The service industry covers a wide range of customer-focused roles, including business, retail, tourism, and hospitality. Experience in this sector gives you transferable skills to help you progress into a broad range of careers.
If you’re a “people person” then this could be the pathway for you. With experience and a great attitude there are many opportunities to move into more senior supervisory or managerial roles.
SMARTER FUTURES: High Value Tourism
Over the year ending March 2024, New Zealand saw an increase in overseas visitors and tourism spend. Total tourism expenditure was 44.4 billion, an increase of 14.6 percent ($5.6 billion) from the previous year.
That means that between April 2023 and March 2024, people spent 44.4 billion dollars on tourism in New Zealand – which was about 15% more than they spent the year before.
Do you have…
- Great people skills
- Attention to detail
- An ability to speak and listen well
- An affinity for working in a team
- Good time management
- Problem solving skills
- Ability to quickly adapt to change
These employability skills are ideal for careers in this sector!
Read more about employability skills
BUSINESS SERVICES
Studying and working in the business sector prepares you to thrive in today’s rapidly changing global marketplace.
Enabling you to play a part in helping organisations run their operations in a relevant, forward thinking way, to keep up with the evolving environment.
With experience in this sector, you could transition in to starting your own business, or contracting out your services within your area of expertise
You could work in…
- Accounting
- Marketing
- Management
- Finance
- Economics
- Supply Chain Management
- Human Resources (HR)
- Sales
- Communications
Working in this industry you will develop a great set of transferable skills such as…
- decision-making
- innovation
- teamwork
- leadership
- communication
- sales and marketing
- strategic thinking
- financial literacy
JOB AND PAY EXAMPLES IN THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY
| JOB | PAY PER YEAR | OPPORTUNITIES |
|---|---|---|
| Accountant | $70K to $165K | Good |
| Accounts Officer | $48K to $82K | Good |
| Advertising Specialist | $48K to $150K | Average |
| Barrister | $63K to 4131K | Average |
| Communications Professional | $110K to $180K | Good |
| Contact Centre Worker | $45K to $65K | Good |
| Finance Manager | $87K to $170K | Good |
| Financial Advisor | $80K to $150K | Good |
| Health and Safety Advisor | $51K to $125K | Good |
| Human Resources Advisor | $70K to $200K | Average |
| Management Consultant | $61K to $102K | Average |
| Managing Director/CE | $200K to $1.2M | Good |
| Marketing Specialist | $55K to $170K | Average |
| Office Adminstrator | $48K to $65K | Average |
| Office Manager | $60K to $85K | Average |
| Personal Assistant | $55K to $110K | Poor |
| Project Manager | $90K to $170K | Good |
| Purchasing/Supply Officer | $55K to $170K | Good |
| Receptionist | $48K to $65K | Average |
| Recruitment Consultant | $48K to $130K | Average |
| Sales and Marketing Manager | $95K to $258K | Good |
| Sales Representative | $50K to $100K+ | Average |
| Solicitor | $62K to $131K | Poor |
BUSINESS QUALIFICATIONS
Whether you are looking to study at the University of Waikato, Wintec or Vision College, options include…
UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO
- Bachelor of Business (BBus)
- Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS)
- Bachelor of Management Studies with Honours (BMS (Hons))
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
WINTEC
- Bachelor of Applied Management
- NZ Certificate in Business (Level 3 and 4)
- Business (Level 5)
- Range of graduate diplomas
VISION COLLEGE
- NZ Certificate in Business (Administration and Technology) (Level 3)
- NZ Certificate in Security (Level 3)
HOSPITALITY SERVICES
The hospitality and tourism sectors collectively bring $40 billion dollars per year into the New Zealand economy and employ more than 400,000 people (hospitality.org.nz)
Work as a hospitality worker can include:
- customer service
- serving and providing bar service
- providing restaurant table service
- café and counter service
- clearing used dishes, cutlery and glassware from dining and drinking areas
- supervising and coordinating the activities of hotel porters and other staff
- explaining and enforcing safety regulations in hotels
- carrying luggage and escorting guests
- housekeeping work in hotels
- booking tours, taxis and restaurants for guests
SMARTER FUTURES: High Value Tourism
Over 189,000 people were directly employed in tourism, 6.7 percent of the total number of people employed in New Zealand. Lots of people work in this sector on a part-time or casual basis, and they often pursue studies in other fields. There are lots of opportunities for moving up into management roles or branching out into entrepreneurship and business ownership.
JOB AND PAY EXAMPLES IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
| JOB | PAY PER YEAR | OPPORTUNITIES |
|---|---|---|
| Chef | $42K to $100K | Good |
| Hotel/Motel Manager | $42K to $90K | Good |
| JOB | PAY PER HOUR | OPPORTUNITIES |
|---|---|---|
| Bartender | $20 to $22 | Good |
| Café/Restaurant Manager | $20 to $34 | Good |
| Café Worker | $20 to $22 | Good |
| Hotel Porter | $20 to $22 | Good |
| Kitchen Hand | $20 to $22 | Good |
| Waiter/Waitress | $20 to $21 | Good |
HOSPITALITY QUALIFICATIONS
Check out hospitality study options that are offered at Wintec…
WINTEC
- Culinary Arts (Level 4 and 5)
- Restaurant and Barista Services (Level 3)
- Bar and Restaurant Services (Level 4)
RETAIL SERVICES
The retail and retail supply chain sector are the largest within the Service sectors. It contributed more than $41,000 million to New Zealand’s GDP in 2019 and provided 16.6% of all New Zealand jobs. In the Waikato, it is predicted that there will be almost 34,000 jobs in retail by 2025. (serviceiq.org.nz)
COVID-19 brought about many changes in the way people shop and online shopping is a rapidly growing part of New Zealand’s retail industry. According to BDO New Zealand, the number of retail stores are decreasing while the number of people employed by the retail sector is rising.
JOB AND PAY EXAMPLES IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY
| JOB | PAY PER YEAR | OPPORTUNITIES |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Assistant | $42K to $48K | Average |
| Retail Manager | $42K to $60K | Average |
| JOB | PAY PER HOUR | OPPORTUNITIES |
|---|---|---|
| Storeperson | $20 to $30K | Good |
Sources: mbie.govt.nz, careers.govt.nz, hospitality.org.nz, openwaikato.co.nz, serviceiq.org.nz, bdo.nz, waikatoregion.govt.nz, Waikato.com, Waikato.ac.nz, wintec.ac.nz
Disclaimer: While the FutureForce® Team makes every effort to ensure the information on this website is correct, the editor and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any disruption or loss caused by error or omissions. Content is designed to complement, but not replace, the advice of a career advisor.