Brook Ruscoe: Hello, hello. So I've arrived at fisheries company Moana New Zealand and this place is huge. And look. All I have to do is sign into this flash computer and someone comes out to meet you. Let's check this place out.
Alyx Pivac: Kia ora, ko Alyx taku ingoa. No Ngāti Whātua ahau and I'm the communications assistant for Moana New Zealand.
Brook: Alex has: a degree in science; works on the sustainability team for her iwi; and was awarded a scholarship to spend a year in Japan to study all things fishing, and today she's going to show us around.
Alyx: This is where the engine room of our company is. So a lot of our workers come in here. They start around 4:30 in the morning. So we have a load of fish come in. They'll skin it, fillet it pack it up in ice and ship it out that afternoon to all of our customers. Freshest product!
Brook: I couldn't come to one of New Zealand's biggest fisheries companies if I didn't get in the factory, so I'm going in.
Anastasia: I'm like a big mama in the factory.
Brook: Anastasia is the definition of adaptable. She's a packer, a boner, a knifehand. She knows everything about the factory. This even got her promotion to a full-time training manager.
Anastasia: You have to have the right attitude towards your staff. I'm like a person that listens and also I have a heart for everyone and they'll in our factory.
Brook: And she can dance. Now she told me if I was willing to learn I could work there. I got this.
Michelle Cherrington: My name's Michelle Cherrington. I'm the group Communications Manager for Moana New Zealand. It's not necessarily about the qualifications that you've got on a piece of paper but the time that you give, the interests that you show, the curiosity that you show, and the things that you do outside of your work or study/school life.
Alyx: I left my high-paid desk job with a computer, and a warm office to go and work in 'grow it' sheds with the water and beanies, and headlamps, and it wasn't the most glamorous thing that I've ever had to do. It was definitely a challenging environment for me, but looking at it as a learning curve, having a positive attitude towards something that I might not have necessarily chosen to be at the top of my list of things to do did lead me to where I am today, absolutely.
Nathan Reid: Snapper.
Brook: Blue cod.
Nathan: Red cod.
Brook: Hoki.
Nathan: Barracuda.
Brook: Moki.
Nathan: Terakihi.
Brook: Shark.
Nathan: John Dory.
Brook: Nemo?
Nathan: Kia ora - my name's Nathan Reid, I work at Moana New Zealand.
Brook: He started as a fisherman fresh out of high school, headed off the uni to get a degree in business and like Alyx, he got a scholarship to head to Japan and now looks after hundreds of workers all over the world.
Nathan: In my current role I look after projects so I look after advocacy stuff, I look after fishermen. There's so many different roles you can do and different avenues you can come from. For any rangatahi coming through - have a crack. Don't worry about where it is today - think about where it can be tomorrow. If you work hard today you know the opportunity might not be there now but it'll come. You work hard and, you know, you keep putting your hand up --
Brook: Yeah - willingness to learn.
Nathan: Yeah - willingness to learn. You know you kick yourself later if you didn't try something and missed out, missed those opportunities.
Alyx: So manaakitanga is one of our core values here at Moana New Zealand. So it's about making sure that when we have guests and visitors that they are well looked after and they feel welcome. It's also about making sure that our people are looked after whether they're in the factory every day, whether they're in the office every day and so it's important for us as Māori and as non-Māori to just show hospitality.
Brook: Time to head to the the Coromandel where the oysters live. Here, boy!
Tukumana Renata: Kia ora, I'm Tukumana Renata, I'm an oyster shucker, I work at Moana New Zealand.
Brook: As you can tell ... I'm a natural.
Tukumana: These guys are the local oyster shucking champs and get through about 2,000 oysters a day and they get paid per oyster. I didn't open first. I was in the packing room. It was sort of training up and then I wanted to open. Just 'cos I knew there was more money in opening. From there, yeah, just worked my way up and got in there. I guess they gave me the job because I wanted to do it.
Brook: And just like that, it's home time. I've met so many awesome people at this place, it's obvious that these guys make the job fun which helped them get to work every day. There are hundreds of different types of jobs here so whether you want it to be a fisherman, work in the factory or at a computer and if you have the right attitude and willing to learn these guys all reckon you could become the CEO.
Brook: That guy was saying you need to be ready to learn stuff - well you do that the whole time right? So when you go for that interview, show that you're interested in the company and the job. Do a bit of checking out online and prepare some questions to ask them. Karawhuia! Check out more awesome Māori businesses in the video section or visit careers.govt.nz/maia