canstaff interview

[fogfurn]

im 42 married 14 year old son , carpenter. have interview here in ireland with canstaff next week. has any one any dealings with these, if so can you share your experiences. also we are, like all in ireland struggling and the last thing i want is to pack up and struggle financially in NZ. just interested in peoples comments on this and is it harder our age group to settle as oppose to younger families.

[JandM]

There are quite a lot of old threads about cost of living (use the Search on the blue bar above to bring them up), then once you know what you're being offered, you'll be able to judge things.

[JandM]

For instance, here's a quite recent one. http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=34426

And the calculator may help. http://www.enz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.HTML

[TJH]

Builders are probably not going to be struggling if you located near Christchurch. The rebuild from the quake is going to keep them in demand for quite a while. I am not sure of how much a builder makes, but there should be no shortage of work.

[Starkus71]

Hey welcome what part of Ireland you from? we moved over in October and hubby is carpenter, things just picking up in CHCH at the mo so not really able to tell you how the job market is going to go but here it hasn't really kicked off yet, a lot of the employers want people to be able to work straight away so you may find some jobs aren't suitable if you're still back in Ireland. Our cost of living is a lot less than it was back in Ireland so its managable to live over here, but you're not going to get more than $25ish an hour (£12) at this stage although they are expecting the rate to go up. Its a bit like Ireland a couple of years ago when the Eastern European's moved in and the hourly rate went down - so if your expecting the rates at the height of the Dublin boom - its nowhere near that - saying that it could change in the morning - who knows. Certainly i think there is less focus on objects, keeping up with the neighbours over here so that'll lower the cost of living for you.

If you've never been over here it would be a tough move for the family. I personally find CHCH very hard to get a job in equalivent to what I was working at in Ireland. I was told I was overqualified for lower responsibility jobs and didn't have enough NZ experience for equalivent jobs!!!! so you might be ok getting a job but your wife might have more of a problem. remember all the city centre is still in lock down and most working in bars/ shops/ offices etc have all had to look for new jobs. saying that a lot of people have moved out. Also can be difficult getting rentals. when you put all the problems here into perspective with Ireland they're probably not that bad - just along as you come over with eyes wide open!!

A lot really depends on your personal family circumstances and whether you can afford to make the move, we reckoned it cost us in the region of £10000 sterling to move (taking containers over,flights etc) so it was an expensive relocation, also a lot will depend on your family connection, if you're particularly close to your family it is a really really long way away!! its a hard one to call staying in Ireland or moving over - a lot really depends on your own feeling as to what would be a better fit for you.

dont mean to put you off, as long as your aware

[fogfurn]

thanks for your advice. my wife is a cook and works in a centre (youth reach)cooking healthy meals for young school leavers. i am a cabinetmaker by trade , but have been teaching woodwork to young school leavers in a FAS training centre. i hold a training degree for this. i was thinking of going over on my own for a couple of months (very hard to do i know) as i can get a leave of absence from work. i only work part-time and we seem to be forever struggling, so we think that if atleast i definitly can leave of absence and try out NZ if things did not work out i would have a job to come back to, however not sure if my wife would. but then i strongly believe the hardest step is making the move first and when you do that its twice as hard to give up and come back.

[gastoncyq]

So does anyone here being hired by Canstaff to go to NZ for work?

[Carpenter]

This is an old thread, but for future reference, any prospective applicants to Canstaff ... I, and many others, worked for them for 6 months then bailed out to another company, with better pay, more hours and on far better projects. ...There are good companies to work for, such as Coverstaff, Hays Recruitment, Tradestaff, Contract Construction, Armatage Williams to name a few - and many more listed on the kiwi version of Gumtree, trademe.co.nz
... look at the other companies I mentioned instead.
[Edited. JandM.]

[kepstar]

im 42 married 14 year old son , carpenter. have interview here in ireland with canstaff next week. has any one any dealings with these, if so can you share your experiences. also we are, like all in ireland struggling and the last thing i want is to pack up and struggle financially in NZ. just interested in peoples comments on this and is it harder our age group to settle as oppose to younger families.

Hi I saw your post and just wanted to comment

Canstaff are ok but you could just go directly to a big company so that canstaff do not take $2-$5.00 dollars off what you are earning per hour. You could look at website Trademe.co.nz for jobs, rental houses etc for you and your wife.
Finding a place to live is probably most important, with a school for your son. Then a job for your wife because you as a carpenter will always be able to find work. You could try CPIT/ARA trade schools it is like FAS and you could transfer your teaching skills to that. Send emails and speak directly to those searching for employees, then once you have made contact with them they could assist you with finding a place to live.
Christchurch is the busiest for carpenters but honestly try all regions because of the rent costs. All educational providers may be interested in both your and your wifes skills, there is definitely a place for her skills in elderly care or support work.
better bring your own pair of snickers pants as they don't sell them here lol

[newarrival]

Hi I saw your post and just wanted to comment

Canstaff are ok but you could just go directly to a big company so that canstaff do not take $2-$5.00 dollars off what you are earning per hour. You could look at website Trademe.co.nz for jobs, rental houses etc for you and your wife.
Finding a place to live is probably most important, with a school for your son. Then a job for your wife because you as a carpenter will always be able to find work. You could try CPIT/ARA trade schools it is like FAS and you could transfer your teaching skills to that. Send emails and speak directly to those searching for employees, then once you have made contact with them they could assist you with finding a place to live.
Christchurch is the busiest for carpenters but honestly try all regions because of the rent costs. All educational providers may be interested in both your and your wifes skills, there is definitely a place for her skills in elderly care or support work.
better bring your own pair of snickers pants as they don't sell them here lol

You are replying to a thread from 2011.., just sayin'.....