Working together for mutual success: volunteers’ views of the 2019 New Zealand International Building Expo and Summit

Now, nearly half a year after the event ended, how are these volunteers getting on, and how do they view this remarkable experience?

With these questions in mind, we recently caught up with two of the volunteers.

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Michelle: NZIBES is an open platform

Michelle comes from mainland China, where she majored in music, and has an artistic temperament. As the saying goes, “architecture is flowing music”. After coming to New Zealand, she chose to pursue further study in development project management, a discipline closely connected to the building industry.

She attended NZIBES in 2018 as an ordinary volunteer. Her outstanding performance led to her becoming a volunteer organiser during preparations for NZIBES in 2019, responsible for recruiting and organising volunteers.

In 2018, Michelle was planning to find work in construction and property and needed more opportunities to engage with the industry.

So she volunteered at the fifth NZIBES in 2018. She felt she learnt a great deal: “It was like receiving training before entering the workforce.”

By the time preparations began for NZIBES in 2019, Michelle was already working.

Although work kept her very busy, she accepted without hesitation when the NZIBES organisers entrusted her with recruiting volunteers.

Compared with 2018, NZIBES in 2019 was larger and more prestigious, with more rigorous processes and greater attention to detail. It needed more people to help run it — nearly a hundred volunteers alone.

Fortunately, Michelle was also a board member of the New Zealand Chinese Youth Federation. She coordinated several student associations and other organisations, mobilising their members to complete the task together.

In her interview, Michelle said that although recruiting volunteers was very challenging, a key reason they ultimately succeeded was that the organising committee had made NZIBES an open platform.

Michelle explained that the NZIBES theme was “Collaboration UP”, and that its spirit of working together for mutual success was reflected in every aspect of the event.

The organising committee was equally thoughtful in its arrangements for volunteers.

As most volunteers were students, the committee considered their future job searches and provided each volunteer with a valuable letter of recommendation, offering them sincere, practical support.

Together with the committee’s effective training and coordination, this ensured that every participating volunteer gained a great deal.

 

Jojo: finding work before the event had even ended

Jojo is a prime example of how the “Collaboration UP” spirit Michelle described was reflected in the volunteers’ experiences.

Jojo is a lively, straightforward 20-year-old Kiwi woman. When NZIBES took place in 2019, she was still in her second year at university.

Before taking part in NZIBES, the young Jojo had not yet considered her career plans. Like others her age, she simply worked part-time alongside her studies, including jobs in clothing shops and cafés.

Unexpectedly, volunteering at NZIBES not only helped Jojo find a job but also led her to begin discovering her career interests.

Jojo told us that the organising committee created a platform where volunteers could interact with businesses, giving them access to people leading companies in construction, property and other industries.

While volunteering, Jojo had the opportunity to help exhibitors set up their stands and got to know one company in depth. Before NZIBES had even ended, the company invited her to start working part-time.

Jojo said she was very fortunate. Beyond the job opportunity, volunteering had opened a window for her, revealing opportunities in construction and property and introducing her to many outstanding businesses and leading industry professionals.

Jojo believes that even if she does not work in this industry in future, her volunteering experience will help her understand herself better.

At major events, volunteers often work hard behind the scenes with little recognition, yet they are indispensable to an event’s success.

Perhaps unlike other major events, NZIBES does not let its volunteers simply give without receiving anything in return. The experiences of the two volunteers we interviewed offer a distinctive perspective on how the “Collaboration UP” spirit runs through every aspect of NZIBES.

“Collaboration UP” is more than a slogan: NZIBES provides a practical platform for everyone involved to work together for mutual success.