Jeremy Wright - Workchoice A Career Inspiration
I attended Workchoice Day in 2002 as an ambitious young sixth form student at St Peter's College. My chosen field was engineering as I have a keen interest in the automotive and motor-racing industries, it seemed the best bet. Workchoice Day not only cemented my decision to study engineering but also gave me a goal to strive for.

I have grown up in West Auckland and spent what seemed like half of that time at Western Springs Speedway, developing a passion for automotives. I was unsure how I was going to enter this seemingly elusive industry becuase my dreams were much higher than building racecars for summer Saturday nights. I wanted to become a part of the design and development of the awesom machinery we see on our roads today.

This is where Workchoice Day pointed me in the right direction. Our two allocated businesses were Rockwell Engineering and BMW New Zealand. These two companies complemented each other as they portrayed two very different sectors of the engineering industry.

I can remember sitting in the BMW conference room at Mt Wellington during their presentation thinking, this is me. Although BMW New Zealand are not involved in engineering design their presentation gave an overview of BMW engineering, enough to spark a desire to make it a career.

After the sky high dreams of BMW international, Rockwell engineering gave a grounded, nuts and bolts presentation of the engineering industry. The hands on workshop was well planned and proved to be enjoyable and informative.

I am now a first year engineering student at the University of Auckland. I have found it challenging and realistic and I am delighted to have made engineering my choice. I believe there is no better way to make a decision on a career than seeing what you hope to become, face to face.


Further news from Jeremy Wright...

Following my first year of study at Auckland Universtiy I decided to major in mechanical engineering as this was the field that interested me most. Automotive and motorsport have always held a special interest for me but are often viewed as industries which are difficult to break into and not an option for aspiring engineers in New Zealand. My visit to BMW New Zealnd on Workchoice Day gave me a detailed overview of their worldwide engineering and brought an extremely exciting industry onto a scale well within the grasp of anybody who is determined and committed. Since then I have always remembered that no matter how difficult the industry appears to be, if you work hard enough then opportunities will present themselves.

Throughout university I followed this ethos and became involved in the University of Auckland Formula SAE team. The Formula SAE competition tasks university teams to design and build a small, open wheel race car and compete in both static presentation events and dynamic, on track time trials. The competitions are held worldwide and we travelled each year to Melbourne, Australia to compete and further to Frankfurt, Germany to compete at the world famous Hockenheim race circuit. I am also now involved in motorsport in New Zealand as a mechanic and race engineer in both the Formula Ford and Toyota Racing Series classes.

Graduating from University in an economic downturn is an intimidating proposal for any student. Luckily I secured employment at a super yacht manufacturer in Auckland. It was revealed to me later that the difference in my application was the range of extra curricular activities I had done during my studies, as inspired by my Workchoice visit.The work was challenging as I had joined a small team of broad engineering backgrounds. Soon after my employment the company hit financial strife due to the cancellation of orders. This proved to be a testing time and resulted in me starting the new year without permanent employment.

Although I enjoyed my time at the super yacht company I longed for a structured engineering environment like the one I had experienced at Rockwell Engineering on my second Workchoice Day visit. In April 2009, I started at VT Fitzroy on the Devonport Naval base where I found a similar structured engineering environment to the one I had so enjoyed at Rockwell.

My participation in Workchoice Day has proved to be an extremely important guide into a career I have a passion for. The chance to see what you are to become and the environment you will be immersed in is an invaluable experience and I will always be appreciative of what Workchoice Day did for me.