skibumwa
23rd June 2007, 08:18 PM
I recent traded some PMs with some friendly people and explained how I got a great job in NZ before getting my visa or PR. Here's what I told them and some added personal notes:
-------------------------------------------------------
For many years now I have dreamed of living in NZ doing work as a software engineer (my current job). :o I live in Seattle now still, but for the last 1 year I have been scrimping and saving money towards a move and travels associated with it. Beginning in January this year 4 days a week, I started emailing my resume recruiters and hiring managers and got a lot of bites. During this entire time frame, I was on the phone everyone night from 5 - 10pm (1-5pm NZ time). I even had one video conference interview. Things seemed to be moving along, but at a very very slow pace. I was getting frustrated.
After a few months passed and still no job offers, I was facing an expensive reality... A reality that the ONLY way for my to secure a job offer was to fly down there and visit both Auckland and Wellington for interviews at my own expense. The R/T flight alone was $1450 USD and I was not prepared to even imagine to guess the costs involved with being there for 3+ weeks.
I started to get inventive of how to do this trip while saving $$. First, I booked the round trip (4 weeks out)for 3 total weeks in NZ; 2 weeks in Auckland and 1 week in Welly. I did this based on the size of each city and the job prospects in each city. I emailed ALL the recruiters and told them of my schedule while I'd be there to let THEM get me interviews!!
My friend Sam told me about a website called couchsurfing.com (http://www.couchsurfing.com). I joined for free and began contacting people in Auckland and Welly for places to stay/crash. I found quite a few nice people who'd open up there homes for me. One even offered to pick me up at AKL Airport @ 5:30am!! She is an amazing person. So I set that up. For the times I could not find a couch to surf on for free, I stayed in hostels for about $17-24/night NZD. In Auckland it was the ACB (Auckland Central Backpackers) near Queen and Victoria Streets . For my time in Welly where I could not couchsurf, I opted for the HI (Hostelling International) Wellington NZ on Wakefield Street. Both were nice hostels and very affordable!!
From there I was able to arrange many (7) face to face interviews with different client/hiring managers before I even stepped foot in NZ. Eventually I was able to add about 7 more interviews to my busy 16 business days in NZ.
Mid-April this year came and I was off on my flight. I had never been to NZ before and I was going on an "Interviewing Expedition" to a place 8000 miles from my home! On my flight to Auckland, I was thinking, "Am I crazy? What the hell am doing!!!!? My God what I am doing now!". My friends here in Seattle always knew me of an adventurous soul, but they were astonished that I had the balls to do something like this. I was actually more wondering, for a person (myself) who's always wanted to go to NZ, this was NOT my idea of the 1st trip. I had no time for fun. This was literally going to be a loooooong business trip 8000 miles from home!
So I landed and my new friend from Couchsurfing.com picked me up as promised. It felt like I was meeting up with an old friend!! She dropped me off at her place and then went to work. I rested some, went and got a pre-paid cel phone and relaxed that day, but did not sleep not much as jetlag was killing me. She came home and made me a wonderful dinner that same day. :) The next day she drove me into the Auckland CBD and my thrash of interviews began with 3 alone that first full day there. Some days were just meeting recruiters and some were with hiring managers. The jetlag was still killing me after 3 days, but I fought it off enough get some great interviews in! I stayed at her suburb house on and off for 2 weeks. Between the times I was not there, I stayed at the ACB Hostel in the Auckland CBD.
My 2 weeks in Auckland were tiring, getting lost, trying to find which bus could take me to my next interview. The cost of WiFi at coffee shops as well as the pre-paid cel expenses were beginning to scare me, but they were both needed.
I did manage to have some fun though. The 2 weekends I had in Auckland, I arranged to couchsurf with a friendly chap on Wiaheke Island. Both weekends he played tour guide, showed me the beautiful pristine beaches and took me to some cool parties:cheers that went on until 5am, one of which I hooked up with a cute Kiwi girl :nice1 A new friend indeed I have!
After my 2 weeks in Auckland, my original couchsurfing host, was moving to Wellington so I hitched a ride to Wellington with her in her little cramped packed car. I had my bags covering my myself in the front seat. It was an 8 hour roadtrip I'll always remember; we jammed to her iPod on her car stereo for 8 hours. The scenery was nice even despite the crappy rainy weather. We got to Wellington at night and she dropped me off at the HI Wellington (hostel). The next 4 weekdays were intense with interviews- from 1 to 3 interviews interviews per day; this does not include 2nd & 3rd interviews at some of the same companies as I had already been to.
My last 3 nights in Wellington I spent couchsurfing at young couple's flat. It was very nice there indeed. My 2nd to last day (Friday May 4th) was a freebie weekday for me to enjoy the sunny clear Welly weather and admire the city. During this nice day, I was literally going around picking up my job offers in writing like I was Easter-egg hunting as well as doing my other passion, architectual photography of buildings in the city while doing shopping. So at the end of the day, I had 4 job offers in writing from my entire trip (3 from Welly and 1 from AKL). I realized that day that Auckland was not for me. I fell in love with Wellington's charm, and it's location as well as it's friendly vibe from it's friendly people. I felt a real sense of "home" there in Wellington which was something I have not felt since I was 9 years of age living in New Hampshire.
On my flight home from Wellington to Auckland to LA to Seattle (40 hours -- uurgh!) I realized that I had never been more tired in my entire life, but this "interviewing expedition" was totally worth the deep financial hit to my wallet as I met some amazing people at the hostels, from couchsurfing and especially from my interviews. The trip was a success in everyway I could have ever planned. I accepted a position from an 'accredited employer' in Wellington 4 days after I arrived back in Seattle.
Once I move to Welly, the 1st day there I plan to submit my EOI with 215 points. Soon after I will apply for my PR. Yes I am following the game plan that my visa officer advised me to. He said, "you don't have to wait 2 years to submit your EOI and apply for PR while on a work visa. If you have the points and already there in NZ working at your job, then go for it John!!!"
Now it's just a matter of getting my visa to leave for my job waiting for me!
.... oh wow! I am still amazed my "interviewing expedition" all worked out so well. Hard work does pay off!
-------------------------------------
To everyone wondering about how to land the all important job offer for your move (PR) or for your Visa:
Go and try what I did. You won't regret it. It will be a lot hard work, a lot sleepless nights, lots of planning, tons of logistics before you leave & a lot of walking around lost trying to find your next interview (especially in Auckland!), but I will say that you will impress the hell out of all the employers you meet because you had the guts to stick your neck out for a dream; sticking your neck out by flying across the world to go on some interviews without a guarantee of an outcome or job offer. You will earn 'bonus points' with these employers (whatever your career path is) and earn their respect from before you ever arrive in NZ!
Send me a PM if you want to get in touch with awesome people that I couchsurfed with in Auckland and Welly. I'd be happy to help in any way that I can! Good luck everyone!
John
-------------------------------------------------------
For many years now I have dreamed of living in NZ doing work as a software engineer (my current job). :o I live in Seattle now still, but for the last 1 year I have been scrimping and saving money towards a move and travels associated with it. Beginning in January this year 4 days a week, I started emailing my resume recruiters and hiring managers and got a lot of bites. During this entire time frame, I was on the phone everyone night from 5 - 10pm (1-5pm NZ time). I even had one video conference interview. Things seemed to be moving along, but at a very very slow pace. I was getting frustrated.
After a few months passed and still no job offers, I was facing an expensive reality... A reality that the ONLY way for my to secure a job offer was to fly down there and visit both Auckland and Wellington for interviews at my own expense. The R/T flight alone was $1450 USD and I was not prepared to even imagine to guess the costs involved with being there for 3+ weeks.
I started to get inventive of how to do this trip while saving $$. First, I booked the round trip (4 weeks out)for 3 total weeks in NZ; 2 weeks in Auckland and 1 week in Welly. I did this based on the size of each city and the job prospects in each city. I emailed ALL the recruiters and told them of my schedule while I'd be there to let THEM get me interviews!!
My friend Sam told me about a website called couchsurfing.com (http://www.couchsurfing.com). I joined for free and began contacting people in Auckland and Welly for places to stay/crash. I found quite a few nice people who'd open up there homes for me. One even offered to pick me up at AKL Airport @ 5:30am!! She is an amazing person. So I set that up. For the times I could not find a couch to surf on for free, I stayed in hostels for about $17-24/night NZD. In Auckland it was the ACB (Auckland Central Backpackers) near Queen and Victoria Streets . For my time in Welly where I could not couchsurf, I opted for the HI (Hostelling International) Wellington NZ on Wakefield Street. Both were nice hostels and very affordable!!
From there I was able to arrange many (7) face to face interviews with different client/hiring managers before I even stepped foot in NZ. Eventually I was able to add about 7 more interviews to my busy 16 business days in NZ.
Mid-April this year came and I was off on my flight. I had never been to NZ before and I was going on an "Interviewing Expedition" to a place 8000 miles from my home! On my flight to Auckland, I was thinking, "Am I crazy? What the hell am doing!!!!? My God what I am doing now!". My friends here in Seattle always knew me of an adventurous soul, but they were astonished that I had the balls to do something like this. I was actually more wondering, for a person (myself) who's always wanted to go to NZ, this was NOT my idea of the 1st trip. I had no time for fun. This was literally going to be a loooooong business trip 8000 miles from home!
So I landed and my new friend from Couchsurfing.com picked me up as promised. It felt like I was meeting up with an old friend!! She dropped me off at her place and then went to work. I rested some, went and got a pre-paid cel phone and relaxed that day, but did not sleep not much as jetlag was killing me. She came home and made me a wonderful dinner that same day. :) The next day she drove me into the Auckland CBD and my thrash of interviews began with 3 alone that first full day there. Some days were just meeting recruiters and some were with hiring managers. The jetlag was still killing me after 3 days, but I fought it off enough get some great interviews in! I stayed at her suburb house on and off for 2 weeks. Between the times I was not there, I stayed at the ACB Hostel in the Auckland CBD.
My 2 weeks in Auckland were tiring, getting lost, trying to find which bus could take me to my next interview. The cost of WiFi at coffee shops as well as the pre-paid cel expenses were beginning to scare me, but they were both needed.
I did manage to have some fun though. The 2 weekends I had in Auckland, I arranged to couchsurf with a friendly chap on Wiaheke Island. Both weekends he played tour guide, showed me the beautiful pristine beaches and took me to some cool parties:cheers that went on until 5am, one of which I hooked up with a cute Kiwi girl :nice1 A new friend indeed I have!
After my 2 weeks in Auckland, my original couchsurfing host, was moving to Wellington so I hitched a ride to Wellington with her in her little cramped packed car. I had my bags covering my myself in the front seat. It was an 8 hour roadtrip I'll always remember; we jammed to her iPod on her car stereo for 8 hours. The scenery was nice even despite the crappy rainy weather. We got to Wellington at night and she dropped me off at the HI Wellington (hostel). The next 4 weekdays were intense with interviews- from 1 to 3 interviews interviews per day; this does not include 2nd & 3rd interviews at some of the same companies as I had already been to.
My last 3 nights in Wellington I spent couchsurfing at young couple's flat. It was very nice there indeed. My 2nd to last day (Friday May 4th) was a freebie weekday for me to enjoy the sunny clear Welly weather and admire the city. During this nice day, I was literally going around picking up my job offers in writing like I was Easter-egg hunting as well as doing my other passion, architectual photography of buildings in the city while doing shopping. So at the end of the day, I had 4 job offers in writing from my entire trip (3 from Welly and 1 from AKL). I realized that day that Auckland was not for me. I fell in love with Wellington's charm, and it's location as well as it's friendly vibe from it's friendly people. I felt a real sense of "home" there in Wellington which was something I have not felt since I was 9 years of age living in New Hampshire.
On my flight home from Wellington to Auckland to LA to Seattle (40 hours -- uurgh!) I realized that I had never been more tired in my entire life, but this "interviewing expedition" was totally worth the deep financial hit to my wallet as I met some amazing people at the hostels, from couchsurfing and especially from my interviews. The trip was a success in everyway I could have ever planned. I accepted a position from an 'accredited employer' in Wellington 4 days after I arrived back in Seattle.
Once I move to Welly, the 1st day there I plan to submit my EOI with 215 points. Soon after I will apply for my PR. Yes I am following the game plan that my visa officer advised me to. He said, "you don't have to wait 2 years to submit your EOI and apply for PR while on a work visa. If you have the points and already there in NZ working at your job, then go for it John!!!"
Now it's just a matter of getting my visa to leave for my job waiting for me!
.... oh wow! I am still amazed my "interviewing expedition" all worked out so well. Hard work does pay off!
-------------------------------------
To everyone wondering about how to land the all important job offer for your move (PR) or for your Visa:
Go and try what I did. You won't regret it. It will be a lot hard work, a lot sleepless nights, lots of planning, tons of logistics before you leave & a lot of walking around lost trying to find your next interview (especially in Auckland!), but I will say that you will impress the hell out of all the employers you meet because you had the guts to stick your neck out for a dream; sticking your neck out by flying across the world to go on some interviews without a guarantee of an outcome or job offer. You will earn 'bonus points' with these employers (whatever your career path is) and earn their respect from before you ever arrive in NZ!
Send me a PM if you want to get in touch with awesome people that I couchsurfed with in Auckland and Welly. I'd be happy to help in any way that I can! Good luck everyone!
John