Internships and graduate programmes would help businesses learn about and appreciate Maori students, while giving students practical experience of the workplace.
In his latest Industry Insight, Mr Norman said Maori were younger and would provide a bigger share of the future workforce but at present they had lower skills and incomes.
"Whether they are to be employees, self-employed or employers, and to work in the private, public or Maori collective sectors, Maori will need the skills to work in collectives or in small and medium enterprises in the future world of work."
It was not a challenge unique to Maori, he said.
However, as many sector leaders pointed out, the over-representation of Maori in lower income neighbourhoods and schools meant the gap between education at present and the required education and skills levels was larger for Maori than for many others.
Sector leaders told Mr Norman because many Maori did not have the same financial resources as some other New Zealanders, many came from lower-decile schools, where subjects like accounting, information and communication technology (ICT) or economics were less likely to be taught.
As a result, they had little knowledge of some subjects needed within the services world, making them less likely to study those subjects.
Much of the growth in jobs in the future would be likely be in higher-end services like financial services and ICT, where earnings were premium.
Those jobs often required more formal education although ICT, in particular, was one area where the value of a degree education was hotly debated.
There were at least two ways in which sector leaders were working to overcome the gap in awareness and access to different career options although a lot remained to be done, Mr Norman said.
One way was introducing role models of success at schools, universities and in employment.
Students needed to see examples of people who had a similar start in life but had been successful at school, university or in the workplace.
An opportunity existed for corporates, Maori collectives, tertiary providers and individual Maori to take a more active role in schools and tertiary education to introduce role models and help students understand how those role models got to where they were today, he said.
Several sector leaders suggested that because many Maori were not aware of what employment opportunities were available, they did not aspire to pursue careers in certain fields.
Beyond awareness, many students were not supported in choosing a career or understanding the pathway to tertiary study and employment success.
"Helping Maori students understand the wide range of career options open to them requires input from education providers, role models within the Maori community, corporates and Maori collectives."
Mr Norman’s report highlighted signs Maori were increasingly participating in higher level study.
Between 2008 and 2015, the proportion of Maori studying bachelor degrees or more advanced qualifications increased from 3.5% to 4.1%.
For New Zealanders overall it remained flat at 5%.
Sector leaders highlighted several ways to raise the proportion of Maori succeeding at higher level qualifications, some of which were already at least partly in train.
As well as the need to boost awareness of career options at schools, clear pathways into tertiary study and employment were needed.
Maori students were more likely to be the first in their families to study at tertiary level than many other New Zealanders.
As a result, they were less likely to have family or friends who could advise them on what subjects to take or how to approach assignments.
Technology was making it easier to keep accurate records on every student at primary, secondary and tertiary level.
The data could be better evaluated to identify learning challenges for individual students in a timely manner.
There had been a big drive to improve how students were taught to ensure it was more hands-on, particularly in secondary schools, in recent years.
Some sector leaders believed tertiary institutions had not taken a sufficiently vocational and interactive approach to learning and to working with businesses to help students get real world experience before completing their education.
"Huge opportunities exist in trades and ICT but will be best served by a hands-on education approach being adopted at primary, secondary and tertiary levels."
Along the same lines as comments by several leaders, role models needed to come from Maori communities.
Often secondary and tertiary teaching staff were not Maori, Mr Norman said.That made it harder for students and teachers to identify with each other.
There was no quick way to fix the educational shortfall.
But as Maori qualification levels rose, sector leaders thought a natural benefit would be teachers who could be role models and provide advice and teaching support from a Maori perspective.
