“I’ve been given a lot of opportunities at work, and they wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t done this course.”
Steve loves driving for Fonterra. Driving has been his passion for 40-odd years, and he doesn’t plan to give it up any time soon. However, he’s enjoyed the opportunities that completing the ATT4 programme have given him, which involves supporting fellow drivers and new drivers to complete their e-learning requirements and doing some on-the-job observations. These tasks have Steve off the road, for a couple of weeks, at the beginning of the season.
Steve says, ‘I did say to my manager when I started the course, if I’m going to do this course, I don’t want to be sitting in this same job three years later. But I have to say, by the time the course finished, he’d already moved me on.
To the question, “So you think completing the course has opened up opportunities for you?” Steve responded, ‘Without a doubt, without a doubt. I’ve been given a lot of opportunities at work, and I’d say, without the course, I’ve got to be realistic, they wouldn’t have happened.’
Steve thoroughly enjoyed the ATT4 course. In his own words, ‘It’s been a blast for me. It really has been. I thoroughly enjoyed it.’
He was very reticent in the beginning though. He says, ‘I rang up LearningWorks one day because I was in a mess and couldn’t get my head around it. I was looking at the question and going holy heck. So, I rang up Jude (Learner Support) and she said, “There’s no right or wrong answer. The answers they’re looking for are your answers. No one is going to be sitting there saying, oh you’re wrong.” So, once I got my head around that I was away.’
Fonterra has a new position opening up, On-job Assessor. It involves going out with drivers and observing them in action but also still being a driver. Steve says, ‘I’m keen for that job, it’d be right up my alley.’