designing and building an online hub, and designing and rolling out a job brokering and mentoring programme. 

We’re carefully balancing user feedback with building a strong foundation. Our ‘minimum viable product’ approach means we’ll get just enough feedback to make informed decisions and grow the programme.  

So far, our research has shown: 

  • The primary industries has lots of opportunities. We’re great at telling others in the sector about those opportunities. But we’re not so good at appealing to the hearts and minds of people outside the sector.  Everybody has something to offer, at work or in life. We can all flourish if we work together. People need people, not just another platform.   
  • The pilot programme offers a chance to understand the opportunities in the industries. New entrants, including people who are changing careers, can get to know specific industries well.  
  • People can find employment. They can work as they learn and be mentored at the same time. 

Find out more about this project 

Visit pipi.ac.nz

Email pipi@primaryito.ac.nz