[Jo and Andy]

We are hopping to move to NZ next year, especially with the points so
low at the moment.

My husband is a Sales Manager, and I beleive will need to find a job before we get there, and will have to go for interviews, (which will be our first visit).

We are planning on going to Christchurch, any advise would be greatly appreciated. Like as your

EOI only last 3 months when is the best time to submit it.
When is the best time to go for interviews, been told to avoid NZ summer as top bosses off.
What is the housing like in Christchurch, heard lots regarding problems with heating and insulation in Auckland, does this apply for the whole of NZ, or just North Island?

Am nervous about the move but want to move for a better future for our daughter, give her a few more choices in life and have a better childhood than living in Birmingham UK will allow.

Look forward to your comments, have been reading all the other topics with much interest.

Thanks :P

[jo b]

Jo,

Firstly welcome to the forum you will find this site full of excellent info and also very addictive.

We are going over in March for 5 weeks with a view for interviews that way we catch the back end of summer but most of the bosses are back by then, obviously Easter falls into this time.

We submitted out EOI on 1st Sep and got selected out of the pool, we still haven't recieved our ITA yet. Then once we recieve our ITA we will have 4 months to apply. Then the PR is valid for 12 months after.

Houses all vary in NZ and yes you do have to watch out for the drafty ones, depending on your budget there are houses which do have good heating and insulation.

You will also find many forum members are going for the same reason as you.

I am a sales manager but I wan't work when in NZ :nice1 as I want to look after our 2 kids as we won't have grandparents on hand.

What line of work is Andy in. You may find Auckland as your the best first stepping stone.

Good luck and I hope this answers some of you questions

Jo

[Jo and Andy]

Thanks for the info,

My husband is in Office Refurbishment, saw a good job in Christchurch for him a few weeks ago, but couldn't apply as we did not have work visa yet. Gave us hope for Christchurch though.

Feel Auckland, although diff from UK will not be the cultural change we are looking for, for our daughter (7), although do have my brother in law's (Kiwi) family there and a friend of my brother. All which could prove very useful.

We will of course go where the work is initially, you have to get there first!

I will look for some sort of part time work, preferably term time as with you no grandparents handy. I think that will be the most difficult thing. Although my mother in law has no ties here so I can see her coming out for months at a time.

We have been advised to rent for 6 months then, build our own. I saw something either here or another site, that said you should buy within your first year to aid your citizen application later, could be wrong though.

You are right about the site being addictive, I have been looking for weeks before I registered. Had been looking on the Expats one, but they are not very positive about NZ over there.

Thanks for the help. Where are you looking to go?

:P

[sarahw]

Hi Jo & Andy,

And welcome!

Can I ask a question and it may be a dumb one - why can't Andy apply for a job without a work visa? - did the job specify that he needed a work visa prior to applying?

My partner got a job offer before we applied for our EOI - it gave him more points and got us our invitation to apply for permanent residency a lot quicker...

Good luck and I hope you find some good jobs, :hopeso

[Moorf]

If you see a job.. go for it...

There is nothing stopping your hubby applying for jobs and setting up interviews and then coming over on a visitors visa to attend said interviews.

:nice1

[Jo and Andy]

The job was through an agency and they said they would not put him forward for any jobs until he had a work visa or PR, so that was the problem.

We are trying to work out the timing for putting in our EOI, we were informed by the agency we are going to use that the summer is a bad time to look for management jobs as a lot of the managers are away, so we thought we would come in the late spring (UK) but then you are into Easter hols, so we felt that the end of July (when UK schools break up would be a good time for interviews. We all want to come out for the interviews so that we can have a look round (not been before), and if he is successful look for a school and house at the same time.

What are the best sites to look at for jobs, there are so many, i feel like I go round in circles.

Would prefer Christchurch to Aukland, but if it gets us there, we will go nearly anywhere.

[Moorf]

The agent is correct, now is not a good time to be job hunting, at least here in Chch - we were told the same, lots of managers on annual hols so little chance of interviews/decisions.

And again, agents can be quite funny about putting you forward for jobs unless you have a visa... BUT, when you are here and you can see them face to face they do change their attitude - as Warren found out.

The place to look for jobs is in The Press (Chch) on Weds and Saturdays. That is where Warren found his job. Warren had no work visa or anything and they were very helpful filling in all the NZIS forms etc. for him. In fact, 2 recruitment agents specifically advised him to refer to the newspaper for jobs as many companies here are cutting costs by avoiding going through agencies.

Chch is relatively small compared with Auckland and Wellington, and we certainly saw many more jobs advertised in these areas than in Chch - the weeks that Warren was looking for work there were only ever 2 I.T jobs of his level advertised - so he was very lucky to get offered one of them! He was also offered a job via a recruitment agent so they definitely didn't disciminate due to lack of visa.

[Jo and Andy]

Thanks, I will look up the site and keep an eye on it, but will contact my emegration consultant and see when he thinks we should put in the EOI, as if selected we will have some proof that we are committed to going and employers agencies will look more favourably.

Will also look at Aukland, but feel Christchurch is the right choice, just as a point of interest, what made you choose it?

[jo b]

Jo,

I agree with Moorf apply apply apply.

What I also would do is look at Yellow pages

http://www.yellowpages.co.nz/

and search for companies in his line of work, send an email with a cv if you get a positive response follow up with a phone call. remember the time difference though.

We are headed for Tauranga BTW but if need will go to AKL first just to get a foot in the door so to speak.

Good luck Jo