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A frustrating paradox exists in New Zealand these days for you as a potential migrant. With the second lowest unemployment rate in the developed world (around 3.8%) and literally tens of thousands of new jobs being created each year (65,000 in 2006 and 25,000 in the first quarter of 2007) you might expect recruiters and employers to be falling over each other to gain access to you. New Zealand employers constantly bemoan the fact that lack of skilled candidates is putting a real constraint on their ability to grow their businesses.
However if you have been searching for employment on the net overwhelmingly you will have noticed that significant numbers of employers and almost all recruitment consultants demand that you have a work or residence permit or you shouldn't bother applying for positions.
Why? There are a number of reasons in our experience.
New Zealand employers seem to have an aversion to bureaucracy and they are generally reluctant to get involved with a legal process that they dont understand, that they often perceive to be more complex than it often turns out to be and frankly, to get involved with migrants. So many companies in New Zealand are small (with 85% employing less than 20 people) and some employers fear that putting a migrant into their workplace might upset the cultural applecart.
Some have been burned by migrants who have only used them to secure their residence and then have left, leaving behind a frustrated employer who is unlikely to be willing to repeat the exercise.
Recruitment Consultants on the other hand are not paid by you but by their own clients who have tasked them with filling a vacancy. They are almost always paid by commission and therefore it is in their interests to put forward local candidates ahead of more suitable and qualified overseas candidates simply because they are paid faster. No work permit bureaucracy involved, no residence permit bureaucracy -- it suits them even if it means not serving the best interests of their own clients. So recruiters are not always going to be of that much assistance to you.
So often we hear highly qualified candidates being told that they "have no New Zealand work experience". This is just a cop-out in our view and is usually a polite (if not very intelligent) way of telling you that they (or the employer) does not want a migrant.
What employers demand is a signal of commitment:
- Are you in New Zealand?
- Are you available to start work subject to a work permit being granted?
- Do you qualify for a work permit?
- Have you resigned your job at home?
- Is your family with you?
- Have you sold your home?
- Are you well advanced with the residence process?
- Are you being looked after by a qualified immigration adviser?
If you can answer yes to most of these this site may be of assistance to you.
However in order to take advantage of this you must complete our residence eligibility assessment. Only once we have established residence is an option will you gain access to employers listing positions on this site. Yes, there is a cost and that cost is NZ$250 but that is all part of demonstrating these signals of commitment.
When your eligibility is confirmed, we provide you with an authorisation key that will provide access to the positions listed by New Zealand employers on our site. Remember, the fewer of the above listed "signals of commitment" you can answer yes to, the less chance you will have of finding employer interest. We do not and cannot guarantee you employment. Our service, if you like, is a bit like a dating service -- putting serious would-be New Zealanders in touch with serious New Zealand employers.
All employers listing positions here have an agreement with IMMagine New Zealand Immigration Limited that they will only offer you employment if you are a confirmed full-fee paying client of our company i.e. you have retained us to act on your behalf in the entire residence permit process.
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