Fruitful Jobs can find you staff!

Zena and Jeremy a backpacking couple from New Zealand have taken on two Fruitfuljobs placements. In the summer they worked as camp and field supervisors on a strawberry farm in Kent, whilst for the Winter, production and quality control roles within the AMS packhouse team. Growing News caught up with them both to get some feedback on their time, so far, in the UK berry industry.

Your background?
We were both brought up on animal farms in New Zealand, so not too many strawberries about.

Why the UK?
The UK is an ideal place for backpackers to come as it has such good access to other European countries. The strength of sterling is of course the major draw card as we will be able to travel and save some money. Lots of Kiwis take time out with the two year working holidaymakers visa available until the age of 27, and so there is plenty of scope for work and travel.

Arriving in the UK?
We first took on a job in the hospitality industry but on our first day we rushed off to the nearest internet cafe so that we could find other work. We found www.fruitfuljobs.com on a search engine and decided to complete the application form with the thought of outdoor work. Emma gave us a call and on the following day we drove down to Kent for an interview with Jeremy and Natasha Scott.

Summer job.
The summer was spent as camp and field supervisors which was really enjoyable particularly as the long hours and free caravan accommodation meant that we could save some money. It proved to be an interesting was to travel through the international workforce and now we know which countries we don't wish to visit!

Winter job
As the work on the farm dwindled we contacted Emma for more work and were invited to meet the production team at AMS with a view to working in the packhouse. The thought of working indoors was really quite attractice with the "great" English winter weather and so decided to move up to Worcestershire. The packhouse work has suprised us in terms of how enjoyable we are finding it. Our original plans were to stay for a few months but hopefully we'll be able to stay and help out during the busy summe months.

"Zena and Jeremy are very bright and cheerful and keen to get on with the job. They have both picked up their new roles very quickly and are prepared to learn all the time. They have been an excellent find" says Peter Taylor, AMS Production Manager.

"Quit frankly it worked really well, I mean really well and we don't know why we didn't do this earlier. They both had very positive attitudes about working and how to improve, and do a better job for themselves and others in the work environment. They lived on the campsite and took on various tasks my wife had been doing for several years and instantly removed a whole layer of worry/stress and out of horus supervision. Because they are more mature they were able to drive the fine line of field and campsite supervision without isolating themselves from the students. I only hope we have the same success this year!." said Jeremy Scott, Strawberry grower from Kent.

Spring 2003