[upnorthkyosa]

So, how did you find a job in NZ? Tell us your story...

[Trigirl]

i went to the london expo and gave a company there my cv!

[Marie P]

We hadn't been here a week ,when my hubby saw a sticker on a microwave in a "subway " in a petrol station with a phone number of a company that fixed catering equipment ,3 days later after a phone call ,interview he started work :nice1 [he is an electrician].

My job [I have 3 kids at school ] needed to be in school hours ,I have had 2 teacher aide posts found in a local paper.

So easy peasy for us so far :yes

Marie x

[Singel]

We arrived here as tourists. After 2 weeks with no news from IT recruitment agencies :mad: and we are getting bored, so OH and I took a walk to the industrial park opposite our rental. OH saw a company's bill board advertising its' IT services which match his skills. We quickily went home and sent out the CV on the same day. Thanks to the efficiency of the NZ post :nice1 the next day, the Managing Director of the company contacted OH for job interview and couple of days later, the job offer :raebanana

[Singel]

When I first started, I contacted a few recruitment agencies for jobs and were told that I do not have NZ experience (without interview opportunities :mad: ). So I went to work as a temp and I saw a job advertisment by a company in NZ Herald. The company recognise my 2-week temp experience and I got the job offer as a office administrator.
:cheers

[Nienke]

We were living our lives in Holland, when (in the middle of the night....) my husband got a call from a recruitment agent from New Zealand. Three telephone interviews later he got a job offer and we had some serious thinking to do! But we didn't have to think very long, such a golden opportunity!

[Moorf]

My first job (shop assistant) I got whilst buying clothes in that shop!

My 2nd (library) was a tip off from my neighbour.

My recent jobette was a tip off from my neighbour and I've been offered 2 more jobs since then just by working in the garage :D which I've had to turn down.

Woz has been offered a job by a man we met on a beach (short contract when he first got here - cash job), and by chatting for far too long with a barman in Kaikoura.

Woz's current job that he's been at for over 2 yrs, he found via The Press (Christchurch newspaper).

[Smiler]

Much the same as Nienke really.

Chugging through the ITA process without job offer, when late one night OH got a call from a NZ recruitment agency who'd seen his CV online.

Cool as a cucumber, OH asked them to call back the next day, to give him time to look at the job spec. He was interviewed by the agency and the employer and within 30 mins had a contract by email. :clap

That enabled our ITA to be processed quickly and we shipped and packed in little over a week. :raebanana

[sarahw]

Hubby sent his C.V. to Technical Recruitment Services in Welly over the internet - the guy phoned the next day (well late at night!) asking when we were coming over. After a very hasty discussion that night - we decided what the heck & booked tickets - hubby had 2 morning teas with construction co's (QS) and got offered a job on the first one. He was totally shell-shocked - we'd thought we'd move here in a couple of years' time, but just a short time after the offer we'd moved everything out here!!

I volunteered at an environmental charity in their office after we arrived - more to meet people than anything - 6 weeks in I had a 1 year contract offered to me working 4 days a week!! Still there now after 2 years. My dream job - even though I was studying full-time on a correspondence course I couldn't pass it up - was a tough year time-wise but one I'd never swap for anything.

[Hannah]

We went to Nz on visitors visa. OH looked in paper and applied for 6 jobs by sending CV (all requested CV). He got offered one, employer filled in work permit employer forms, and i then applied for an open work permit (as his partner i qualified for an open permit).
I called into the hospital and introduced myself, and was told about a couple of jobs about to be advertised. I applied for one of them and got it (although it took about 3 months from time it was first advertised until i actually started work!!! very frustrating as we were living off one salary and our savings were depleting).
I had applied for another job a few weeks before and i was offered it, although decided not to go for it as it was over an hour's drive away and full time (I have children so wanted to work local and/or part time).
I was not confident about finding work when i arrived, as i did not have PR or a work visa/permit. In hindsight i needn't have worried. If you have skills and a good work attitude you will find work, although like me you may have to wait a while to find the 'right' job.
hannah

[jubjub]

Hubby sat and surfed the net, looking for IT companies, and emailed them direct, but he did this after we already had PR, as we thought they would take us seriously, well one did, a phone interview he was offered the job.

He knew the salary was low, but it was a foot in the door. 6 months later he moved jobs, that was pretty easy too, 8 interviews and two job offers in the space of a week!

[spudulike]

We were very lucky, after discussing our plans to move here hubby put a few feelers out to Oteopathic clinics here and was offered 3 jobs within 24 hours - one of which he accepted. It was a bit of a pain as he had to fly to Auckland to sit the registration exam as without registration we couldn't submit our EOI so that held us up. After that it flew through and here we are. He has been offered loads of jobs since arriving too as there seem to be a shortage of Osteo's here!

I'm at home at the moment looking after our 2 year old and 11 month old so haven't had all those hassles but will return to work as a teacher when we go back to the UK next year.

Louise :)

[jen]

I volunteered at an environmental charity in their office after we arrived - more to meet people than anything - 6 weeks in I had a 1 year contract offered to me working 4 days a week!! Still there now after 2 years. My dream job - even though I was studying full-time on a correspondence course I couldn't pass it up - was a tough year time-wise but one I'd never swap for anything

Sarah, that's really a great story. I've been working at the same job for a nonprofit organization for15 years (at a botanic garden) and many of our staff both in the office and gardens started out as volunteers. I'm hoping to start volunteering once we get settled in and see if I can volunteer my way into a job somewhere interesting.

My OH got his job through an IT recruiter. He contacted a few early on in our planning process and got advice on how to format his US resume into a NZ CV style, but then was told 'get back to us when you have a moving date'. Once we DID have a date he got some phone interviews and now has a job lined up in Welly starting 8 days after our arrival.

[xanctus]

I was trying to get a job here in Auckland, but again many of those companies and agencies keep saying no NZ experience or not even bother looked at your CVs maybe.
So, I had to switch path to get a job. I took a certification, passed and start calling places/people and I got 2 jobs at one time. But I had to picked one of'em.

[The Hodges]

I tried to get a transfer with work, but they only have an office in Sydney. So I used google.co.nz and 'building surveying' and a couple of clicks and emails later I was corresponding with an english guy who had set up a company in Auckland. When he visited the UK later on this year, we had our interview and the job offer followed. :raebanana

The rest, as they say, is history...

I tell you this world wide web will never take off... :laugh

[upnorthkyosa]

Any teachers on the board have a story to share?

[willsken]

Yes, :yes I will share!

I applied for a head of ICT position in the town we wanted to live in. (I am head of Faculty in the UK so the position was one I have experience for)

I was very careful on the application letter to make it easier for the school. I offered to fly out there if they were seriously interested. I also gave him my current head masters home/school /mobile numbers and told them to feel free to ring him as he had agreed that it would be no problem to speak to them regarding my application.

I had a phone call out of the blue a couple of weeks later and that call lasted about half and hour. He asked what I would do if I didn’t get the position. I told him we were moving to the town anyway, regardless. He said that was brave (I could actually hear him thinking the “or stupid”!!) Anyway he called my current boss the next morning and had a long chat with him.

I had another call then a week later to see if we could arrange video conferencing. We did and we chatted this way for about half an hour before he offered me the job. He did say that he has other English teachers and they had no problem fitting in.

In the whole process I think being able to speak to my current boss swung it in the end. Much better than just a written reference, although he did get one of those as well. There were 4 on the short list for the position and I really feel I owe my head teacher a lot. :yes


Reasons he gave for choosing me.

Talking to me
Especially talking to my boss (his words)
My skills fit exactly what he’s looking for.
He felt I would fit in well at the school
I’m coming anyway! (This one made me chuckle! :D )

[Sean-n-Judy]

I'm also job hunting in Auckland and having a real hard time. I'm in IT and 8 years experience doing desktop support. I have been to so many interviews but no job offers and very different excuses as to why I didn't get the position. I've had a couple say they found some one who was a better fit/ more experience, but that I was a very strong candidate, OK i can accept that. Then in another interview they never asked me a technical question, but told the recruitment agent that they thought I wasnt as technical as I made out on my CV??? HUH? And several times I've been told by recruiters that what the company was looking for was more about the personality fitting into the team than tech skills (which they assured me mine were right in line with what they company was looking for), but would come back and say that I didn't have enough Exchange2003 experience or something, but otherwise I was very technical and and a great personality.
Then in one interview they guy asked me why I was even talking to him because I was way over qualified for the position.

I also think I might need to reign in the recruiters a little bit. They seem to be a little to enthusiastic about getting my resume out to places. And in some cases I think they are sending me to places where I shouldn't be going, because they are not very clear themselves on what the job description is.

Well better luck next week. Maybe I just haven't found the right "fit" yet

Sean

[wilson182]

We arrived on 2nd May 2004 for a 'holiday', spent three week looking around. Decided on Chch, rang the first welding company we found in the phone book. Got an interview on the Monday, was asked if he could start work on the Tuesday :eek:

[brokentrails]

thru seek.co.nz :)

[Kim39]

After about sending 100-150 emails to haulage companys throughout NZ, one company decided to take the chance and offer me a position. They waited 18 months from the moment of the offer, to the point of us selling up and moving out here. Unfortunately after a meeting with them in Auckland i decided the location wasn't for us made my apologies and moved on down here to TA.


Kim