Ayla Carey

Representing the levels and forms of aroha that can be found throughout our lives across our many communities. We acknowledge the wide range of obstacles and the journey it takes to overcoming everything that stands in our way to expressing aroha within.

Ko wai koe? What are your strengths/weakness?

My name is Ayla Carey and my iwi are Te Arawa and Ngā Rauru Wanganui. I work in the Communications trade in The New Zealand Royal Airforce.

I followed the normal trade route, with training in different postings to different locations, then I decided to become an Air Force reservist for a couple years. I did some other work experience there, but I’ve since returned to the Air Force re-enlisting last year.

I’m currently posted to Whenuapai Air Force Base. I’ve had some experience working with different kinds of people and different cultures and different spaces. So, I would say that I’m quite good at building rapport with people, relating to one another and finding common ground or making some common ground for there to be connection.

From working in the communication trade within the Air Force, I feel like it’s about my communication style. I think my communication is quite clear verbally and also that ties into my listening and body language. Some of those basic skills can get you really far in certain roles and I also have strength in work experience. I’ve come to realise I’m quite empathetic and I think that can be a really good skill to have when working in teams or especially in the School to Skies initiative, when you can understand some of the feelings they might be having or feelings around career choices. This will help me in the future with leadership and working in defence and other career pathways. I’ve also worked for the police. I can work well under pressure and still produce good outputs despite being required to handle emergency situations.

My weakness is I’m not very good at knowing and recognising when I need some rest and more self-care. I feel guilty when I do. This is a good area to touch on, just with maintaining your own wellbeing, it’s an important factor for staying well in the workplace.

I think everyone does this comparison to others, whether it be in training or somewhere you want to be and you’re not quite sure of the different levels of skill. That leads into my other point where I’m a bit impatient when it comes to goals, I would like to achieve them overnight. If I want change in the workplace, or positive change – whether it be processes or team dynamics – I want that to be quick, but that’s not really how it works. I can be impatient with wanting to see both influences happen.

Seeking guidance from our kaitiaki Hiwa-i-te-rangi, we take a journey through our different aspirations, goals and dreams. This tohu acknowledges hard work, wisdom, the reach of ones goals and the desire that comes from this mahi.

What were/are your career aspirations leading into your chosen career path?​

I joined straight after high school. After doing the defence careers experience, which is similar to School to Skies, but with the Army, Navy and Air Force. My aspirations were kind of like easing into a workplace where I could learn on the job and get paid, and the community aspects like meeting people, being able to be a part of things like sports and keeping fit, that’s kind of what my aspirations were at the time. I didn’t really have any qualification or university aspirations because I didn’t see that as a pathway. I wanted to earn money while taking cool opportunities, but now as an adult and in the job, I’ve developed what I want to do with my career more.

I’m currently doing a study programme within the Airforce, which is where they give you some funding for tertiary and studying papers. I’m doing some aviation management courses with Massey University in the hopes of doing air traffic control one day, after some time in the Airforce. So that’s kind of where my long-term goal is, but before then I’d like to continue with my normal job role and become fully qualified and then I’d like to commission and become an officer, so like into a leadership role, where I’m not so much doing hands on work but more leading teams and making the decisions.

I’ve done a couple papers already, so I know I like it. It’s a nice balance. The Air Force recognise it as career and personal development, so they find time for you to do some of that work. Not all the time, but they do recognise study days.

With adventure comes challenges as well as obstacles to overcome. We stand proud as we overcome these obstacles. This tohu draws inspiration from the Niho Taniwha and Aramoana patterns. We acknowledge reaching our destination and preparing ourselves for the many new adventures ahead.

How wīwī wāwā has your career adventure been?​

I’ve had quite a few different work experiences and I’m only 24. From 18 to 24, I’ve had quite a few unusual career experiences, but defence has definitely helped me with all of them. I joined the Air Force originally into the communications trade in 2018 and I worked for three years towards my 30-year service medal, but then I wanted some more career experience and some comparison from defence because I didn’t really have anything else to go off.

So, I went and did a year and a bit of the Bachelor of Midwifery to become a midwife in Christchurch. I moved from Auckland down south, with the hopes of doing some study in Wellington to become a student midwife. I enjoyed it and was enrolled to start the second year with the bachelor programme but I ended up getting a job with NZ Police 111 and found myself back in a communications job – similar but different from Air Force.

The Air Force role helped me get the police job, as with emergency communications like search and rescue, and how it works at the Air Force is similar to other government organisations. So, I did that for one year and I think working in that role helped me figure out a few things, like working for the police and with 111 you’re listening to some not nice phone calls and it’s quite a lot to take on as a young person. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, but the work life balance is quite difficult with shift work as well.

It was calls like domestic violence, mental health and car crashes, which kind of made me want to sort of push pause and return to the Air Force because I felt like I’d had my time out to experience a few things and try different pathways. I kind of concluded that I didn’t think I was done with the Air Force and I always left the door open, which is why I was in the Air Force Reservist. And my overall aim was to get life experience and see if the Air Force is where I wanted to be, which I achieved, and I did some other work which has really helped me today – especially the police job, with working well under pressure. There’s a lot of calls and stories I remember from that very intense job and you have to be able to emotionally handle it.

I’ve been reenlisted in the Air Force for one year now and I will continue with some senior trade training next year. So, I’ve definitely not followed the normal timeline of people joining defence and staying. I am continuing where I left off with my Air Force training from here. You have to do what’s right for you at the end of the day.

These patterns represent bravery and being strong in the face of adversity. We strive to be persistent and positively challenge anything that threatens to alter, restrict, and put a barrier in the way of our desired pathway.

What was your defining moment?  What words of wisdom or change in heart, changed your stars?​

I think it kind of boils down to self-wisdom, when its coming from myself and not anywhere else. You kinda have to ignore what you think you should be doing, the expectation or comparison, and taking external judgement. You have to think about what is right for you and your career and what you want to be doing and enjoying. When you’re honest, that’s when you start making changes for yourself, and that could be a career change or a position change within an organisation.

This helps you align better to not only who you are, but maybe where you should be. I think the defining moments for me is probably leaving defence the first time round and moving from Auckland to Christchurch, because there are a lot of changes happening at the same time. By changing career, leaving friends and family to start fresh in a new city, even though that can be stressful, it kind of pushed me into some self-growth. I started boxing down there as a hobby and I made lots of friends that way. You kinda have to put yourself out there when moments like that happen. It was hard work at the time, but I feel like when you reflect on it, there were big things you learned from that big change. So it was that for me.

We are all different, but I think you can be sometimes blissfully unaware or ignorant of some hardships people have gone through. I think you have to be really mindful of what’s going on for people, either in the past or currently. You just never know what’s going on for people. I think that’s just a good way to be in general, because it covers your bases and helps you be compassionate or safe when you don’t know the full picture. I think if you put that out there and that’s how you present yourself, then people are going to be more willing to feel safe talking to you, sharing things and no-one is going to feel left out or different.

Reflecting on the group in School to Skies, I had someone I was looking after who came to me to talk about something. Quite a lot was going on with her in the recruitment process that was putting them off, to the point of potentially not joining, so she spoke to me about that one evening. I think I set the expectation; I think that really helped her.

Here we are drawing inspiration from the Pūhoro pattern.  The pūhoro is used here to represent the strength, speed and agility needed to move forward and accomplish ones goals.

What future actions/recommendations do you have for those who want to be in a career like yours?​

I think you need to develop your why or what you want to achieve in a job or as a person and I know that takes time for some people and when you’re young, it’s hard to do that. But I think if you just start thinking about, what do I want to get out of work? Do I want to help people? Where is my interest and passion in life? If you just start asking yourself those questions, then you’ll get some answers back and it might take some time to get to the point where you feel like you’re fully achieving those things.

The next part is to research anything you’re interested in, make sure you ask all the questions to people in those jobs, if you’re able know as much as you can before making an informed decision around a career and if you’ve got careers advisors available or like with Air Force or defence, you can talk to defence recruiters, located all around New Zealand. People like that can help you make a more educated career decision and it’s also okay to change your mind because like I shared with my career pathway, I’ve changed a couple times, but it’s all not been in vain, and I’ve taken all that experience on and it’s all going to help me.

So, not having it figured out right away is okay too. As long as you’re thinking about your decisions, I think that’s the most important thing in putting your hand up and saying yes to build opportunities is always a good way to go and try things. I think we do what you’re expected to do. Maybe what your parents want you do. But you don’t ask yourself until later on.

What do I want to do and why do I want to do it?

Success, best mentioned in the whakatauki “Tūwhitia te hopo, mairangatia te angitū!” Feel the fear and do it anyway!

What are some the failures/challenges in your life that have helped with your chosen career path? What are some memorable wins for your chosen path?​

Options like university can be more difficult for people with certain backgrounds. So, I feel like that was a challenge for me. Uni wasn’t completely ruled out, but it would have been a harder pathway to follow, with a need for financial support. And then I feel like life happening, like when I moved to Christchurch, I had a relationship break up, it’s a challenge I faced, and I think that can push you to learn more about yourself and try and take it as a blessing in disguise, to be more independent or move towards what you’re wanting to do.

I was in a new city, and I could return to the Air Force, so I couldn’t carry on with study or the police job and you learn where you want to be and what’s going to give you what you want out of your career, which for me is helping people. I think the wins for me is all the opportunities I’ve had, but they’ve all been very different opportunities and seem quite random. With the police, I got to go on police rides and see what they actually do and be a part of it, I got some insight into their processes and court processes, which is helpful to understand how things work. Then, I’ve had opportunities with defence, with sports and with the Māori cultural group and doing events at the Government House with foreign dignitaries coming in, that’s really special.

I’ve also been a speaker at a medal ceremony by putting my hand up and I’ve done volunteering activities for Anzac Day and Poppy Day. Working with different types of people, doing special roles that you wouldn’t find yourself in normally and all together, that’s collectively going to give you some really good experience and insight to the world.

On base, you can be a part of sports, social clubs and events and kind of get involved in that way and then you’ll get an idea of how the planning and organising works. It gives you a different perspective of looking at workplaces and processes. Having a full view of things can help develop more situational awareness and that’s going to help you be a better person and leader because you’re thinking about more than just you.