NZ job adverts - salaries unspecified

Hi,

I've done some online research into job vacancies but none of the recruiters seem to specify salaries, making it difficult to know what to make a serious effort to apply for.

Has anyone else found this to be a problem?

We are going to a WorkingIn jobs fair in March which we hope will provide a bit more information...

Our contacts in NZ have indicated that our target salaries are achievable and ideally we're aiming for Christchurch or Wellington as a base... If anyone has suggestions of good job sites to use any advice would be gratefully received.

Hubby is a web developer / programmer with 20 years experience an I have been running a consultancy practice for a couple of years, but my background is marketing and business development.

Thanks in advance for any tips.
Liz

Hi Liz!

I am not in your line of work but when I was looking into job opportunities in New Zealand as a midwife I found a lot of reference points online. Just searched the web and forums and found a vague idea as to what a midwife in general and I in particular with my working experience should earn.

Now, saying that, as a hospital based midwife salaries are quite fixed and go by increments depending on years of experience. Probably a bit easier to research than the line of work of your husband is in in the private sector.

Even with that knowledge I have been advised before my job interview not to talk about money during the interview. But maybe that could be the culture in the public sector? My proposed salary only came with the job offer/contract and I am happy I didn't have to negotiate... then again, you'd have to see what the costs of living are and I have a feeling New Zealand is not cheap. But we are not going for the money.

Good luck with the decision-making ;)

Hanna

You can check out Robert Walters salary survey for year 2012. It covers many IT job titles.

www.seek.co.nz will tell you the salary band of an advertised job. Employers need to specify a wage when placing the advert, but it is often not shown. Have a play with the sliding pay scale when searching and you will see jobs disappear when the scale is too high.

Thanks everyone.

I have been having a look around Seek which seems to be the best tool for searching I've used so far. I suppose I am sometimes a bit cynical about jobs advertised by recruitment agencies as they are not all as credible as one might like! Hanna - Thanks also for your insight; We've been to NZ a couple of times and yes we certainly spotted some of the cost of living differences - I think it all roughly balances out and like you, it's not a money-motivated move, more about quality of life etc!

Thanks again!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lou76

www.seek.co.nz will tell you the salary band of an advertised job. Employers need to specify a wage when placing the advert, but it is often not shown. Have a play with the sliding pay scale when searching and you will see jobs disappear when the scale is too high.

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The sliding scale tip is useful, but if you actually speak with recruiters, they would try to get you at a lower salary than the scale suggests. Not relevant to OP's query, but might prove useful if you apply to jobs based on salary mentioned.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Otaku

The sliding scale tip is useful, but if you actually speak with recruiters, they would try to get you at a lower salary than the scale suggests. Not relevant to OP's query, but might prove useful if you apply to jobs based on salary mentioned.

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I personally don't believe this, but maybe it depends on the industry. It is in the agencies interest to get you the best salary as they are paid on a % basis. However they won't suggest the highest end of the range is they perhaps feel your experience doesn't match, resulting in your application being denied by the employer.

Dealing directly with employers is quite different as they will want to go lower rather than higher.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lou76

I personally don't believe this, but maybe it depends on the industry. It is in the agencies interest to get you the best salary as they are paid on a % basis. However they won't suggest the highest end of the range is they perhaps feel your experience doesn't match, resulting in your application being denied by the employer.

Dealing directly with employers is quite different as they will want to go lower rather than higher.

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My experience is in IT jobs. Recruiters work for both, companies and candidates. But they are biased more towards companies, as it is a bigger customer and a constant source of Business, provided they supply them with good staff at lower salary range. So, for example, one sees a job listed between 120k-200k (in case of SEEK), sends the resume and gets a call. During the call, the recruiter will try (in my experience) to agree on 100k or even 90k.

Now the question might be, why to list a job with a bigger range when it does not pay that much? The reason, as I guess, they want more resumes/more candidates to apply, as salary scale is an important criteria for many people. More resumes= more likely to find someone who will work for less= happy client= more business for recruiter. :)