[richjuk]

Hello all,

Could anyone give me some advice on some questions I have about me working over in nz. Im really unsure about what order I should do things in order to prepare for my move over. Im looking to work in Auckland as a I.T Administator/Network Manager for two years with the intention of staying if it all works out but im not sure wether I should get a job offer first before applying for my visa. I was looking to apply under the talent accredited work policy because when I looked on the long term shortage list, I.T professionals are needed BUT with a degree and I have an mcsa and cisco qualifications with 8 years experience. If anyone was in a similar situation and can give any guidance in the best way to go about this, it would be most appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

Richard

[CJ22]

Hi Richard,
Your problem will be getting NZIS to recognise your qualifications. With recognised qualifications you might have enough points without a job offer. But it's a long-winded and difficult process. A job offer, with it's huge points score, would pobably be a better option and you may not need to get your qualifications recognised at all.

[jubjub]

sadly you have zero of getting vendor certificates recognised.

Too many people cheat on these exams, miles of people have paper qualifications.

Send your CV to some agencies, get on a plane, you'll have a job offer in days, and get a work permit issued with employer sponsership.

Easy.

[richjuk]

Thanks for that info, JubJub, are you saying I should wait to apply for my visa and get a job offer first(under the accredited employers work policy). I have sent my cvs out and have had some response but again I am unsure if I should wait for a certified offer then apply for the visa.

Sorry if im being dumb as this is all a bit confusing to a newbie like me!

Richard

[jubjub]

plenty of people do that, they come in on a tourist visa then get a job offer.

IT job market still seems strong btw

[PeKaJoSa]

I've just been to the Expo in London, and one recruitment agency said that unless I was willing to get on a plane to NZ and be interviewed face-to-face then there was ZERO percent chance of getting a job offer, even in IT.

That seemed at bit over the top, so I'm not sure how accurate that statement actually was. However I can well imagine that even if there were a few jobs available via telephone or webcam interviews, employers wold be much more willing to offer them if you show enough commitment to fly all the way to NZ to see them face-to-face.

Cheers,
Pete.

[M-Squared]

If you are going to come over on a tourist visa, do it now. In a month or so people are going to be starting to think more about their summer holidays. Pretty much count on not getting any interviews in Dec & Jan. Get in touch with some agencies (sure you don't fancy Wellington?), let them know when you plan on landing, and get interviews sorted out for a day or so after you land. Most agencies will want to interview you first, rather than send you 'blind' to a company, this is normal. If you'd like any help getting your CV out, I can put it into my company's HR system... I work for an accredited employer so they don't have to jump through hoops with NZIS. ;) The majority of our IT work is, however, done in Wellington. PM me if you're interested (you might have to post a few more times before you can do that). :)

[Familyofmonkeys]

From OH experience the IT market is not going as strong as it was at the moment. He knows quite a few contractors whose contracts not being renewed or struggling to find work and having to seriously drop their rates. Quite a few of the larger IT companies are also not really hiring so much at the moment unless you have a specific skill they need....they seem much more focused on staff retention that hiring new staff. This will of course very much depend on what brand of IT you work in, and OH also found that in general the skillsets employers were looking for did seem to vary a bit from Auckland to Wellington, but both locations offered him opportunities and similar salaries.

It would be prudent to do your research before you get here, knowing which companies and roles you are interested and can write your CV specifically for each vacancy or target company.

That said, there will always be IT vacancies here.....there are plenty of people who managed to get jobs without setting foot in NZ, despite being told otherwise. OH was told exactly the same by a couple of different agencies at the Oct 06 Expo and then got a job offer within a few days of making some contacts at one of the companies recuiting there with a telephone interview so it can be done if you know how to sell yourself and have skills that are needed.

[richjuk]

Hi All,

Thanks for the response. Its cleared up a few things for me. I do understand It could be tricky getting a job without being there in person for the interview so I will get my holiday visa sorted first and arrange interview for when I arrive. Just after xmas I will have a comfortable amount of money to take over with me to support myself whilst I try and find work just in case it take some time.M-Squared, thanks for the offer of getting my CV circulated. Ill PM you shortly with the details.

Just on a final note... Few people have told me to get a visitor/tourist visa first but iv noticed this does not allow you to work. If I entered NZ on a tourist visa and got a job, can I change/re apply for the correct visa to allow me to work?

Cheers,

Richard

[kenfrapin]

Hi Richjuk,

I am pretty much trying the same route as you are. Most companies would want to meet you in person just to guage you are serious enough about relocation. It has so happened that once job offers are made, many candidates begin to rethink the relocation idea and then just decide to not go! Employers lose out on project time and money in this way

This has made most employers wary and in turn recruitment agents prefer not to entertain this concept.

Anyways, I have got a few calls lined up from the UK itself. Dunno how far it will take me. Regarding your question on the Visit / Tourist Visa, one agent did tell me that the FASTEST way to move out once you get a job is to get the tourist visa, and then once armed with your job offer in NZ, you can get the WTR done.

So yes, if you go ther on a Visitor Visa, you can still job hunt, secure the role and with the job offer letter apply for the WTR. Hope this helps

M-Squared - Could you help me out by putting my CV on the systemas well?? We are looking at Welly as our first option.
Pretty please ;)

Thanks
Ken

[richjuk]

Thanks for all the responses. I now have the some direction in going about working in NZ and have applied for my working tourist visa. Again thanks for all the help and info!

Richard

[Spudgun]

Hi

I applied via the accredited employer scheme and had interviews with 3 IT/Telecom companies over the phone. All offered job's without meeting me in person so I would suggest the agencies are pulling your leg. HR depts in NZ seem geared up for recruiting from overseas and I didn't have any problems. If they are a large global you can offer to visit the UK office if they actually want to meet you.

[Farhandxb]

Hi

I applied via the accredited employer scheme and had interviews with 3 IT/Telecom companies over the phone. All offered job's without meeting me in person so I would suggest the agencies are pulling your leg. HR depts in NZ seem geared up for recruiting from overseas and I didn't have any problems. If they are a large global you can offer to visit the UK office if they actually want to meet you.

Hello spudgun,

could you tell me how to 'apply via the accredited employer scheme'? or what it means.

cheers

Farhan

[Spudgun]

Hi Farhan

have a look here - http://www.immigration.govt.nz/community/stream/employ/talentaccredited/

[TheBigSaxon]

I've just been to the Expo in London, and one recruitment agency said that unless I was willing to get on a plane to NZ and be interviewed face-to-face then there was ZERO percent chance of getting a job offer, even in IT.

That seemed at bit over the top, so I'm not sure how accurate that statement actually was. However I can well imagine that even if there were a few jobs available via telephone or webcam interviews, employers wold be much more willing to offer them if you show enough commitment to fly all the way to NZ to see them face-to-face.

Cheers,
Pete.


Pete,

I respectfully have to disagree. I am in IT and submitted my CV2 on 3 or 4 different New Zealand job forums and in about 3 weeks I received 10 phone calls (some at really funky hours of the night), about 30 or so emails, 4 phone interviews and 4 subsequent job offers, with 2 of them offering up to $10,000 NZD moving assistance.

My IT experience is a bit different than most. In Philadelphia, I was a Sr. Application Integration Architect with massive amounts of Windows Installer Development experience. I am also ISO certified and a member of the IEEE.

I am in the process right now of the finalizing my employer-sponsorship visa and will be finishing the citizenship process once I'm in ChCh.

When it comes to IT, it all depends on your niche. Unfortunately Network Admins are a dime a dozen, as a sys admins and desktop support techs. Specialists will get noticed, and for the original poster, focus that on your CV2.

Also, something to help you out and it is something I did and it worked for me. I have Vonage, Skype works too, and I got a virtual New Zealand number for the ChCh area. I put that on my CV2 and have that number simul-ring on my cell phone here in the states. I set my Virtual number to ring for only 27 seconds (the standard cell phone will ring for 30 before forwarding to VM) and then it forwards to a special vm message on my Vonage number. I then use my Vonage virtual number from a special vonage phone, a la my PC, to mask my outbound phone number to my NZ number when calling NZ's employers so that it shows up as a local number there.

This helps significantly when localizing an area of employment. Like I didn't necessarily want to be in Aukland, not that it isn't nice, the weather is really quite lovely, but I wanted to be in ChCh because I felt instantly at peace & home there.

Hope this helps,

Dan Stutzman
The Big Saxon

[taylord]

Hi
Arrived in Auckland in July having secured a job offer as IT administrator in May08. Rushed thru a 2 year work visa in 5 weeks on the strength of the job offer and as soon as we arrived in Auckland applied for permanent residency, using the police checks and medicals from the work visa. Saved paying to get these done again. This has now been approved.

I only had work experience no recognisable qualificiations so this is the only way to get in.

Did travel over the year before to meet up with lots of recruitment companies which I would have used if I hadn't been offered the job, but was actually offered the job via telephone interviews, so it can be done.

Register with SEEK.CO.NZ as all IT roles in NZ appeared to displayed on there.

I know things have in the last few months, but I think it is still possible to pick up a job offer whilst in the UK, but as people have already said, employers would rather see you face to face.

Good luck!!!

[kern]

Also, something to help you out and it is something I did and it worked for me. I have Vonage, Skype works too, and I got a virtual New Zealand number for the ChCh area.
Excellent tip, thanks Dan!
5EU per m and skype can do this. Very nice option.

Anatoly

[PeKaJoSa]

I've got to agree there - Dan has come up with a real pearl of a tip there!

:nice1

Cheers!
Pete

[yossarian]

hi all, i have a WTR, and due to arrive in nz by december this year.
'tried my luck from seek.co.nz, and trademe, (which appears to be the same job listing though), but they are more keen to process my application if i were in new zealand already. :(
i'm a cobol technical consultant btw, mainly functional specs, and programiing. 'would anyone know if this is big in auckland? or wellington? shame at the moment, i'm not yet sure which city to enter. thanks.

[TheBigSaxon]

hi all, i have a WTR, and due to arrive in nz by december this year.
'tried my luck from seek.co.nz, and trademe, (which appears to be the same job listing though), but they are more keen to process my application if i were in new zealand already. :(
i'm a cobol technical consultant btw, mainly functional specs, and programiing. 'would anyone know if this is big in auckland? or wellington? shame at the moment, i'm not yet sure which city to enter. thanks.

Cobol, eh? That's a blast from the past there. I'm not quite sure where your from, but Cobol is used still in the states quite a bit, especially in the banking and insurance sectors. It's also quite rare and if you go through a recruitement firm like Robert Half, they could get you an H1-B visa.

As for NZ, I dunno. I am waiting back on my work visa right now and haven't gotten to ChCh yet.

[BkyMonster]

I would guess Wellington for COBOL mainly for the government sector.

[yossarian]

@thebigsaxon: i'm from the philippines. cobol is still being used around here, mainly in banking and insurance. 'had a short work in st. paul, mn a couple of months ago...but i'm back in manila at the moment.

from trademe, there's some cobol post in both auckland and wellington, however, not very much as compared to newer technologies like java or .net.

'don't really know why i ended up with cobol! we weren't even taught of that programming language back in uni! :)

well, let's just see my luck next month :D

[TheBigSaxon]

@thebigsaxon: i'm from the philippines. cobol is still being used around here, mainly in banking and insurance. 'had a short work in st. paul, mn a couple of months ago...but i'm back in manila at the moment.

from trademe, there's some cobol post in both auckland and wellington, however, not very much as compared to newer technologies like java or .net.

'don't really know why i ended up with cobol! we weren't even taught of that programming language back in uni! :)

well, let's just see my luck next month :D

LOL... I used to work with alot of government sector based jobs in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and they used Cobol quite a bit. That being said, much of that stuff is being offloaded to HP Unix, Java, and SAP but in the banking sector, there will be work like that for many many years to come. I actually know of a Cobol consultant who makes about $200USD an hour consulting.


Good luck with everything and if I ever need a Cobol programmer, I'll send you a PM.

[yossarian]

LOL... I used to work with alot of government sector based jobs in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and they used Cobol quite a bit. That being said, much of that stuff is being offloaded to HP Unix, Java, and SAP but in the banking sector, there will be work like that for many many years to come. I actually know of a Cobol consultant who makes about $200USD an hour consulting.


Good luck with everything and if I ever need a Cobol programmer, I'll send you a PM.

200 USD an hour?! i'd settle even for half of that! :D
thanks, 'will keep you posted. :)

[TheBigSaxon]

200 USD an hour?! i'd settle even for half of that! :D
thanks, 'will keep you posted. :)

Keep in mind that is as an independent consultant, and he's an old head like myself.

[M-Squared]

M-Squared - Could you help me out by putting my CV on the systemas well?? We are looking at Welly as our first option.
Pretty please ;)

Thanks
Ken

Sure thing, I'll PM you my e-mail address. :)

[M-Squared]

hi all, i have a WTR, and due to arrive in nz by december this year.
'tried my luck from seek.co.nz, and trademe, (which appears to be the same job listing though), but they are more keen to process my application if i were in new zealand already. :(
i'm a cobol technical consultant btw, mainly functional specs, and programiing. 'would anyone know if this is big in auckland? or wellington? shame at the moment, i'm not yet sure which city to enter. thanks.

Congrats on your WTR! :bluebanana I sent you a PM about COBOL. Good luck! :nice1

[M-Squared]

Thanks for all the responses. I now have the some direction in going about working in NZ and have applied for my working tourist visa. Again thanks for all the help and info!

Richard

Working tourist visa? Such a thing does not exist. There's a working holiday visa, but if you just come over as a tourist you don't need a visa (where are you coming from again?... that might make a difference, but I think you're coming from the UK in which case you get an automatic 6 months as a visitor), then just go interviewing, get that job offer, and sock in the application for the work permit. If you land with an accredited employer, the process to apply is more simple than with non-accredited. As I'm sure you already know, you must NOT work before you receive your work permit. Then after you've got a day of work under your belt (this is what I did), just pop in your EOI as you've got a job offer plus experience in NZ and your points will be through the roof. Mine shot up to 210 after that first day of work. :nice1

Best of luck!

[antlvk]

I have Diploma in IT (still in NZQA assessment) and 8 years experience in Server and network. I tried seek.co.nz for more then 50 jobs i think. And I got MCP. I think i need more certificates.

Not much luck. Not even an interview.

[ykkee]

anylvk ,are u currently in nz?

[sajitha_wilfre]

I have just submitted my ITA. Planning to look out for jobs in the meantime. I am an Embedded Software Engineer(Linux and C) with 5 years experience and my
husband is a Linux System Admin( RHCE certified) with over 3 years of experience.
Any idea of our job propects without being in NZ? Can anyone provide me with a list of job sites so that I can start the search...

Thanks
Sajitha

[Moorf]

Hi Sajitha,

My hubby is in I.T. and when we arrived the places he used to find work were Seek (http://www.seek.co.nz), DeWinter (http://www.dewinter.co.nz/index.cfm?pageID=284)and Brannigans. He got a few interviews with them but ultimately found a job via the local Christchurch newspaper, The Press. It's also a good idea to check through local council job webpages.

It's been a while since we arrived (2004) but, at the time, it wasn't very easy to secure an I.T. job from outside of NZ. From reading the forum I think it's still mostly a case of being here and finding a job, although some industries are recruiting via telephone interview.

HTH
Moorf

[antlvk]

anylvk ,are u currently in nz?

Yes