Tahatū

Tahatū

Last updated 18 March 2024
Last updated 18 March 2024

Tahatū is an interactive careers website that provides a personalised experience to help people figure out what kind of work they might like to do, and how they can get there.

Tahatū is being released as a pilot to a small number of secondary schools on 2 April 2024. You can read more about our plans for this at Tahatū pilot.

Research shows that helping people make choices about their future work life builds a more productive society with a happier and healthier workforce and community.

What will Tahatū offer?

Tahatū will help all New Zealanders make decisions about what kind of work they would like to do. We have designed it to help those who do know what career they want and to offer tools for people who aren’t quite sure and need a bit of inspiration.

Tahatū connects NCEA school subjects, qualifications and careers. It will show the most common ways others have taken to get to that career or job. Tahatū brings this information together for the first time in one place. It profiles nearly 100 school subjects, 4,000 qualifications and 800 career ideas, showing how you can get from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

It will deliver complex information in a useful and interactive way to help people make informed choices about their work life.

Who is Tahatū for?

Tahatū is for:

  • anyone who wants help finding out what career they might like to do in the future, and the steps they can take to get there
  • anyone currently not in work
  • people returning to the workforce after an absence
  • people wanting a career change
  • whānau, friends, school career advisors, and career practitioners in the community or agencies.

Tahatū will initially be released to 13–19-year-olds in a small number of secondary schools and will be gradually widened over time to include all secondary schools and anyone looking for career ideas or a career change at any point in their life.

Our priority audiences are Māori, Pacific people, disabled people and women, as these groups have traditionally been disadvantaged in the workforce. Tahatū will provide quality career information and inspiration to help priority groups overcome these barriers.

When will Tahatū be available?

It will be introduced into schools from April 2024 as a pilot. The pilot will begin with 10 schools, with numbers gradually increasing over the following months.

Tahatū pilot

What does Tahatū mean?

The name Tahatū means “horizon”, especially in relation to the sea, and reflects our focus on a lifelong learning journey, heading towards the future.

The Tahatū logo depicts Ngā hau e whā, the four winds. The changing winds were the tohu (signs) our ancestors read to guide them, and Tahatū will help users read the signs around them as they navigate their career journey.

How do you pronounce Tahatū? 

To help give people confidence when saying Tahatū, we’ve created a short video with a simple syllable-by-syllable guide to pronunciation. Check it out and practise with your friends, whānau and rangatahi today.

What happens to careers.govt.nz?

While careers.govt.nz has served millions of New Zealanders over the last 20 years, technology has evolved, and an updated platform was needed to support Tahatū’s new, interactive technology.

Careers.govt.nz will be decommissioned once Tahatū is fully operational.

If you’re a career advisor or practitioner and have a question, you can email us at customerservice@tec.govt.nz.