Support for
Employers of Cadet Officers
Cadet Force Officers (CFOs) are adult volunteers who balance their civilian employment with their voluntary role, facilitating military-style youth cadet training for New Zealand Cadet Force units.
Cadet Force Officers work over three corps: the Sea Cadet Corps (SCC), the New Zealand Cadet Corps (NZCC) and the Air Training Corps (ATC), commonly referred to as the Navy Cadets, Army Cadets and Air Cadets.
The New Zealand Cadet Force (NZCF) is a partnership between the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and several locally appointed community organisations.
What Cadet Force Officers do
Cadet Force Officers (CFOs) have a passion for youth development in their communities and volunteer their time to develop future leaders. CFOs attend weekly parade nights and a range of weekend activities throughout the year. Officers also participate in training courses covering:
- Health and safety,
- First aid,
- Equity and diversity,
- Adolescent behaviour,
- Acceptable behaviour,
- Mandatory reporting,
- Duty of care,
- Managerial decision making,
- Youth development philosophies,
- Legal and societal practices and procedures,
- Military etiquette,
- Instructional techniques, and
- Code of Conduct Training to enable them to be effective leaders for the cadets.
Your business can benefit directly from a range of transferable skills
Committed to stronger communities
With a proven track record of volunteer community work and a demonstrated suitability to safely supervise cadets fairly and equitably, CFOs have excellent attributes as employees. Being a CFO requires various skills, including leadership, empathy, communication, professionalism, acceptance of responsibility and a duty of care to young cadets. As well as leadership experience, Cadet Force Officers can also gain a variety of NZQA qualifications, including:
- New Zealand Certificate in Recreation and Sport, Level 3
- New Zealand Certificate in Business (Introduction to Team Leadership), Level 3
- New Zealand Certificate in Adult and Tertiary Teaching, Level 4
- New Zealand Certificate in Outdoor Recreation (Leadership) - Bush Walking, Level 3
By supporting CFOs in your workforce, you'll be giving back to New Zealand communities
Developing specialist skills
Cadet Force Officers can bring key skills from their civilian employment that are invaluable to the NZCF. Using specialist skills and developing them in a new environment can benefit the CFO, the NZCF, employers and the wider community.
Service obligations:
A Cadet Force Officer’s service obligations can include:
- Unit routine evening parade activities weekly
- Programmed weekend activities
- Planning and supervising multi-day activities or attending professional development courses occasionally
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