Lisa Jensen
Import Ocean Supervisor, UTi NZ Ltd, Auckland Airport, Auckland
Job Basics: Importing cargo from all over the world and dealing with all related documentation. Supervising a team of six staff.
Taking the leap from small town Levin to the big city of Auckland has proven to be a winning move for Import Ocean Supervisor Lisa Jensen.
The 21-year-old has found her niche in the freight forwarding and logistics sector a rewarding international industry she had never thought of becoming involved in when she was younger.
"Freight forwarding is an awesome career that can really take you places with on the job training, no student loan and the opportunity to make good money," Lisa says.
Unsure about what career direction she really wanted to take when she left school, Lisa moved to Auckland to search for greater job opportunities.
Lisa says she didn't see the benefit in studying and taking on a student loan if she didn't know exactly what she wanted so moving into the workforce was her first challenge.
"I just thought I would get working and see what happens," she says.
Lisa saw a role advertised in a newspaper and landed her first job with freight forwarding company UTi within a few weeks of moving north.
She says it was a role she originally thought would just be a stop gap.
"It wasn't something I knew much about before I came here but the more I began to understand the industry the more I enjoyed it."
Freight forwarders arrange cargo movements to and from international destinations via sea or air.
They also deal with the associated documentation and authorities such as MAF and New Zealand Customs.
The career opportunities at UTi have proved so great that she has stayed with the company.
"There are so many opportunities here. Within two years I was getting paid twice as much as what I started on," Lisa says.
Lisa started at UTi as an Import Ocean Operator which meant entering documents into the company's systems, paying shipping lines and working on clearing imports.
She received one-on-one training from supervisors and senior operators as well.
Now she is one of the supervisors overseeing six people and teaching them about the industry. UTi have also paid for her supervisors training course.
"It's very rewarding and its cool to say that you are a supervisor as it shows the company trusts you and its interesting as you're dealing with queries not just doing data entry."
Lisa and her team deal with imports arriving in New Zealand from all over the world.
In the course of the day she could import anything from margarine to motorcycles and it's interesting to see the variety of goods being imported into the country, she says.
Communicating and working with people from different cultures on a daily basis can be challenging - especially if they don't speak English - but it's also an exciting and enjoyable part of the job too, Lisa says.
"The one thing I like most about my job is talking and working with people from all over the world from Turkey, Australia, China. It's interesting."
Although people might have the idea freight forwarding is a warehouse job that's not the case.
Lisa says her role is computer based in the office, although she has been given the opportunity to go down to the ports to see first hand the port operations. Occasionally she might need to travel to look for missing freight or damaged cargo.
There are many opportunities in freight forwarding for young people with the right attitude, Lisa says.
"If you want to get ahead in the industry you have to be willing to learn. You have to be diligent. You have to use your initiative and want to make a go of it," she says.
"But if you breathe in everything you have been taught and work hard for a couple of years you will be shown greater opportunities and rewards."
Lisa says she hopes to broaden her experience, perhaps internationally, and continue further into management within the freight forwarding world.
"There are lots of areas I can move into so I definitely plan to stay on," she says.