Jackson Smith

Jackson's experiences managing people in hotels and his well-developed planning skills have led to a key leadership role in public sector management.

To be honest I wasn't really sure what I wanted to study. I had recently come back from an OE in Europe and went to see an adviser at the university for some guidance. Given my interest in travel she pointed me towards Tourism Management. After reading through the course content further, the tourism factor really interested me, and I enrolled in the course.

I also studied French, as I spent most of my time overseas in France and wanted to continue building on the language. Having a language as another area of study was beneficial and was a good complement to my Tourism Management studies. I completed several Management and Marketing courses throughout my four years of study, along with some International Business.

I think the lecturers were the most enjoyable part of the Tourism Management programme. They were passionate about the course and from the outset made the lectures interesting and inviting. Sometimes the large workload surprised me, but that was a great challenge being able to balance my time and achieve as best I could.

The Tourism Management practicum was central to obtaining my first role after university. I did a summer placement with the Rydges Hotel and worked in various roles within the organisation, mainly based in the front office. After that, I returned to university to complete Honours and at the end of that year was offered a role back at Rydges as a corporate cadet, which is basically a management internship.

After a few months, I was fortunate to move into a duty manager role with the hotel. After two and a half years,I progressed into a senior management role with the new Rydges Wellington Airport property, becoming the Front Office Manager.

Earlier this year, I made a significant career pivot to a people management role with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. Hotels took a massive hit from COVID-19, and we had to close for quite some time. After reopening, I wasn't quite getting the enjoyment out of hotel work as I had in previous years so I decided it was time for a change. Fortunately, I found a role with Waka Kotahi whose skill needs aligned very well with those that I had developed in my hotel management positions such resourcing, recruitment and managing people.

Moving to a government role has been a very positive change and I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with Waka Kotahi so far! In my role I look after a large number administration staff (personal assistants & team administrators) who are embedded throughout the various business units within the agency. It's quite a unique model whereby they have another line manager they support day-to-day, with me in the background as their People Leader. This was a learning curve for me as I'd been used to interacting with my staff in person every day, and now I need to make sure I proactively stay engaged with my current team to ensure they are provided with the support they need.

My biggest takeaway from studies was time management. I was 30-35 hours a week in conjunction with study and as a result, had to balance my time effectively to be able to give my best at both commitments. This boded well in my professional career as it allowed me to prioritise my tasks and manage my workday efficiently. I also developed people skills from being around the diverse range of individuals in the course and in all the roles I have taken on. One thing I probably took for granted was how important assignments are in terms of being able to communicate professionally. Whether it’s presenting something or writing an essay or a report, being able to communicate to both academic and professional standards has been a huge help.

My main piece of advice to students would be to take risks, back yourself and your ability, and don't be afraid to make mistakes. None of us are perfect, and there are times that we are going to make a mistake, but if you can’t learn from a slip-up, then you won't know what it takes to succeed.