Nick - Economic Development Officer (City & Community Development Division)

 

• How long have you worked at HCC?

It's hard to believe it but I’ve been here for 4 years now. I started off as a contractor back in 2004 and became a Hutt City employee early in 2005.

 

• What attracted you to the role?

I was new to Wellington when I started here and tracked Hutt City down hoping to get my foot in the door doing policy related work. Very quickly I realised that working in this environment can be as varied and challenging as you want to make it -which is why I have stayed.

 

• What does your job involve – day to day things?

Explaining what I do day to day is just about the hardest question anyone can ask me. Last week I spent time out on a building site, visited three other businesses, attended a Council business meeting, prepared some reports for Council, coordinated a meeting on an upcoming strategy, and attended a couple of meetings in Wellington on separate regional policy groups -all focussed around building the long term economic devlopment of Hutt City.
I do anything and everything, short of breaking the rules, to make Hutt City a great place to be in business. It involves lots of work with other Council areas as well as local businesses, business groups and developers deciding on ways Hutt City Council can facilitate further, sustainable future growth. There are the more structured parts too, like writing and contributing to development focussed policy, crunching numbers, economic development reporting and Council reports.

 

• Things about the job that you enjoy the most…

For me the best thing about my job is the variety of projects and initiatives I get to be involved in.  As well as the variety I really enjoy knowing that I have the backing to make my mark and be innovative in my work.

 

• What is your view of the main benefits of working at HCC / in Lower Hutt?

Well, I live in Wellington so the first benefit I see everyday is the backed up traffic coming the other way, as I motor freely down state highway two.  Other than that, I frequently head out to the pools for a free swim or sauna and have been seen on occasion running up and down the Hutt River Trail at lunchtimes.

 

• What skills & attributes do you think someone will need to do your job?

Look at every challenge as an opportunity -imagining how you could achieve it rather than why you can't.  Other than that, I have a degree in finance and economics which comes in handy, an understanding of where businesses are coming from and their issues, an ability to relay their messages to Council and vice versa as well as an eagerness to help and find a solution - knowing where to start lookng.