[RamblingPaddies]

Hi folks,
I'm just looking for a bit of advice from any fellow IT professionals out there in Auckland/Bay of Plenty - I mainly want to see what the prospects are of getting a reasonable job if we go to NZ.

Market movement and such aside, is there a good deal of these sort of jobs available ? There seems to be lots on sites like www.seek.co.nz but i've worked in markets that seem to be thriving and really aren't. So i'm looking for some honest opinions please.

I've 8 years I.T. experience, 5 as business analyst and web project management , level 7 NZQA degree etc.

thanks

[diforsyth]

There are plenty of jobs around and you will be offered a position very quickly if your experience is good. A point to note, even though there is a skills shortage don't expect to make big bucks - the pay is poor in comparison to Oz & UK, hence the shortage.

David.

[DMcG]

There is a shortage of experienced IT staff just now and mostly the jobs are located in Auckland or Wellington. But as David says, the money is a good bit less (but still good by New Zealand standards). There are much fewer large companies around - more of the small to medium size, so opportunities that are common in a big business environment are hard to find here.

I've found that job roles tend to be somewhat flexible too. There's not as much requirement for field experts and most employers would rather hire someone with a broad range of experience.

Dougie

[skibumwa]

...well at least for sr. software test engineers it does. ;)

When I first started exploring the idea about moving to NZ, I focused on Auckland and it's surrounding areas only. After a while I expanding my research to include Wellington, I quickly found that Auckland recruiters/employers (in general) were slower to respond that Wellington recruiters. Perhaps because of the slower moving IT business climate there? Perhaps it's because Wellington has so much government-based long-term & short-term IT projects going on? hummmm

Anyway, during my 3 week 'interview expedition' I took, I was in Auckland for 2 of the 3 weeks as it was twice as large. That was logic in that planning. Ironically the turn around times for getting recruiters to call me back & set up interviews and etc was 2-3x (or faster) for Wellington-based job opportunities.

In the end, I had 2x as many client interviews in Wellington being there only 1/2 as long. Even for the companies who liked me in Auckland, they took far too long in writing up job offers and making their minds up.

The IT business environment is much different in Wellington as compared to Auckland. Wellington decision makers seem to move much faster :nice1 and are more decisive vs. the overall indecisive :uhoh & slower companies of larger Auckland. (Just my 2 cents worth from observations from my trip).

Considering our job titles, we'd be working together (if employed at the same company) in many facets if were both employed by the same company so I am going on the assumption you'd have good luck in Wellington job searching as well. FYI- we have the same years experience and education as well. I am guessing you are in your low/mid 30's now?

So yes indeed, do try Wellington for a job market because it appears to be booming now, besides working there gives you more points on your EOI form towards your PR! Feel free to PM me for more specific findings that I saw especially with regards to specific companies I interviewed with. I can even give you some recruiter names/phone numbes as well for a head start...

Best of luck!!
-John

PS. The pay is lower in NZ as compared to the US and UK as the other person said here, but for me at least pay is not everything. I need a quality balanced life which is very important to me.

[Chiba]

Same skill set for me too. I'm waiting for a response from NZIS now rather than applying for jobs, mostly because I got tired of the "call us when you have a visa" responses from recruiters. I plan to approach the Wellington employers and agents as soon as I get any kind of approval from NZIS. Currently I work for a huge (100k+ people) global financial company, albeit on the not-really-financial IT side. I'm a real jack of all trades, IT department, kind of person. This makes pitching myself to prospective employers a little frustrating, and it's good news to hear Dougie say that IT all rounders are valued in NZ! As to what kind of employer I'm looking for, I'm still undecided. The stability of government work has a degree of appeal, but to be honest I always feel that any job's what you make it. Good luck all!

[RamblingPaddies]

thank you everyone for yourr thoughts - very good advice. i didn't really like wellington when i was there on our recce trip. perhaps its just because i was knackered having had a fall on franz josef glacier the day before ?

skibumwa - yes i'm in my early thirties and am a web jack of all trades. thanks for the info - i will PMm you nearer the time, if thats OK.

chiba - i work for the government here in ireland so yes there is a certain amount of stability - but there's also a negative side of things which i won't bore you with here.