Lee Thomson

I currently work for Fonterra Pahiatua as a level 5A advanced senior operator.

Our site turns raw cows milk into milk powder with a shelf life of two years. I am able to run all plants within my department. Recently become a trainer for new employees. This job is also shift work for 10months of the year. 2 day-shifts, 2 night-shift's and then 4 days off. The other 2 months is winter maintenance and that's Monday-Thursday day-shifts only.

The plants that make up a powder factory are evaporators, drier, packing and milk treatment. I am able to operate all of these plants efficiently and to the highest quality.

Main goal of our job as operators is to solve problems in real time so that our factory continues to make powder. We make food to consume so we don't want to waste the farmers milk. "Every drop counts". Everything is run under vacuum and by valves and moving parts. When these fatigue we have to fix and make decisions on the go, and I thrived under this pressure. I have taken the time to learn everything about my plants which is why i am the go to problem solver on my shift.

Its easy to run the plant but not easy to understand how it runs. This is where i was able to separate myself from my peers. I want to know why not just how. I took pride in learning all these plants and the nuances behind how it works not just how to operate it. I’m a keen learner and don’t like not knowing why something has happened. Very good problem solver especially under pressure and love working in a team.

I was a temporary worker for a company called Drake. I was posted at Fonterra Brands, MakoMako Road. I was in the crate wash, which washed dirty milk crates from the yesterdays delivery's.

Absolutely no skills needed, just had to be there and do my job effectively.

It’s through this job that I was able to gain respect from Fonterra and I was able to progress to the job im in now. I guess this job showed me that i have more to give than just an operator. I want to help people and talk to people and actually do a job that keeps my brain ticking.

Got an opportunity to go to England to play rugby. Took this opportunity with both hands as it was semi professional.

Worked as a labourer for a company called McCarthy & Stone in England. They specialise In building retirement complexes in and around the UK.

I was a labourer at the start of my employment. This encountered helping tradesmen to clean up or to help with their job. Our site foreman would give us tasks to do and once complete we would just pop up anywhere needed.

6 weeks in I got an offer to be the Foreman of the labourers. We had 16 labourers on site and I was asked to be in charge of them. Instead of always asking the site foreman what to do I would assign the tasks for the day. I was the youngest labourer which had its challenges at the start. But i quickly gained respect through no power trip, just from being friendly and asking nicely.

Here I learned what it was like to lead a team of adults with various backgrounds. My communication skills and ability to lead was what I was most proud of. There were never any conflicts because my team respected me enough to just do what was asked. They did it because I never asked them to do anything I hadn’t already done.

I was employed by my former primary school to coordinate and develop sporting skills for the intermediate school kids. I loved sports and was actually the sports boy of this school in 2009 which is why I was approached. University wasn’t for me at the time because I needed money to live. This job allowed me to pass on my knowledge and skills of all sports to the children of my area. It was the most rewarding job I’ve had because I could see real time the effect of my teaching on the kids. Whilst I was there we won or came second In every competition. The most pleasing thing was the kids thanking me after.

When it was raining outside and I wasn’t able to take the kids for sports lessons, I taught kids maths and English that were well below their suggested levels. This was very rewarding because again you could see there progress and how happy they were that someone was taking the time to teach them in a patient manner.

A job that I really enjoyed because it developed my patience, my ability to speak in public to both parents and kids and to be able to handle kids and their many extremities. This job made me want to be teacher at the time. I thought that was my calling. So i went back to university and studied to be a teacher. Then i got an opportunity to play semi pro rugby in England. Took this with both hands and didn't look back. I still love teaching people whatever skills i can, its just embedded in me to help and guide.

Delivery Driver for Hell Pizza. Part time employment whilst I was at university until I was offered a job at my local school. Learnt to communicate effectively with customers and also had to develop conflict resolution skills when unsatisfied customers complained.