[KelvinAng]

A few days back I received my NZQA certification that rates my OUUK degree as a Level 6 (which I later found out that it was because it's not an Honours degree). In order to proceed with my ITA I require a job offer (any skilled employment, even one not in the list of long-term skills shortage, would bring up my points sufficiently to apply for ITA).

While looking for one online, I was actually quite surprised that even at Seek web site the number of advertised jobs for Web Developers aren't a lot, with the vast majority of them based in Auckland. A search at various other job agency sites often showed zero jobs in Christchurch. And there I was thinking Christchurch is the IT capital of NZ!

Does anyone know if this is indicative of "offline" job searches as well? I'm kind of desperate now as my ITA deadline is drawing near and without a job offer in a month's time, I will have to forfeit the entire application despite having already done my medical and police checks, etc.

My intention is to travel to NZ in a few days and try to get a job, and I'd really want to be in Christchurch instead of Auckland but was worried that getting a job in IT there would be difficult. Anyone has comments/suggestions/experiences to share?

[dusk]

sa far as I know the three main IT centres are auckland, wellington and christchurch, although I'm heading for aucklad so haven't done a great deal of research into the other two, sorry.

[ablears001]

I've found more web jobs in Wellington than anywhere else - very few in Christchurch which appears more blue-chip IT focused. There are some good design agencies in Wellington such as Shift and Ogilvy which I'm looking at (I'm in the same situation as you - thought I had 140 points but oh no! I only have 130 without job offer). I do front-end development, AJAX, SEO/SEM, analytics evaluation etc for a London agency, I've had some positive discussions with NZ recruiters and I'm also off to a Hudsons recruitment seminar in London on Thursday. Here's hoping...

Anthony

[KelvinAng]

Good luck at the seminar, Anthony. With 130 points without a job offer, you can still apply for the residency visa so if you are patient you'll eventually get there. I had 115, no job offer, and the downgrade in NZQA certification means I only have 95 because my qualifications are still worth 50 points but I cannot claim the additional work experience bonuses, if I got the point allocation system right.

So close, yet so far.

[jpd]

@ablears001:
Do your qualification or work experience qualify for the area of absolute skill shortage? If so, 130 points should by far be enough for selection.
(see http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/eoiselection.htm)

@KelvinAng:
So without the correct qualification, work experience doesn't count either for bonus points?
Good to hear though that at least NZIS will accept a different way to get the necessary points and they're not so strict as to say "wrong qualification stated, tough luck on you"...
Hope your recruitment seminar went well?

Cheers,
Jan

[ablears001]

@ablears001:
Do your qualification or work experience qualify for the area of absolute skill shortage? If so, 130 points should by far be enough for selection.
(see http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/eoiselection.htm)



Hi Jan

I have 8 points for work experience in an area of absolute skill shortage. So close, so far! (You need 10 points to be selected if you're under 140 points total).

cheers
Anthony

[jpd]

Hi Anthony,

just to be sure - how do you get 8 points for work experience?
On the current bonus points table for Skilled Migrants (http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/skilledmigrant/caniapply/eoi/bonuspoints.htm), the minimum seems to be 10 (for 2 to 5 years)...?

@KelvinAng:
Sorry, mixed up who was going to the recruitment seminar.
Good luck on your job search anyways!

Jan

[jpd]

KelvinAng,

I just found a very interesting post on a different forum about claiming bonus points for work experience under the new SMC rules (e.g. ANZSCO).
You should check this out, maybe you can claim that bonus after all?
http://www.movetonz.org/forum/expression-interest-eoi-chat/6872-new-smc-rules-bonus-points-absolute-skills-shortage.html

(Please let me know if you find out anything definite on this, might be interesting for mee, too)

Jan

[ablears001]

Hmmm, you're right. I just looked over the email I had from Immigration:

Your points entitlement has been assessed as follows:
Aspect Points claimed Points awarded
Age 25 25
Recognised Qualification 50 50
Work Experience 20 25
Close family in New Zealand 10 10
Bonus for Work Experience on LTSSL 15 0
Bonus for Partners Qualification 20 20
Total 140 130

So I lost out on the bonus points for work experience on LTSSL as my degree isn't in IT.

cheers
Anthony

[KelvinAng]

Hi Jan,

Thanks for the link. I had looked it up before and it has got more to do with vendor certificates (eg Cisco and Microsoft certification) and/or work experience replacing the need for a degree.

In my case it is because I have a degree but as it was certified as a Level 6, not 7, I wasn't able to claim bonus points in job experience outside NZ as the points I'm claiming is in an area that requires an accompanying Level 7 certification (in my case, Systems Development Staff). Without these bonus points, my total number of points would be below 100 and hence do not qualify.

It appears that in order to claim bonus points for work experience outside NZ in IT related work, the applicant must have a Level 7 qualification, without exception. Suppose if I were a nurse, and my nursing degree was graded a Level 6, it wouldn't make any difference as Level 6 and 7 both scores the same number of points and you need only Level 5 in order to claim points for related work experience outside of NZ.

My EOI officer also has got no suggestions for me other than to drop the application.

On the other hand, if I have a job offer (any skilled job offer), I would have gotten a much higher point that I could get initially (degree + work exp outside NZ). If that job is IT-related, my points would skyrocket as it is currently consider a skill in demand. Hence I'm now in NZ and had been going for interviews, and hoping for the best.

Hope that helps, Jan.

[Lara Croft]

Hi Kelvin, how are the interviews going? Good luck,

Jane

[KelvinAng]

Hey Jane,

Thanks again for your encouragement and advice in PMs. I've had two interviews around Auckland so far, both seem rather positive but no offers yet. For one of them I'm required to go for a second round of interview at a later date that is yet to be determined, but I can't be sitting around here waiting for that to happen especially since I've also got two interviews lined up in Christchurch! I'm hoping that this second interview can be done over the phone as it can be difficult to arrange affordable short-term accommodation, not to mention having to fly back into Auckland again, but I'm not sure if this might be seen by the employer as being too demanding?

Anyway, next week I'll meet two more companies in Christchurch and I really do hope one of them offers me a job as you might remember Christchurch is where I'd like to be. That said, any job offer would be wonderful!