Skilled hands on deck

In a first for New Zealand, AUT and founding partner Vodafone have launched the Skills Exchange website - an online employee volunteering facility

Recruiting a “spare pair of hands” just got easier with the launch of the Skills Exchange website aimed at bringing not-for-profit organisations and volunteers together.

A New Zealand first, Skills Exchange is an online employee volunteering facility developed by AUT and founding partner Vodafone.

Community organisations can lodge projects – anything from having a marketing plan written to having a fence painted – for participating businesses and their employees to review, select and do.

The website provides a simple and efficient tool for employers to track and report on their organisation’s involvement with the community.

AUT’s Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack says Skills Exchange will allow the university to better engage with the community and provide an effective tool to help other like-minded businesses.

Vodafone Director of HR Neil Porteous says Skills Exchange is a great way to manage the volunteering process for everyone’s benefit.

AUT’s community relations manager Ian Leader says Skills Exchange is not about recruiting treasurers and long-term volunteers. “It’s about specific needs paired with the right skills from high-level technical capabilities to basic manual labour,” he says.

www.skills-exchange.org.nz