New Zealand - IT industry and recession

mikey39

3rd January 2009, 09:00 AM

I can't speak for New Zealand as a whole, but I can tell you that Gen-i (the company I work for) currently have about 50 vacancies for systems engineers which they're struggling to fill. I gather that a lot of companies are seriously cutting back on contractors (particularly in the public sector), so I guess those vacancies will eventually get filled. At the moment, I'd say that if you're good enough and experienced enough, you should walk into a job and feel pretty secure. If you're inexperienced, it might not be quite so easy.

Got to agree with this, Mike works for same company, know they are still looking for good people. You only have to look on there vacancy section on website to see this.

Beetle

4th January 2009, 03:31 AM

Thanks for sharing your valuable ideas. :nice1

As you already know more and more layoffs are taking place at IT companies all around the world due to the economic down fall. Do you think NZ's IT industry won't come to such a level during this and the following years?

Thank you.
/Beetle

elzahn

5th January 2009, 10:45 PM

Gen-i - do they have positions available for .Net Developers maybe? I'm going on a recci trip in Feb and looking for interviews at the moment.

Tobiwan

6th January 2009, 05:36 AM

If it helps at all, I'm still recruiting for IT & Engineering roles in the UK whilst other sectors seem to be far less buoyant. This is a similar picture to that in NZ according to the recruitment firms I am in contact with.

mikey39

6th January 2009, 08:41 AM

Gen-i - do they have positions available for .Net Developers maybe? I'm going on a recci trip in Feb and looking for interviews at the moment.

http://tnz.taleo.net/careersection/10000/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en&nv=sd

Dont know if this link will work but here goes.

bobbyj

15th January 2009, 11:52 AM

Hi...I work in IT recruitment in Christchurch and from the people I have been speaking to, it depends on which area of IT you are in. If you are in development, the job market is still pretty good. Infrastructure (like networking and helpdesk type roles) is very slack and project management is almost non-existant. This is just in Christchurch but I work for a fairly large firm with offices in Auckland and Wellington and they are telling me the same stories.

We did a survey at the back end of last year and the majority of companies were not looking to increase staff at least in H1 2009. Interestingly though, most of them said they are not looking to downsize and many even said they would re-fill positions as people leave...although when it comes down to it, their hands may be tied.

Angelonthemove

19th January 2009, 06:34 PM

nevertouchme

20th January 2009, 03:12 AM

OH had his contract terminated early end of NOV, he is still looking. He has 35 yrs exp SW dev, DBA. lower paid jobs avail but not his level. Has slashed his $ expectation in HALF just to get a job before we are in a pickle. Not sure what we are going to do re mortgage and our PR status :wah Welly not back until tomorrow so lets hope there are some developments soon.

I am looking too as I had my own business but replied on retail sector so that has gone sour. Feel like we are back to square one, the day we arrived. It is very worrying and very stressful. I am building friends and old customers websites for cheap to get some money in.

Still, weather is nice :nice1 you gotta laugh somehow.

Angel, I am sorry for what has happened. May be it all happened during the wrong time of the year (december, here in india we call it the most unproductive month of the year). I had been looking up seek.co.nz carefully for the past 6 months, ofcourse the IT industry( I am a software quality assurance engineer). The job postings for my kind of profile was generally 4 to 5 openings a day. For the past 2 months, they literally reduced to 1 or 2 per week. That really kept me worried. I almost dumped the plan to going to NZ and every thing.

Soon after Jan 14, things have changed and now I see recruiters are posting 8 - 10 openings a day. I am sure things would change for your OH as well. Hope for the best and god bless!

Jai...

sekilau

20th January 2009, 06:39 AM

It seems there is not much change for IT audit in NZ, unless for a CA with IT audit experience.
Does any know what does the market look like on IT audit in NZ?

Paul & Rach

20th January 2009, 06:05 PM

Well since being "dis-established" 4 months ago I still have no job or any kind of income. Coming to this country has been a disaster. I have no faith in this economy or the job market. Managers and employers are insecure and timid. The number of vacancies available has dropped noticably. Auckland is an Economic village with village mentality.

My advice to anyone in secure employment in the UK considering coming here... DONT. You may find a job but if you lose it you could be screwed because there may not be others in your area.

Right now I am living solely off the money we brought to NZ.. intended as a deposit on a house. Speaking as someone who has tried everything possible to secure a job, contacted every agent and major employer in Auckland, I am not optimistic. If I stay here, we could lose everything and my 18 year career in IT could be at an end.

I remember being asked in an interview once "What was the biggest mistake you ever made ?" - I was stumped.... I didn't have an answer. I do now. New Zealand is a beautiful place but if you end up losing everything, taking some crap job to get by and bringing your kids up in near poverty what is the point ?

Scotty69

20th January 2009, 06:31 PM

Like so many of yous my OH is in IT management he came over on a reccie trip end of August which in some ways was good but with the job side of things we know now it was a big mistake.
We finally arrived here beginning December with not job our ITA submitted and we also where well aware of the holiday season slow down in jobs and knew things wouldn't pick up till around February but I must admit their has been jobs out their OH even manage to get one interview two weeks ago and still waiting reply, we are finding that OH either has to much experience OR not enough :wah now we are getting really worried and like mentioned before he has even coming down on his asking wage and now the problem with this is that employers will not take him on as they know as soon as something better comes along he will go, so out of our personal experience don't waste money on a reccie if your going to come out save the money and also like said before think before giving up a secure job at the moment or make sure you have enough money saved to live on without any worry's.

Natasha

JasonS

21st January 2009, 11:46 AM

For those concerned about the number of job postings in the last month or so, please understand that it's summertime here and hiring virtually dries up over the holiday time period. Many people are away and not available to perform interviews, so you see a reduction in job listings.

Now that may also be exasperated by a slowing job market as well, but it's not necessarily an indication that the market has completely gone to hell everywhere. A better indication of the job market conditions will probably be a month or so from now, as Scotty69 mentioned. I wouldn't expect them to be as good as they were this time last year, but hopefully not completely dire either.

I suspect Auckland might be tighter than Welly, simply due to the large population and popularity with skilled migrants as their preferred location to live. Thus there is a bigger employment pool to draw from. Welly and Christchurch may end up fairing a little better due to the smaller relative populations but at the risk of relatively fewer job postings.

Anyhow, unless you're heart is set on Auckland, maybe consider the smaller population centres as a reasonable alternative. I know I had to start looking in Welly instead of the preferred Chch because finding jobs in my field (Infosec) were very hard to come by down there.

Jason

ulto

22nd January 2009, 12:10 AM

I'm in the same boat as many others here. We arrived in December and I knew that it would be quiet, but not this quiet. Luckily the other half got a job pretty much straight away. We have one income anyway. It isnt much but its something!

Now I have had interviews so that means my CV is doing something right. However the jobs I went for were not totally for me or so they say so ill keep looking. I'm still waiting to hear about loads of others I applied for. They are not the quickest to get back here about things, but in fairness they do get back to you eventually.
I just have to keep looking and plough on. Im based in CHCH and looking for networking or systems work if anyone has an a job for me!:)

veronica

22nd January 2009, 04:00 AM

Us from the northern hemisphere should keep in mind that while christmas is a week or 10 days holiday January is the equivilant of August for holidays. Give it a week after the schools go back and hopefully things should liven up

Angelonthemove

23rd January 2009, 05:03 PM

Oh has finally got an interview. He rang the company first, spoke with a nice lady pointed out where he had the experience...then sent his rehashed CV. Voila an interview.

We suspect that most recruiters do not understand his technical babbly an have written it more of

I then had a project for 6 months were I did this and that. Using the words in the job advert. They search candidates on how many times the words they are looking for come up and the one with the most words is top of the pile.

He then emails the agent and write where to find the relevant roles where he gained the experience for that role. And do phone each different person int he agency even if you sent your CV for a different agent, they don't always talk to each other.

We have also changed his job titles as Kiwi ones seem to be different name for the same role.

Hope that helps someone. Look for direct company adverts and trademe seems to have more as its cheaper than Seek to advertise in.

Govt are only interviewing direct applicants.

Beetle

23rd January 2009, 05:17 PM

Congratulation! :cheers and thanks a lot for sharing your experience and tips with us Angelonthemove :nice1

/Beetle

dtsantos

24th January 2009, 12:24 PM

Hi,

I don't know if I'm in the exact same positions as the others here so i'll explain myself.

I got a comp. science degree, a masters and 2 years of experience with c++.

I arrived in nz last december and have a working holiday visa so: I am here, I got a visa and I can start working right now.

The problem seems to be that now I want to work with J2EE. I do have experience on J2SE. I also speak perfect english and I'm not asking for high wages, trust me.

I've also rewritten my cv according to a job agent.

So far I've got no interviews or anything and I'm seriously thinking about giving up and going back to my country where i can get a job for sure.

The only thing I haven't done is contacting the companies directly ( can't find a trustfull list of major it companies, anybody can help? ).

So if someone ask me: is the market in recession? I would definetly say yes. I mean, i don't have several years of experience but i do have very good bachelors and masters and 2 years exp. If its being like this to me I wonder how hard is from someone who just graduated to work here.

Thanks guys, any opinio0n would be very appreciated!!

Rabbit

24th January 2009, 12:41 PM

dtsantos

24th January 2009, 12:46 PM

About the education: I feel sometimes job agencies and companies seems to be more interested in 4 years of experience than a degree or a masters. Do you agree?

Angelonthemove

24th January 2009, 01:15 PM

dtsantos

http://www.jobs.govt.nz/vacancies/searchresult.aspx?r=13_&c=112_

government website

http://tnz.taleo.net/careersection/10000/joblist.ftl
Geni Telecom

Just look for advertisers that say their company name not an agent.

Look for jobs that are looking for your experience C++ get a NZ job on your CV and then you can change later rather than looking for J2EE.

think about what you did in your previous role and really add all the stuff to your CV. Including mentoring, phone experience, client facing, how many in a team, projects you worked on, who you reported to, etc.

Anything you did that saved time or money for the company, thinking outside the square, new idea what you actually did, be it really small to you may seem great to others.

Do a search on trademe and seek of the application you work in not the job titles. some adverts are place in some weird areas.

I get to the point where I am up to date and then search the whole of the IT section every day if not twice a day. That way I do not miss any new ones.

I also use Google to search descriptions of companies recruiting via agents to find the company and see if they have jobs or careers sections and find the job that way and apply direct.

Good luck

Beetle

24th January 2009, 04:02 PM

About the education: I feel sometimes job agencies and companies seems to be more interested in 4 years of experience than a degree or a masters. Do you agree?

Not really. They look for > 4 years experience for 'Senior' positions, but you can find intermediate positions for applicants with 2 years of experience.
Have you tried Trade Me Jobs?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Jobs/IT-Jobs/
(Make sure you sort by 'Latest listings')

I second what Angel mentioned regarding applying for jobs. If you are more confident and experienced in C++ rather than JEE, then you should start looking for C++ vacancies as well. After gaining 1 or 2 years of NZ experience, then you can gradually move to JEE.

But I think you will start hearing from recruiters and employers from February, because most of them are on vacation during December and January.

Apply for both C++ and JEE vacancies, but give more weight to C++.

joewandy

29th January 2009, 04:22 AM

Just wondering then ... does anybody have any rough indication how the J2EE market, or IT development/support in general, would fare in 2009 ?

dtsantos: I agree with what everybody has said above so far, hands-on experience in the specific platform/technology probably counts a lot more than qualification for junior executive level.

I have 2 yrs J2EE experience, and I imagine that it would be pretty hard for me to jump over to C++ without having to start from the bottom of the payscale all over again. And that is in my own country! :D Definitely that would be even harder in another country elsewhere.

Tobiwan

30th January 2009, 05:59 AM

Well I don't know how many IT jobs there are out there, but recent events have cooled the market for IT Recruiters somewhat. Similar to over here in the UK, firms seem to be holding tight to what they've got to see what happens in the next 6 months or so.

Looks very much like my plans will also be going on hold.

Farhandxb

9th February 2009, 01:58 AM

doowrehsij

29th March 2009, 05:57 PM

Hi Guys,

I saw this thread come up in a search and thought I would post and share my experiences!

I've been in Auckland since the begining of February 2009 and still looking for work now! I'm a Lead/ Senior .NET developer with 8 years of experience and aren't really getting many replies from companies - I've got a second interview next week, but the salary is quite low (about $80k).

Please don't take this as scaremongering, as I'm probably being quite picky and I'm happy having the time off with the family - I just thought I would share what the job market is like at the moment, especially if people were planning of coming out and expecting to nail a job in the first few weeks and then later getting into financial difficulty.

Of course, every case is really different, but I thought I would post just to urge caution... but it can be done!

yossarian

30th March 2009, 11:50 AM

i'd like to share my status as well. 'been here in nz since december, but only got here in auckland and looked for a job 2 weeks now. i had one interview from an agent, and another one coming this week, i guess.

but to be honest, i can sense the slowing market as i've submitted tons of resume from seek.co.nz, but more often than not, i won't get any reply or better candidates fill the position.

i'm a cobol analyst/programmer, and last job as a technical consultant. i've been working in this field for about 4 years and 7 months, until quitting my job last december.

aven

30th March 2009, 04:32 PM

Now, can we say the IT job market is at it's trough? Not to say all fields of IT, but as most of the complaints come from Software Development people, like myself.

I've been in NZ since February this year, and like most of you, still looking for a job.

Is there hope?... Probably, but in the next 6 months when the recession period will start to subside. Just hang in there gang!

yossarian

30th March 2009, 05:14 PM

i can't stay for so long as i'm only holding wtr visa, and will be denied of residency if i can't get IT jobs until this coming september. :(

Syed

30th March 2009, 07:08 PM

i can't stay for so long as i'm only holding wtr visa, and will be denied of residency if i can't get IT jobs until this coming september. :(
Good luck... You still have enough time....

andrewp

30th March 2009, 10:37 PM

... as i've submitted tons of resume from seek.co.nz, but more often than not, i won't get any reply or better candidates fill the position.

One suggestion... I have found that it really pays to follow up submitting your CV with a phone call. I have found this greatly increases your chance of the agent putting your CV nearer the top of the pile. Now, each time I submit my CV for a position, I then call the agent after about 30 minutes and just "check" that they received it. Quite often you will then get to chat about the position a bit. Also found that by calling before you submit also helps.

Good luck and hang in there. Perhaps we should start an Auckland IT and Engineers job hunt support group. We could meet during the day when all the other suckers are stuck at work ;)

aven

31st March 2009, 11:20 AM

A support group would be cool... we could grab a beer and express our grievances on job hunting.. :D

@yossarian: Kabayan, how's the job hunting? Where do you stay at the moment... We moved in a new apartment a few weeks ago in New Lynn.

yossarian

31st March 2009, 11:59 AM

thanks andrewp for the tip, i'll give it a try..
i have my second interview later, but again, with a headhunter. having spent 2 weeks already in auckland and 2 interviews, so an interview a week...haha..but i can feel i can't get any more inteviews!

kabayan aven! nice to see someone from phil here. i'm staying in a hostel at the moment, i just moved here by myself, and this is the most practical way i guess..

asarcevic

31st March 2009, 12:10 PM

Hi to all!

This is my first post, and it couldn't be anywhere but in this thread.
Like all you people, I am moving to NZ with my girlfriend. We both are from Argentina, both graduated with a Systems Information Engineering Degree (I believe it's equal to a Bachelor's Degree, isn't it?), and both work in IT.

I am a Senior ABAP Developer with 6 years of experience. My girlfriend has 8 years in IT, with more experience in Business Analyst / Team Leader / PM. She also is Senior in Power Builder and knows something of .Net and C#. We're arriving at the end of April.

So far, I made contact from Argentina with a lot of recruiters, but nothing secure. I'm hoping that situation gets better once we were there.

Does anyone has any perspective of the SAP ABAP job market?

So far... hoping. :)

Best regards!
Andrés.

JandM

31st March 2009, 12:32 PM

Welcome to the forum. :)

KelvinAng

31st March 2009, 01:15 PM

kabayan aven! nice to see someone from phil here. i'm staying in a hostel at the moment, i just moved here by myself, and this is the most practical way i guess..

Hey Yossarian, all the best for the job hunting. I'm into it myself down here in ChCh. Compared to one year ago it's a lot harder now to get interviews.

Did you negotiate a good weekly rate at your hostel? Many hostels will offer a lower rate if you're staying there for long-ish term, especially over this winter + recession period. One hostel I stayed in offered a rate as low as $125/pw for a single room, with a fridge and TV. If you need just a bed it's even cheaper. Hostels are also a good way to get some casual work if you need to, although I'm not sure if being on WTR you're allowed to do casual work? Being a single male, it's pretty easy to live on the cheap.

Scotty69

31st March 2009, 01:45 PM

Hi asarcevic and welcome to the forum

doowrehsij

31st March 2009, 03:08 PM

Hey folks,

Andrés - welcome to the forum!

Well, persistence pays off! I was offered a job yesterday - so don't get too down, so there is hope for everyone.

I would really second andrewp's advice with a phone call... Some feedback I got back from a recruitment consultant was that I was the only person that called to find out more about the role. - I would recommend doing anything that gives you the edge over other people.

Good luck and keep hanging in there.

yossarian

31st March 2009, 04:56 PM

@kelvin: wow that hostel is cheap! i'm paying $150 a week, but in a shared room, of course shared kitchen and toilet. it's discounted already from $25 a night, so i get my 7th night free. i'll probably do work for accommodation in a few weeks, or try to look any casual work in the town while waiting... it's really hard to stay in this city without any money coming in, you know.

my WTR allows me to work any kind of work, i worked in hastings in the vineyard and orchard prior to getting to auckland, so i can work maybe in cafes here.

KelvinAng

31st March 2009, 05:29 PM

Yea I suppose Auckland's accommodation is much more expensive than ChCh's. I paid $200/wk when I was flatting in Auckland. Salaries are also higher, so I suppose it balances out in the end when you get your full-time job.

Yea that hostel is really, really cheap. I've not heard of another that's cheaper. However it's also pretty run-down, and quite cold, so I suppose you get what you pay for :D

sekilau

31st March 2009, 06:30 PM

But can you get PR if you work for vineyard or cafe for three months?

@kelvin: wow that hostel is cheap! i'm paying $150 a week, but in a shared room, of course shared kitchen and toilet. it's discounted already from $25 a night, so i get my 7th night free. i'll probably do work for accommodation in a few weeks, or try to look any casual work in the town while waiting... it's really hard to stay in this city without any money coming in, you know.

my WTR allows me to work any kind of work, i worked in hastings in the vineyard and orchard prior to getting to auckland, so i can work maybe in cafes here.

yossarian

31st March 2009, 08:35 PM

@sekilau: no, of course not. they didn't make it that easy! haha

JandM

31st March 2009, 09:38 PM

ascetic1298

1st April 2009, 05:54 AM

just wanted to know how gud is the job market for database administration/infrastructre management/ techonology consultancy for experienced people.

benrus

1st April 2009, 04:15 PM

Hi Folks,
Were hoping that you'll find skilled jobs soon. We just received WTR invitation. On our estimate, we may fly to NZ by August to start jobhunting in IT.
In the interview questionnaire, we mentioned Wellington as our preferred destination. However, we observe that job openings in Auckland is more as compared to Wellington. If I manage to find skilled job in Auckland and stay there during duration of WTR permit, will this somehow affect our chance of becoming PR?

Kabayan Yossarian,
We noticed in WTR Form that we need to indicate New Zealand residential address and telephone number. Is this really required? We don't have any linkages support in NZ yet and won't be able to provide this info. Your kind advise will be highly appreaciated.

Thanks and good luck to all of us.

yossarian

1st April 2009, 04:49 PM

hi benrus! nice to see a fellow filipino here. :) in my case, i did not put in any address or telephone number. i just had a short note that i'll be staying in a hotel first..(but i really stayed in hostel, haha)

aven

1st April 2009, 07:23 PM

@benrus: good to hear you got your WTR invitation, you're one step closer to the land of the green.

@yossarian: have you tried applying for call centre positions? I am not too sure though that you can use that for your PR application. Are you staying at the "Tambayang Pinoy"? Coz they charge 150/wk there as well for accommodation.

benrus

2nd April 2009, 01:53 AM

Yossarian, thanks for the tip :nice1
Aven, it is nice to know that you and Yossarian, both fellow Kabayans are actively posting in this wonderful forum.
We hope to meet both of you in NZ this year :cheers

yossarian

3rd April 2009, 06:42 PM

@benrus: looking forward to meeting you here soon!
@aven: nope, i'm staying in a backpackers in mt eden. not a single pinoy here, which i miss sometimes. by the way, where is tambayang pinoy? $150 is for the accommodation alone right? thanks!

aven

3rd April 2009, 08:37 PM

Tambayang Pinoy is at St. Johns. They actually charge 100 per week plus 50 for meals, probably filipino food. It's got a website btw, www.tambayang-pinoy.com

msleiners

3rd April 2009, 09:01 PM

Would be nice to hear from someone with .NET programming background... how things are going since the recession began?

About me (if anyone's interested :P):
I am kind of planning to move within 3 months (had visa interview already - will have wtr/pr in a week)...

Naturally this all "mooving to NZ thing" suddenly (after more than a YEAR in immigration process) becomes VERY real (if you now what i mean) so due to recession some negative thoughts/fear and doubts start to trouble me... i mean - on one hand i could consider to maybe put my plans on halt and wait 6 mths instead of 3 maybe... to see if more jobs are available at that time, cuz i have a very good position right now with above average salary and other benefits

on the other hand why wait ? i also have some thoughts that maybe even less jobs will be available by then !? it's july versus october which one is better? ... i actually scan job advertisments every other day for like 3 months and what i see is that 1 or more new positions (more or less suitable for me) are available every time (i consider moving to Auck/welly) so my feeling is that it's not so bad...

financially I am prepared to withstand lack of job for 3 months... probabbly will not gonna be able to hold on more than that... also if i wait for 3 months more (ie. move in October) i will be definetly put more money in my savings account too... whicj mean i could withstand 4/5 months...

a real dilemma it is :)

little background:
i am in software development 4 years - mainly .NET C# desktop apps, some ASP.NET too - i guess i am not a junior developer anymore :)

feel free to post any feedback

thanks

noice

3rd April 2009, 09:19 PM

I don't think you can trust the amount of ads coming out to be a good indicator for the amount of jobs out there. I have friends in Auckland and Welly working in the IT sector and they all confirm that it is pretty grim at the moment. Like in the UK, job ads are not always created because there is an underlying job but because agents are trying to gather as many CV's as possible.

I don't think the job situation is going to improve until beginning next year unfortunately so make sure you save up good if you are trying to make the move in this climate

msleiners

3rd April 2009, 09:42 PM

Surely this is very frustrating... cuz if they give me WTR i have to move in within 6 months :( it would be a lot easier if they give me PR i think then you have like 12 months or something

i am thinking... that lot of folks must have been caught in this uncofortable situation (are in same boat with me).. i mean when i started THE process there was no recession ... a lot of money and time was spent on this process and now you have to choose:
1) lose all the effort and money (i don't think there is an option to "pause")
2) lose your job, sell everything you got, make the move ... try to get employed, if no luck you lose everything and are forced to move back... what a disaster that would be

If things are very bad and you don't find expected employment within 3 months isn't there an option to lower your wage expectations significantly and still get employed ? Suffer a minimal wage and wait till recession is over and then things would surely improve...

I don't think you can trust the amount of ads coming out to be a good indicator for the amount of jobs out there. I have friends in Auckland and Welly working in the IT sector and they all confirm that it is pretty grim at the moment. Like in the UK, job ads are not always created because there is an underlying job but because agents are trying to gather as many CV's as possible.

I don't think the job situation is going to improve until beginning next year unfortunately so make sure you save up good if you are trying to make the move in this climate

noice

3rd April 2009, 11:12 PM

It is indeed. I can obviously not judge how easy you will have finding a job from just reading what you wrote about yourself but I think 3 months of salary is a bit short generally speaking. Having only 3 months worth of living is probably putting a bit too much pressure on yourself in case it takes time to find a job. I am in a similar situation like you but we are two of us making the move sometime this year and we will have enough to survive on for 2 years when we go. We're just hoping we will get a PR and not a WTR.

Surely this is very frustrating... cuz if they give me WTR i have to move in within 6 months :( it would be a lot easier if they give me PR i think then you have like 12 months or something

i am thinking... that lot of folks must have been caught in this uncofortable situation (are in same boat with me).. i mean when i started THE process there was no recession ... a lot of money and time was spent on this process and now you have to choose:
1) lose all the effort and money (i don't think there is an option to "pause")
2) lose your job, sell everything you got, make the move ... try to get employed, if no luck you lose everything and are forced to move back... what a disaster that would be

If things are very bad and you don't find expected employment within 3 months isn't there an option to lower your wage expectations significantly and still get employed ? Suffer a minimal wage and wait till recession is over and then things would surely improve...

msleiners

4th April 2009, 01:37 AM

:clap totally great news

I just have been informed that they will give me a PR !!!

If i am not mistaken this means that i can enter NZ whenever i want ie. i can now put my plans on hold and enter the country in first quarter of 2010 or whenever else when the market will start to thaw... i guess the only limit for time of entrance is validity term of my passport... ?? I really did not find out so much about PR since i was convinced that they will grant me WTR :)

I guess the most logical thing for me to do now is to try my best and get a job offer remotely... surely that should be (at least) easier than getting an offer without a PR
Maybe i will add some more specific technology skills that employers seek for

noice

4th April 2009, 01:58 AM

now party like its 99 and get over there and get going!

:bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebanana

noice

4th April 2009, 01:59 AM

woohooooo! great news!! congrats! get some of these!
:bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebanana

msleiners

4th April 2009, 02:06 AM

Thanks, I guess i will do just that tonigt... !:)

now party like its 99 and get over there and get going!

Silverwing86

4th April 2009, 02:17 AM

totally great news

I just have been informed that they will give me a PR !!!

If i am not mistaken this means that i can enter NZ whenever i want ie. i can now put my plans on hold and enter the country in first quarter of 2010 or whenever else when the market will start to thaw... i guess the only limit for time of entrance is validity term of my passport... ?? I really did not find out so much about PR since i was convinced that they will grant me WTR

I guess the most logical thing for me to do now is to try my best and get a job offer remotely... surely that should be (at least) easier than getting an offer without a PR
Maybe i will add some more specific technology skills that employers seek for

Hi msleiners,

First of all, congratulations on your great news, here are some of the :bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebananathat are appropriate for the occasion !

I just wanted to mention though that you are limited in the amount of time you have to enter NZ. You have up to 6 months to send in your passport for the blue stickers (if you have not sent it along with your ITA that is) and after receiving the blue stickers you have up to 12 months to activate your PR. Mind you, activation simply means coming into the country so you could also do that on a holiday or short stay and then return permanently later.

Upon activation of your PR, you will receive an RRV (Returning Residents Visa) in your passport, which will be valid for two years. After the two years you can apply for an IRRV (Indefinite Returning Residents Visa), if you have complied with the amount of time you need to have been in NZ prior to applying for the IRRV. Not exactly sure how long that is, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly (or perhaps tomorrow morning as it's after 1 AM here in NZ right now :D) who does.

Again, congratulations on getting your PR and here's hoping the economy improves enough for you to come over. Of course, now that you have PR, it might be easier to try and find a job in NZ from where you are ? Or you could come over for a recce trip/holiday (and perhaps, if necessary, activate your PR at the same time), lining up some job interviews beforehand ? At least with PR in your hand, it will make you all the more interesting for potential employers !

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Silver

JandM

4th April 2009, 08:13 AM

Congratulations! :bluebanana:clap:nice1

msleiners

4th April 2009, 08:47 AM

You are so right Silverwing after overcoming some of the first excitement i startet to think more clearly and came to the same conclusion - what i should do is try to get job from where i am (by persuading employers to take remote interviews) and i am going to stick with this plan for some time - 2 months maybe... if i see that this is not working at all, then I will book a flight and go for a vacation trip of 1 or 2 weeks and naturally i will try my best to schedule as many faace to face inerviews as possible for that time

Thanks for information about the restrictions of PR. (6) + 12 months is till VERY good and gives me a lot of flexibility.

only thing that still worries me is ... i am not sure wether it is harder to get job in NZ winter time... i mean they say that after the sumer march/april it is the best time for jobhunt ... so i wonder if later on there are less opportunities... sure no one can answer this :) given the economic circumstances who knows how it will be

Hi msleiners,

First of all, congratulations on your great news, here are some of the :bluebanana:bluebananathat are appropriate for the occasion !

I just wanted to mention though that you are limited in the amount of time you have to enter NZ. You have up to 6 months to send in your passport for the blue stickers (if you have not sent it along with your ITA that is) and after receiving the blue stickers you have up to 12 months to activate your PR. Mind you, activation simply means coming into the country so you could also do that on a holiday or short stay and then return permanently later.

Upon activation of your PR, you will receive an RRV (Returning Residents Visa) in your passport, which will be valid for two years. After the two years you can apply for an IRRV (Indefinite Returning Residents Visa), if you have complied with the amount of time you need to have been in NZ prior to applying for the IRRV. Not exactly sure how long that is, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly (or perhaps tomorrow morning as it's after 1 AM here in NZ right now :D) who does.

Again, congratulations on getting your PR and here's hoping the economy improves enough for you to come over. Of course, now that you have PR, it might be easier to try and find a job in NZ from where you are ? Or you could come over for a recce trip/holiday (and perhaps, if necessary, activate your PR at the same time), lining up some job interviews beforehand ? At least with PR in your hand, it will make you all the more interesting for potential employers !

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Silver

JandM

4th April 2009, 10:16 AM

Well, it's not the absolute worst time. That comes from just before Christmas till the end of January/beginning of February, when almost everything is closed down and people are away on holiday.

Wonderbob

4th April 2009, 11:17 AM

Well, it's not the absolute worst time. That comes from just before Christmas till the end of January/beginning of February, when almost everything is closed down and people are away on holiday.

I'd agree with this. There really is only one bad time, and that's pre-Xmas and January really, then it's business as usual for the rest of the year.

asarcevic

4th April 2009, 06:33 PM

i am thinking... that lot of folks must have been caught in this uncofortable situation (are in same boat with me).. i mean when i started THE process there was no recession ... a lot of money and time was spent on this process and now you have to choose:
1) lose all the effort and money (i don't think there is an option to "pause")
2) lose your job, sell everything you got, make the move ... try to get employed, if no luck you lose everything and are forced to move back... what a disaster that would be

NEVER "lose all the effort". I am moving holding a W&H Visa and I will try to find job as an ABAP Developer. My girlfriend will try to find a position as a Team Leader or IT Manager, although we know that would be very difficult, if not impossible near the arrival.

Besides, IT world is not only SAP, .Net or JAVA, for instance. There is a lot of jobs, but of course, starting from the bottom, with lower salary, and even in that case, I believe that good luck has to be at your side.

We want to establish in NZ, so if it's not IT, we will try another job options while the right opportunity comes up.

Best regards!

Silverwing86

4th April 2009, 07:52 PM

Thanks for information about the restrictions of PR. (6) + 12 months is till VERY good and gives me a lot of flexibility.

only thing that still worries me is ... i am not sure wether it is harder to get job in NZ winter time... i mean they say that after the sumer march/april it is the best time for jobhunt ... so i wonder if later on there are less opportunities... sure no one can answer this :) given the economic circumstances who knows how it will be

You're most welcome Msleiners, glad to be of help ! 18 months is indeed a lot better than the 6 you would have had with WTR, so you're in a much better position now :clap.

I agree with others that summer (December - February) is the worst time for jobhunting, I don't think other times will be too much of a problem.

I believe the first NZ job is the hardest one to come by (and be careful that you don't get taken advantage of, fi; much lower pay than co-workes because "as an immigrant you probably don't know any better" :no, make sure you're wel informed !!), once you have that one under your belt, it will be easier to find another.

Good luck !

Cheers,
Silver

msleiners

4th April 2009, 11:33 PM

World holds on such an optimistic people like you
Good luck

NEVER "lose all the effort". I am moving holding a W&H Visa and I will try to find job as an ABAP Developer. My girlfriend will try to find a position as a Team Leader or IT Manager, although we know that would be very difficult, if not impossible near the arrival.

Besides, IT world is not only SAP, .Net or JAVA, for instance. There is a lot of jobs, but of course, starting from the bottom, with lower salary, and even in that case, I believe that good luck has to be at your side.

We want to establish in NZ, so if it's not IT, we will try another job options while the right opportunity comes up.

Best regards!

AliIsmailNZ

5th April 2009, 07:26 PM

From my basic knowledge here, I noticed that the IT market is looking for seniors only. Recent graduates/entry level/overseas ITs are not needed in the mean time.

I am still looking for a job that in either MS Server 2003 or Lotus Notes administration.

Regards,

Mike & Nicola

5th April 2009, 11:17 PM

A friend works in IT recruitment and she has to justify her existance each work currently to the Director of the company. Things are pretty slow you can imagine. That said, she is getting word that with the new financial year things are beginning to pick up. Talking to the agents on the phone, or face to face will definitely help.

Goodluck

emka

6th April 2009, 10:53 PM

I have subscribed to the BNZ Weekly Overviews. Among other info they publish business sentiments by industries (responses received from business people). It is quite a useful source if you want monitor the economy over a longer period of time. Here is the recent part on the IT industry:

Information Technology/Telecommunications

• Information Technology - very busy, lots of interest but conversion to sales taking a long time.
• IT Finance consultancy - Bleaker and no improvement in sight.
• The IT industry, as a supplier to other industries, is currently stalled. While Government goes through its current line-by-line, business managers and particularly Public Sector managers have simply put a hold on anything but the largest projects.
• It/Telecommunications Solutions. Enterprise business activity strong. Small business market weak .
• Telcos, we are busy because we are preparing for increasing competition. Certainly noticing that customers are after more value this year.
• IT - automation side people are very interested but getting signatures is hard. Bread & butter IT v much down.
• Computer software budgets are being cut drastically to preserve cash flow.
• Health IT - steady as she goes, generally not replacing staff who are leaving.
• Telco (Network) 1. Strong focus on capex/opex maximisation in the near term. 2. As the bulk of our business is network access and regulated, revenue streams expected to be stable.
• ICT Industry - down, mainly due to reduced public sector spending.
• IT - Quiet in some sectors (Hardware and large projects) but services are still doing well.
• IT Contracting. Very bad short term. Over the next 6 months this will improve as the work still needs to be done but it will take a while for the business pain to be felt and funds made available.
• Web design and development. Good, it's a lower cost channel.
• IT Services is looking good with clients watching their wallets but realistic about ensuring their systems are running well.
• IT Infrastructure - far fewer projects. Education sector is spending some money though.
• Telecommunications, OK so far, more people spending time online for entertainment rather than going out and spending money.
• Graphic and web design. There is a shortage of work from existing clients. We are asked to quote on work but more potential clients are shopping around so more difficult to convert the proposals into projects. Turnover is about half what it was this time last year. We have had to let 2 staff members go.
• IT Infrastructure. Very flat. No response to marketing. Relying on repeat business from existing clients.
• IT- Website development. Still business out there but lead times are longer and certainly slower than this time last year.
• IT & Telecommunications. There's a hell of a lot more talk of a recession that shows up in the numbers. Our business is doing very well, although cash flow could be better on account of a few slow payers.
• IT - the expected delayed effect of the general downturn is starting to come through our sector. Not as serious, but there are classic signs - bills not being paid as promptly, more time to get proposals signed off, a few potential projects deferred, comments from clients about capex shrinking.

Subscription is free, and you don’t have to be a BNZ customer. The address is:
tony.alexander@bnz.co.nz. Just write „Subscribe“ in the subject line.

Maxx

7th April 2009, 10:19 AM

Thought I'd dive into this thread and ask some IT development questions!

I do the odd web search every now and again on seek.co.nz to see what the market is like for my skills (core and preferred work areas). The area I'd really like to find work in is WPF, since I believe it is a fantastic technology with real promise for certain types of application. As some may know, this is pretty cutting edge, but I have around 2 years full time experience with .NET 3 / 3.5 doing WPF, having done .NET 2, VB6 and C++ for several years before that. I have also spent considerable time in the past year working with a leading edge design house in London doing GUI design / wireframing development. This process has involved working with marketing departments, sales reps, interaction designers and focus groups, etc. Strangely, while I see demand for vanilla .NET skills in NZ, I have seen very few positions that ask for WPF specifically. I find this a little surprising, since I believe it is starting to see significant pick-up in key areas in other countries.

Any comments? Anyone out in NZ doing WPF development (or perhaps Silverlight)?