Physiotherapy ākonga get hands on connection with future employers

Centre for Health and Social Practice physiotherapy ākonga had a great opportunity to connect with employers at the Wintec | Te Pūkenga Rotokauri Campus, for the first ever Physiotherapy employer evening.

The event, brainchild of Laura Stratton, Physiotherapy Clinical Placement Co-ordinator, brought together employers from Te Whatu Ora – Counties Manukau and Waikato, Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty, and a dozen other employers including both larger commercial providers and smaller private practices, from across the central North Island. 

The evening was an opportunity for year three and four ākonga to learn about the current job market and hear directly from those in the industry around what they are looking for in graduates and the new graduate roles and support that employers are offering. 

Rob Moran, Team Manager – Physiotherapy, Centre for Health and Social Practice said, “we are fairly confident this type of event has not been done before for physio ākonga in New Zealand”. 

“The feedback we received from employers during the event was super positive.” 

Attendees included Clinical Managers, Practice Managers, Human Resources (HR) managers and also a number of last year’s physiotherapy graduates, the first cohort to graduate from the Wintec |Te Pūkenga Physiotherapy programme.   

Rob’s students also made the most of the opportunity for connection. “I really enjoyed seeing our ākonga having serious conversations about employment opportunities. Some of the students asked some really great questions of prospective employers and we know that many gained insights that would not have been possible without this type of opportunity to connect and interact with people in the industry.”

Rob says that after the success of this year’s event, they will definitely be looking to hold an event like this regularly in the future. “We’ll be getting some more formal feedback from employers and our akōnga so we can refine and hopefully grow the event for next time.

“I wanted to extend a huge thank you to everyone involved in delivering our first Physiotherapy Employer Evening, and for Laura for driving this brilliant idea.” 

Find out more about studying physiotherapy at Wintec | Te Pūkenga, including our Bachelor of Physiotherapy programme