David Howell

Truck Driver

I joined the army as a truck driver in Febuary 2015, where I served in the regular forces until 2017. While employed here I learned time management, discipline, and team work. I was responsible for a vehicle in a section, and along with my other section members we had to ensure all work was completed to a high standard in sometimes stressful and pressing situations. I left in 2017 to head overseas.

On returning to NZ from my working holiday, I became a regular member of the reserve forces until 2023, getting promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. I was deployed to Antarctica to assist with cargo offload operations in 2023, which was an incredible opportunity.

Working Holiday/Seasonal Jobs

Between 2017 and 2020 I travelled to the USA, Canada, London and the United Kingdom. I worked a variety of jobs including bartending, machinery operator and concierge. While working in Canada and the USA I grew my skill areas in team work and time management, as I was working in large crews with limited time windows for harvesting.

In my roles as a bartender and concierge, I developed customer service experience as well as computer skills. I had to constantly learn new booking or Point-of-Sale systems while working in a fast-paced environment.

Farm Assistant

In my role as a farm assistant I developed team work, time management and attention to detail. As part of a team of five, I was responsible for showing up to milkings on time and carrying out other daily tasks in order to be on time for shceduled afternoon milkings.

One responsibility was treating sick animals with penicillin or other medication when needed, and ensuring that correct withholding periods were observed for the treated animal's milk. This was an important task that required careful attention to detail to avoid heavy fines imposed by the milk collection company for improper practices.

Linehaul Truck Driver

During this time I operated a variety of truck units based out of Oamaru, Christchurch and Timaru.

Our trucks were running 24/7, 7 days of the week except for maintenance which meant I was always paired with at least 1 other driver on the same truck. This was an excellent opportunity to develop my team work and interpersonal skills.

I greatly developed my time management skills while planning deliveries and routes to coincide with work time requirements, shift changes and delivery timeframes.