[Ziggy]

Hi
anyone know anything about telecom engineers jobs qualifications etc its now listed as a long term skill but is that only for recognised qualifications? my OH has been an engineer with BT for 19 years and has been on numerous training course but all run by BT and no outside education body. Looking on the website it says so many years job experience is accepted for level 3 but as I read it thats not good enough you need level 1 or 2 & whats the chance of job offers in this area?
Julia x

[tomo1340]

I think 5 years experience can be count instead of qualification.

[BkyMonster]

I think 5 years experience can be count instead of qualification.


I think you are correct, especially under the recent change to the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC). However, I did say I wasn't sure I understood those changes...

[tomo1340]

I have put the points onto my EOI so if we keep the EOI submitted and don't withdraw it then I will keep you posted. We are in 2 minds as something has come up and might mean we would have to delay for 12 months.

[bob_the_engineer]

Hello Julia,

To be honest I think the best thing you can do is stop worrying about qualifications. With 19 years BT experience you hubby should just start posting C.V’s.

NZ and UK’s comms systems are very similar.

Bob

[Steven & Ann]

I agree with Bob

You don't say which kind of BT engineer he was. It will affect where the jobs are.

Field staff exist everywhere, pro-rata to the number of homes. Head office type jobs are mainly in the big three cities.

There's likely to be demand in the next 18 months for various specialities, due to the Local Loop Unbundling projects.

I wouldnt bother with agencies. Write direct to Telecom, TelstraClear, Vodafone for a start.

[kirkandliz]

Hi Ziggy

I went through a similar thing last year - trying to find out if certifications for Telcoms stuff - specifically networking stuff like Cisco and Juniper etc - counted for anything but unfortunately they don't if the exams were taken outside of NZ.
If the exams were taken inside then they could possibly count.
This is seriously daft as it is the same exam no matter where you take it in the world but that was the message I was given.

In some areas you can effectively surrender some of you exp to claim points for quals but to be honest - for me - it was a waste of time (As I had less tha n 10 yrs) so might as well just claim the points for the experience. But for someone like yourselves with lots of experience it might be something to look into.

But again TBH you should not have a problem with 19 years exp with BT.
What sort of work was the exp in?

There is a serious skills shortage in NZ at the moment and there is a lot of work coming up in the next couple of years so the telecoms arena really needs people.
Try Telecom, Alcatel-Lucent, TelstraClear etc
Most of the big agencies like Hudson, Absolute IT, Duncan & Ryan have lots of jobs but also track Seek as a good place to start

I went through all this stuff lat year so understand what you are going through - if you want any further info let me know

Cheers
Kirk