New Zealand’s Minister of Employment Hon Willie Jackson recently launched a new skills assessment tool that provides an innovative way to identify talent and bridge the gap between job seekers and employers.
According to a recent press release, the Skills Assessment Tool is a world-first initiative launched with Trade Me Jobs, the Ministry of Social Development and Joy Business Academy.
What is the Skills Assessment Tool?
The Skills Assessment combines online job-hunting and gamified learning to simplify the process and enable employers to benchmark skills and personality attributes, while helping Job seekers to identify their strengths and define career choices.
This tool is beneficial since finding the perfect candidate for a job can be a complex and arduous task for employers.
Especially now, wherein the labour market is constantly evolving and there are critical skills and talent shortages across a range of industries.
This Skills Assessment provides an alternative to CVs which is the current norm. It prioritises personality and skills over IQ or experience.
These results allow employers to dive much deeper into a candidates core attributes, so that they can make good recruitment choices.
Changes in Customs
In other news, the Minister of Customs Hon Kris Faafoi had recently announced changes after conducting a review on the use of eGates.
Customs officers will now always conduct face-to-face checks when eGates rejects a passenger
The changes come after a person of interest was able to evade authorities by using an eGate and a passport that belonged to someone else.
An additional step of a face to passport check will be done by Customs officers when there is an inconsistency between the eGate image of the passenger and the biometric data information in the passport.
The Decision Review Tool used by officers remotely will no longer be used.
The two reports released identified areas for improvement such as learning and development training as well as resourcing without the Decision Review Tool.
Moreover, the reports have identified two issues that required further clarification, which are the level of false accepts and override errors; and the circumstances around a similar incident in 2016 regarding a person of interest.
Customs has provided the Minister with the additional information related to both issues and have reassured him that the systems continue to provide a secure border.
In addition, the systems have been providing a positive experience for 14 million arriving and departing passengers each year.
What are eGates?
eGates undertake a number of border processing activities, including comparing the image of a passenger using the eGate with biometric information contained in the passport being used.
No passenger processing system, be it electronic or manual, is entirely immune if a person seeks to deliberately break the law and deceive the processing system.
However, assurance is needed that the Customs’ eGates provide the most accurate processing system, with best practices biometric settings available.
According to the Minister, “I have been assured this is the case and that all necessary actions are underway or about to be.”
