So, you’ve got the job. You obviously made a great first impression on the people interviewing you, but how do you make a good impression when you turn up for day one at your new job? We asked two HR experts, Lucy Boomer,  the People and Culture Advisor for Greenpeace New Zealand, and Becca Harvey, the People […]

Being on a board or steering committee is a great way to support the charity sector and give back to the community. It is also an ideal way to nurture your leadership skills. Driving a fast-growing charity or NGO engaged in groundbreaking social change work can be exciting. Good governance is key to social change […]

Guest post: James McCulloch, Director of Leadership at Inspire Group — Over the past 16 years, Inspire Group has provided learning and leadership development solutions for 1000’s of leaders across New Zealand and Australia. Through this, and our own extensive international leadership journeys in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, the Inspire team knows what great […]

Guest post: Alanna Irving — “What is it that makes you a leader? Why is it you who often takes the lead?” This question was posed to us, a group of relatively young people at different points in our professional journeys, by our facilitator, Suze Wilson, at the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s Rethinking Leadership hui. […]

Life-hacking, marketer and a do-good job success story (hoo-rah!). Gina spends her time at Lifehack – an experiment ground for improving youth wellbeing. She shares her career story, pivots and the time her job title included Chief Popcorn Maker…   Where were you working before you started this job? I’m from Berlin and after studying […]

How to go from volunteer to paid Volunteering is a fabulous thing. It allows cash strapped organisations to extend their reach and do more good work. And it gives volunteers a chance to make a difference in their communities and gain valuable experience and brownie points for their CV’s while they’re at it. But volunteering […]

About a year ago, I profiled my good friend and co-working desk buddy Ashlee on her role with Neighbours Day Aotearoa. Since then she has left behind weekend scrambled eggs on sourdough brunches in favour of snorkelling, bushwhacking, 27-degree heat with “one million percent humidity” and the “best job” she’s ever had volunteering with Volunteer Service Abroad […]

If you’ve ever road tripped around Oamaru in summer there’s a good chance you have noticed the sunflowers. Rosedale Farm in Weston is an Instagrammer’s delight, the sweeping yellow fields some of the most extensive in the country. It’s more than a pretty picture however. Since the first crop of sunflowers was planted on the family farm […]

With national volunteer week next week (18-24 June), it’s a good time to talk about ways to work effectively with volunteers to keep them connected with your organisation, its vision and to hear and appreciate their voices. This week we have a guest blog from Laura Allen at Volunteer New Zealand on best practice in volunteering. […]

Tyler is a do-good success story who has moved from a volunteer role to paid employment. Today, he is a volunteer coordinator at IHC, managing their volunteer programme. Who better to give the low-down on how he managed this move, and how to make a great impression when you volunteer. — Can you tell us more about the […]

There are a lot of great things about working less than 30 hours a week, as more than half a million part-time workers in New Zealand would tell you. After nearly a year as a full-time, first-time mum, it allowed me to transition back into the workforce gently, and now allows me to balance my […]

This week we have a guest Q&A with Erin Polazcuk, National Secretary at The New Zealand Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi (the PSA), the largest trade union in New Zealand with over 63,000 members. — What is PSA all about? PSA represents everyone from physiotherapists to DOC rangers; scientists to parliamentary cleaners; […]

Here is one goodie I can personally vouch for, and have had the absolute pleasure of working with. My first role, green from University, was at Trade Aid Importers in Christchurch. In my marketing role, I worked closely alongside Justin Purser, the Food Manager. For the past 25 years, Justin has worked at Trade Aid Importers […]

Guest post by Pat Shepherd. Pat is the Founder & Chief Doer of Things at the One Percent Collective – encouraging a collective of Kiwis that support local charities, by committing to gift 1% of their income, whatever that might be. Over the past six years, Pat has grown this charity from scratch. Through the […]

After six years at university I left with a couple of degrees. Today, you can probably learn most of what I studied through a myriad of websites and apps from science, arts and commerce topics, for a tiny fraction of my student loan…. From using javascript, learning how to speak Español, finance skills and more. […]

  Charlotte Squire talks with environmental scientist and Ekos founder Dr Sean Weaver about carbon financing, saving rain forests and how to turn your world changing dreams into an “enduring reality.”  We start our interview with a series of hand-made fart noises, because Sean Weaver likes to keep things real (see picture above of Sean […]

Tips on taking care of yourself Doing good can be a tough job sometimes – so if you’re going to avoid burning out, you’ll need to take care of yourself. You might be supporting young people with addictions, former refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder, rehabilitating neglected animals, lobbying for urgent action on poverty or climate […]

Ever wondered which tools super-productive and uber-organised people use to get things done? I am lucky to be surrounded by tech start-ups in the shared office space I work in at the Bizdojo where words like Slack, Trello boards and Zaps get bandied around.  I asked a few charity friends (Pat and Reuben from the […]

Birthright New Zealand supports single parent families and their focus is on allowing children to reach their potential.   Last year Birthright Hutt Valley celebrated its 50th birthday – a half century doing good! I spoke to the lovely Christine who manages Birthright Hutt Valley to find out more.   Describe to us Birthright’s central aims […]