CAPABLE NZ: Murray Hyslop, Maintenance Planner

Murray Hyslop, Maintenance Planner

When Bachelor of Applied Management candidate Murray Hyslop discovered he was to be made redundant from his long-term job, he decided it was time to take stock. He had earned qualifications through fitting and turning trades training, and through the in-house training programmes of his employer, but had nothing that really reflected the management skills and knowledge he had gained in his supervisory positions.

As it turned out, Murray had his contract extended no less than five times before he decided to move on of his own accord. And, while this made for a long period of employment uncertainty, the additional months allowed him time to earn a management qualification drawing from his experiences in an organisation where he had a great strategic knowledge.

Working with Capable NZ

In early 2010, Murray enrolled at Capable NZ to complete a Bachelor of Applied Management in strategic and operations management through Assessment of Prior Learning. The Capable NZ process enables candidates to earn qualifications by demonstrating their depth of existing knowledge and understanding in a chosen field to a panel of industry experts. Preparation for his presentation took Murray ten months of intensive work with a Capable NZ facilitator.

"The process was valuable” he explains. “In your day to day job you’re working away, but you don’t always realise the big-picture implications of what you’ve done. Now when I get involved with something I know when to stand back and think ‘where am I with this’. Should I step forward, or go back? I call it my ‘helicopter view’.”

Murray believes that some of the subjects he focused on helped him to secure his new position, as Maintenance Planner at the Port of Otago, and that the strategic skills he honed have allowed him to take a bigger-picture approach to management of his department.

“I studied what the best in the world were doing in a specific area because I needed better skills for the work that I was undertaking in my previous job, so I used that as a paper for the degree. When I interviewed at Port Otago, that particular knowledge struck a chord with my new Manager and together, we are currently developing strategic plans to implement ‘Reliability Centred maintenance’ practices and work flows at the Port.

“I work directly with 15 staff across three different trade groups and I also need to liaise with the operation teams and management, because it’s important to know what they’re up to, how they see things, and how what we do affect them and the overall performance of the Port. I am now also involved with the Port strategic management team.

“Even though ‘Capable’ process was fairly costly, it was worth its weight in gold. For what I actually learned, but also because having a qualification means I feel more confident and assured about what I do.”