HARD TALK with a recruitment agency

[Singel]

Don't get me wrong, it is not that I am looking for a job again. I am very happy with my company and my job.
It is the thought that immigrants faced when looking for a job, except tradespeople or those on skilled shortage list, ie. SORRY, YOU DON'T HAVE NEW ZEALAND EXPERIENCE - it is this that irk me (catch 22 is foreign job seeks' nightmare).

This week, the employment agency that I have been temping before, came to see me and to find out how have I been doing so far.
BTW, I got my present job by responding to my company's advertisement.

I took the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with the agency, to find out how to go around the Catch 22 situation.

Here are the advices :
Go for a voluntary work without pay and this will be considered as NZ experience.
I remember my first week of arriving here, a recruitment agency offered me the opportunity to work for them without salary except getting the commissions for successful placement of jobs. In fact, it is a golden opportunity to get NZ experience, however, my circumstances at that time could not allow me to except this offer.

Alternatively, diversify by changing profession and start from bottom, hopefully climb up the career ladder again.
It is this route that I am taking except that I have been working my butts out for so many years, it's time to take a laidback job which is my goal of emigrating.

Hopefully, this will give you some insights of job searching here.

SUCCESS & GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE HERE.

[Jon]

Singel

Was you able to get in to NZ without a job offer?

It makes it much harder for us needing the job offer to get the points to be told you need NZ work experience.

Would you be able to accept an unpaid job if you are over on a visitor visa, I'm not sure the NZ version of the HSE (Health & Safety) would be too happy with that?

Cheers
Jon

[Singel]

Hello Jon

We entered NZ on tourist visas at calculated risks because my hubby is in IT (on critical skills shortage list) and he got a job offer on the 3rd week of arrival.
Yes, basically you can enter the country without a job offer, on tourist visa and allow to stay up to a maximum of 3 months with the proof of returned air-tickets.

It is harder for those who have general or administration skills, however, I circumvent the Catch 22 situation by applying for temping job after we got the WTR. While we are waiting for NZIS to process and approve our PR application, I apply for the permanent position in my present company and I have to assure my boss that we will get the PRs. It is so important to do this because my company are quite reluctant to hire someone on a 2-year work permit (I'm not sure about other companies). My boss also contacted the company that I have been working as a temp, for reference check, before he decided to hire me.

You definitely cannot work if you are on tourist visa, including voluntary job.
What the recruitment agency advice is for someone like me who has a valid work permit and looking for a job.

There is a list of companies that has been pre-approved by NZIS to hire foreigners, it is found in the NZIS website. Maybe, you could write in directly to them for a job.

SUCCESS with your job searching.

[debnjohn]

Yes, good advice (as always Ivy ).
Some agencies are better than others, and some are downright appalling (I applied for one specific vacancy through an agency-who shall remain nameless-to get a response saying that they would not process my application or put me on their 'books' until I could prove I was resident in the area for at least 3 months!).
So the best way is to approach the companies direct. The easiest way of doing this is to regularly scan the local papers.

John.

[Annierobrigado]

hello all

if you had to get a start-from-the-beginning job, just to get nz experience, would it be easy to do? we from the philippines have to answer the question in our interview with the visa officer: if you can't get a job in your field or approximate the employment you had in your home country, what would you do? this is one of the important questions that we need to answer convincingly so that we can be granted visa. if you had to do volunteer or community work, (without pay), how long would you have to stay in that job before you can apply to a paying job?

those living and working in nz already, are your companies hiring asian immigrants? have you observed any differences with getting them and getting the westerners?

need to ask coz we need to know how long we can afford to survive in nz without a steady income yet.

annie

[Singel]

Hello Annie

IMO, involving in voluntary work will keep me occupied so that I do not sit at home (facing the 4 walls, feeling desperate and depress) while I continue to search for a paid job.

To get a job, depend very much on individual :
* personal traits such as communication skills, self-motivation, enthusiasm, etc.
* thinking outside-the-box, explore and research the various ways of job searching.
* preparedness - developing a good CV
* flexibility (e.g. not fussy with the type of work)

As for the duration of getting a job, there is no rocket science on how long it will take (how I wish I have a crystal ball to help you with this).
:

As for the financial part, personally, I will bring in monies that could last at least a year or more (survive on basic things only) - that is the reason, why we sold our house before coming here.

Recently, the local newspaper mentioned that Asian people such as Indian and Chinese, find it harder to get a job here. Personally, I take this information as a pinch of salt.

I also feel that luck also play a part - knocking at the right door at the right time.

sooooooooooooo.................SUCCESS & BEST OF LUCK

[baboonworld]

I know it is gettnig late - but I dont understand the problem. Why cant you just get a normal job.

unemployment is so low in NZ that u should get our pick.

i would avoid the agency and sort it yourself.


I had a problem when i got to UK. I got turned down for the first job i applied for (bar maid)- due to lack of exp. - (well, exp on wrong side of bar).

Second job it was down to me and another - but hey thought i'd bogg off back to NZ so got turned down (job was admin at an agency).

Got 3rd job - walked into agency and got the form to fill in - only they rang me that afternoon and employed me to work for them.

Since then things have gone up and up and in the last ten yrs i have taken on so much responsibility that i need a break (back in nz).

Anyway - i digress - the point is that no one wanted to take me on as they thought i'd flit - 10 years later....!

[Singel]

Hi baboonworld

You have proved my point on FLEXIBILITY, thank you.

[Annierobrigado]

hello guys

if unemployment is low in nz, then that's great news for us migrants, isn't it? we can be flexible anyway, and a dose of humor won't hurt.

thanks for your inputs and good luck too.

annie

[miep]

Singel is correct; NZ companies are always looking for people with recent NZ work experience. In my case it was quite hard to find a job because I'd been overseeing the building of our house for a few yrs and even though recent and NZ this kind of experience didn't count.
I found my first job (contracting Business analyst) via a friend and it took me about 2 days to get back into the swing of things. TBH I did expect it to take much longer, but work here is really not all that different to what I was used to so I'm not sure what all the companies are worried about.

After 5 months in that first job and the market being what it is I could pretty much choose my next job and for a much better salary than the recruiters initially thought possible.

Since I've joined this company a month ago, they've hired an Irish girl, a Filipino (Specially for you Annie!) and an Australian. All of these are fairly high level jobs and for a Government agency in central Wellington.

A month ago some friends came over from Holland to see if they would like to move here and be able to get a job here. He's in a faily specialised field of IT and got a job offer within a week, they're moving here next month.

So I guess the message is even though they prefer NZ work experience as long as you have recent experience you should be able to find a job relatively easily in the current market. Being Asian doesn't seem to make any difference (we have all kinds of nationalities where I work) and in general volunteer jobs are looked upon favourably.


Miep