Training Advisor - Industry Based Learning

City Campus / Woolston Campus
Permanent, Full Time

• Use your trade and industry experience to help grow apprenticeships.
• Get out into industry and build strong relationships with employers.
• Support apprentices to progress and succeed.

Bring your industry experience to a role where it can make a real difference.

Mō Tēnei Tūranga Mahi – About the Role
You know your industry. You understand how businesses operate, the skills they need, and the pressures employers face when it comes to finding and developing skilled staff.

Now you can put that experience to work in a different way.

Ara is building a new Industry-Based Learning (IBL) team, and we're looking for five Training Advisors who have genuine industry credibility, strong people skills and the drive to get out there and build something.

This isn't a role where you'll spend all your time behind a desk, and it's not just about looking after an existing portfolio of apprentices.

A big part of the job is being out in industry. You'll meet with employers, understand their workforce and training needs, build new relationships and identify opportunities to grow apprenticeship training through Ara.

You'll become a key point of contact between Ara, employers and apprentices, helping make sure everyone stays connected and apprentices get the support they need to keep progressing.

You'll:

• Build strong relationships with existing and prospective employers.
• Use your industry knowledge and contacts to open doors and develop new opportunities.
• Talk with employers about their workforce, skills and apprenticeship needs.
• Build a pipeline of employers interested in taking on and developing apprentices.
• Regularly connect with apprentices and employers in the workplace.
• Monitor apprentice progress and pick up issues early.
• Work closely with Ara teaching teams to keep workplace learning connected with programme requirements.
• Coordinate workplace activity and evidence collection.
• Share apprentice progress with academic kaimahi (staff) responsible for teaching, assessment and moderation.
• Take ownership, follow things through and find practical solutions when challenges come up.

Because the IBL team is new, you'll have the opportunity to help shape how we do things.

We're looking for people who bring ideas, use their initiative and are prepared to get stuck in.

Ngā Pūkenga Me Ngā Wheako – Skills and Experience

Industry credibility matters to us. 
We're interested in people who have built real experience and respect within their trade or industry and are ready to use that experience differently.

You'll bring:

• Proven experience and strong knowledge within your relevant trade or industry (such as Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Fabrication, Carpentry or Joinery).
• A relevant Trade Certificate, National Certificate or New Zealand Certificate at Level 4, or equivalent knowledge gained through relevant experience.
• The confidence to talk with anyone from an apprentice on the tools through to a supervisor, business owner or industry leader.
• Good industry connections, or a proven ability to get out there and build them.
• The ability to spot an opportunity, start the conversation and turn it into a productive long-term relationship.
• Strong organisation skills and the ability to manage employer relationships alongside an apprentice portfolio.
• A practical, solutions-focused approach.
• Initiative and the confidence to work independently without needing every step mapped out.
• A genuine interest in helping apprentices succeed and helping industry develop the skilled workforce it needs.

Experience in apprenticeships, vocational education or workplace training would be useful, but it is not the only way into this role.

If you've spent years building your knowledge, reputation and relationships within industry, we're interested in what you could bring to Ara.

Why this opportunity is different
The new IBL team is about strengthening Ara's connection with industry and making it easier for employers and apprentices to work with us.

That means getting out there. Meeting people. Building trust. Opening doors. Finding opportunities. Solving problems. And following through on what you say you're going to do.

You'll have the chance to use the reputation and relationships you've already built while developing an even broader industry network.

Our aim is for our Training Advisors to become trusted faces of Ara within their industries, people employers know they can pick up the phone and talk to about apprenticeships, training and developing their workforce.

You'll also be joining us at the beginning of this new approach. If you see something that could work better, we want to hear about it. If you see an opportunity, we'll expect you to go after it. 
 
Bring your experience. Bring your contacts. Bring your ideas. Help shape the future of industry-based learning at Ara.

Mō Mātou – About us
Ara Institute of Canterbury is the South Island's largest provider of tertiary vocational education and home to one of New Zealand's leading trades training environments.
 
The Madras Street (City) campus brings engineering, architecture, music, trades, health and creative arts together in the heart of Christchurch, right next door to One New Zealand Stadium.

At our Woolston campus, you'll work alongside experienced tutors and industry professionals in modern, industry-standard training environments supporting areas including carpentry, plumbing, electrical, painting and other trades.

As part of Ara, you'll have access to a range of staff benefits including income protection for eligible permanent kaimahi, discounts on Ara courses, professional development leave and funding, generous leave provisions, an annual Christmas closedown, free parking (Woolston campus only) and on-site food options.

 Guided by our values Hono | Connect, Hihiri | Inspire and Aroha | Respect, we're committed to equity, inclusion and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

If you're looking for work that matters, Ara could be your next chapter.

Tono Ināianei - Apply now
If you know your industry, can build strong relationships and like the idea of helping grow something new, we'd like to hear from you.

This is your opportunity to join Ara's new Industry-Based Learning team, strengthen our connection with industry and help create more opportunities for the next generation of skilled tradespeople.

We accept applications via our online application system. For any other queries, please email [email protected].

Rā Katinga - Applications close – 11:55pm, Sunday 1 November 2026
Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and interviews may take place prior to the close date. This means we reserve the right to close a job ad before the advertised close date.