[scotsfamily]

Hi all,
Were sat on 125 points with our EOI and no job offer, and can’t claim absolute skills shortage as I got a 6 for my HND, needed 7. Tons of experience aswell.

I tried the waters and sent my CV to a major IT employer to ask their opinion on whether I was employable; I got a phone call within 3 hours of sending the E-mail from the HR manager. Wow didn’t expect that. After chatting for 30 mins he said “If it was him he’d just sell up and move to NZ on a visitors permit and then apply out there.” He also said that couldnt offer anyone a job based on a phone interview. Oh he edited my CV to suit NZ employers, and offered some good advice as to the type of IT jobs I should look at.

So what to do?
1. Sell up in the summer (lets the kids finish school) and go to NZ as a tourist and take it from there.
2. Or do I go out for interviews and try to get job offers then return to sell up in the UK.
I am put of this as job offers can be limited to you getting to NZ within a time period, you know, employers usually want jobs filled quickly, especially in IT.

Please give me your thoughts, and especially those who have traveled one of these routes.


Many thanks

David & Janice (uk)

Submitted EOI 6/02/2008

[JandM]

Congratulations on getting such a good response from the HR manager. You must look like a REALLY good prospect.:)

[benhila]

I am also in IT. I approached a recruitment agency by email; they replied within days, arranged a phone interview with a potential employer, then a video conference which resulted in a written job offer.

My advice: if you can get a job offer in writing before you leave the UK, it makes everything (including making the decsion...) much easier. Your ITA gets a top priority and you get lots of extra bonus points.

If you would like to have the contact details of the recruitment agancy (I can't recommend them highly enough), just drop me a line.

[scotsfamily]

Thanks for reply, yes I would like the details Benhila, I agree if you can get a job offer first then it gives more confidence in the big move. However my impression is its rare to get job offers in IT by a phone call. (the vid conf does help.)
Are you in NZ now? or are u still going through the ringer with the whole process?

David

[dookieusm]

So what to do?
1. Sell up in the summer (lets the kids finish school) and go to NZ as a tourist and take it from there.


Hi David & Janice,

We were in a similar position back in July '07 and decided to sell up and move out. It was the best decision we could have made and we're now settled and enjoying life in NZ. I've posted a link to our story. Hope this helps.

http://www.emigratenz.org/ms-getting-job-wellington.html

Good luck,

Stephen

[jandals]

Thats a top read stephen!

[enki]

Thank you Stephen for sharing your families experiences. Like David & Janice we are also thinking of selling up and moving to NZ and your post has certainly got us thinking. May I ask if you purchased a return ticket on your holiday visa or was it a one way ticket? I am not sure what to do or how immigration would view a one way ticket on a holiday visa. I know that us UK folks can stay up to 6 months and wanted to try to use this as a springboard to seek out the best job opportunities etc.

We are thinking of the Northland area at the moment and have not considered the capitol. Now that you have been in the capitol for over one year how do you find the area and what things do you guys get up to. Here in the UK we take our children to a weekly cycling club, swimming, karate, dancing and athletics and we have some concerns about activities for our 5 and 8 year olds in NZ. Also what about adults and lifestyle and going out for family meals or days out etc.

[Angelonthemove]

We did it too. but lost our buyer on route, so make sure you have enough cash for 2-3 months.

What do you do in IT?? My OH is a software dev been in same contract for 2 years. Only had 2 interviews when we got here and got the 2nd job after some coaching from me as he had not applied for any jobs for 10 years.

I know of others who have been here 3 months and struggle to get a job, depends on exp and what line of IT.

I would rent out your house for 6 month and rent here if you are nervous. We have since rented our house out and have bought here as well.

I agree must be an unusual HR person you found!! Good luck.

[dookieusm]

May I ask if you purchased a return ticket on your holiday visa or was it a one way ticket? I am not sure what to do or how immigration would view a one way ticket on a holiday visa.


You'll need a return ticket on a tourist visa. The airline will let you buy a one way ticket but will refuse you onto the flight without the proper visa. We bought returns tickets and built the cost into our budget.

With regard to life in the capital we love it! We're in Karori which is great for families. There's always something on at weekends plus its got a great pool and recently re-developed park. Also easy access to some of the best mountain bike trails in the region.

Good luck with your plans.

Stephen

[vixxann]

we are planning to do this but are held up on the selling our house part... so my advice would be if you need to sell (ie. cannot or don't want to rent) get your house on the market ASAP. You can always rent in UK until you are ready to go. We are nearly a year down the line and I thought we'd be in NZ by now.

Once we do sell we are going to have a couple of months of very serious trying to get job offers from here - otherwise we will pack up and go on tourist visas - but ideally a job offer and enough points will get us a quick decision and a stamp before we go :D

[Al_Clark]

David & Janice - We're in exactly the same position as you. Selling our house is proving to be difficult in these times of uncertainty in the finance and housing markets. We had hoped to be gone by now as we have been on the market since January. We are still planning to stick with the first option you outlined because of the start date issue; however, plan B is to enjoy the summer here and then head to NZ some time in the Autumn, renting our home out until things settle down over here.

Good luck to you.

Alan & Joanne.

[enki]

You'll need a return ticket on a tourist visa. The airline will let you buy a one way ticket but will refuse you onto the flight without the proper visa. We bought returns tickets and built the cost into our budget.

With regard to life in the capital we love it! We're in Karori which is great for families. There's always something on at weekends plus its got a great pool and recently re-developed park. Also easy access to some of the best mountain bike trails in the region.

Good luck with your plans.

Stephen

Thank you so much for the heads up on the visa / ticket issue. We are still 50 / 50 in the middle on what to do. My wife is in the SMC category and at the recent London NZ EXPO we were told that she would sale through provided the meds and police checks were up to date which was encouraging. We were quoted £800 for the meds over here and in NZ we it looks like it will cost £400 ish.

We are still undecided at which part of the Northland we want to move to but we both feel that Whangarei, Dargaville or up to Kaitaia will be good as we have relatives that have lived in Whangarei for the past 25 years and they love it and grow 80% of their own produce. We have not considered Wellington primarily due to the temperature drop in June / July which is up 4 celsius down on the Northland area depending on where you live, although still a few degrees above freezing, this is one of the main reasons for the Northland to allow us to grow all our own produce all year round and eventually become 100% self sufficient and eventually 100% self sustainable and totally off the grid with just telecoms :)