Pre-joining Requirements

• Be a minimum of 17 years of age
• Have completed at least three years of secondary education
• Be a NZ citizen or have permanent residency and have lived in NZ for five years
• Be medically fit for service
• Be of good character – assessed by study of testimonials and a police record check
• Be free of any criminal convictions for the previous two years

Download the  Entry Requirements Guide to see what school subjects and credits are required.

Your Lifestyle
Operational Administrators enjoy a balance of service at sea, as part of a deployed force overseas and ashore in Naval establishments in New Zealand. The initial parts of your career are spent ashore in the Devonport Naval Base with short duration postings to ships to gain experience and consolidate. These can be supplemented with short term postings to other locations in New Zealand as well overseas experiences with NZDF deployed forces and exchanges with other Navies.

In addition, whilst serving on a ship, you will take part in various functions as part of the ship’s communal effort. This can be as varied as carrying out damage control activities, being part of a boarding team, general seamanship activities, domestic cleanliness duties, storing, and ammunition handling – just to name a few.

As you gain experience and rank, there will be further opportunities to post back to sea for supervisory positions in the Operational Administrator role.

Training
You will start your Naval Training at the Devonport Naval Base with basic and specialist training. Your specialist training will includes areas such as NZDF payroll, Human Resource information system training, administration and office procedures, receipt and dispatch of correspondence, management and administration of personnel records and processes, and word processing.

Following this initial training phase, you will consolidate your training ashore in the Navy’s Pay and Administrative Centre in Devonport Naval Base. As you gain more experience, you will post to sea for up to 18 months to become part of a small team onboard a ship that providing administrative and payroll services to the Ship’s Company.

As your career progresses, you will undertake further training to develop your generic leadership skills and specialist skills. The ability to manage people effectively and efficient is a key part of your development. This training will provide you with additional skills and expertise to assist with your career progression.

Qualifications Earned
Operational Administrators receive comprehensive Navy training throughout their careers at a basic, supervisory and managerial level and receive qualifications in the following areas:

• Navy Pay and Personal Administration entitlements
• Use of the NZDF Human Resource Information systems
• Customer Service skills
• Administration and office procedures
• Receipt and dispatch of correspondence
• Management and administration of personnel records and processes
• Pay accounting
• Word-processing

Operational Administrators also receive additional leadership training to assist with their career progression in both a specialist and general role.

Your Future
Operational Administrators play an important part of the support of Navy Personnel. Operational Administrators are resourceful individuals who are capable of working as part of team, small or large, or independently. They provide high quality service and are an integral part of the support network within the Navy.

Career Progression
Your hard work, experience, and training accomplishments as an Operational Administrator are rewarded by promotions in rank and salary. Following your initial training and consolidation, you can reasonably be expected to have attained a basic level of competence within 18 months of joining. This will be supplemented by a sea posting and then further training to prepare you for promotion to a supervisory role.

Advanced training will involve both generic leadership skills and operational administrator skills. Successful completion of these will qualify you for a promotion to Leading Hand whereby you will be responsible for supervising a team of Operational Administrators, either at sea or ashore.

Employment opportunities for Operational Administrators within the Navy and the NZDF are particularly varied. There are opportunities for Operational Administrators at sea, in Devonport, Wellington at Defence House and Joint Force Headquarters, and even further afield with deployed forces around the world.