The mission of StatsNZ is to unleash the power of data for all New Zealanders. In much more simpler terms, it is to help New Zealanders, whether its an individual or a business or a not-for-profit or any New Zealander to understand data and to make the best-empowered decisions for themselves. As a training developer my job specifically is to help train the contact centre and the field staff. Field staff basically means people who go door to door to collect statistics. I work in e-learning particularly in helping create all the online courses that go on to train our contact centre as well as our field staff. I specifically make e-courses that help with soft-skill development as well as training on the surveys themselves. So whenever a contact centre representative speaks with the public or whenever someone who's a field staff member speaks about the surveys they actually know quite a bit about the survey and they know what they're talking about.
I am an Indo-Fijian who moved to New Zealand at the age of 4, since then I’ve spent the past 21 years in Auckland. While high school and university were experiences that helped enrich my life, it was the privilege of travelling across 33 countries that truly shaped my personality and attitude. I have travelled across Asia, The United States, The Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. My travels have taught me the valuable lesson of viewing the world as one large connected community to preserve and serve. Through these experiences I knew from a young age I wanted to work for an organisation I believed would truly make a difference in my community. After a restructure in my previous role, I was provided with the opportunity to turn my hope into reality and work for the community serving organisation Stats NZ.
I never studied learning and development or instructional design in any of my years at university. I like to believe I fell into the industry because of my strong passion for quality education and personal interest in learning. In my perspective, to become a training developer or to enter the diverse field of learning and development one must have; strong attention to detail, the skill of critical thinking, a passion for education, an agile approach to work, and an appetite for all things learning.
In my perspective, the greatest gift of my job is knowing that my work makes a difference in someone else’s day. As a training developer for Stats NZ’s contact centre and field staff, the content I design and develop is essential to keeping our staff informed. I also love the freedom I am given when designing and shaping content. I create videos, infographics, scenario activities, games and more. There is no limit to the way people can learn, therefore, there is no limit to how I can shape the content and help empower people with knowledge.
While I experience a lot of creative outlet within my role, every job comes with its limits. I believe a key limitation as a training developer is finding the fine balance between your creativity and meeting your stakeholders’ desires. There may be times you will have to sacrifice an idea or learning technique because your stakeholder may not recognise it’s learning value the way you as a training developer would. In such circumstances, the ability to remain flexible, open and compromise for the best interest of your stakeholder is the key!
If I could provide any student (including my past self) with life advice, I would recommend the following: