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Thread: Degree and work experience don't exactly match

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    8

    Question Degree and work experience don't exactly match

    I'm a newbie here--just posted an intro thread as well.

    We are planning to file an EOI for my husband, since he has more recent relevant work experience than me.

    We both have degrees in Electronics, granted in 1985. But apart from my one year as a hardware engineer, we've worked in the software side ever since. The Electronics degree included a couple of software components, and was definitely the springboard to our careers, but it was definitely not at its core a software degree.

    Both Electronic Engineering and IT are shortage areas. The degree led directly to software work. But the EOI form makes it sound like the qualification and the work experience must exactly match. Is that true? Bummer if it is, since I think that would then drop us below a decent score without an actual job offer in place. (Which I realize might be moot anyway, if the changes in regulations mean that we have to have a job offer in order to have much of a chance of a visa.)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    NZ
    Posts
    16

    Default

    Hi there,

    This isn't exactly the same situation but when we entered our EOI a couple of months ago we had points deducted as my husbands degree was in computational physics and INZ were very strict that it had to be computer science. We appealed but despite my husband studying computer science as a large part of the degree and that computational physics is a sub-field of computer science, they upheld their decision. It meant we weren't eligible for the points for his 8 years work experience either as it had to be linked to a computer science or information technology degree. We've now fallen way below the points we need so our only hope is a job offer - not easy with no visa.

    Anyway, this is not to say that your situation will have the same outcome but really just that I would advise you to get in touch with INZ before you spend time and money on the EOI - I wish we had, even if just to save ourselves the disappointment as we'd got so excited when the EOI was selected from the pool.

    Best of luck and let us know what happens.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Manchester > Now Tauranga
    Posts
    4,393

    Default

    If you search back then the electonics - electric engineering degree / software experience is very very common. And probably the most common reason for peopl ebeing selected at EOI and then returned to the pool a month later as they lose a lot of points they claimed.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Auckland
    Posts
    55

    Default

    My case has some resemblence to yours. I had an engineering degree, worked in IT but evaluated as an engineering profressional by INZ. Here are the details.

    I had my degree in E&E Engineering but my post degree career had always been in the field of IT infrastructure. I have held many different IT infrastructure positions, technical and managerial inclusive. It just so happened that the last position I held when I was applying for my EOI had the term "service engineering" in it. The job content was purely in IT infrastructure and that was also how I described it in the EOI submission. But INZ decided to take it as an engineering job, presumably by looking at the title of my last position. As a result I lost 15 points from my initial claim in an IT profession for IT was a skill of absolute shortage. But that didn't matter as I still had enough points to be invited for ITA. So I didn't argue with INZ and was just happy to be evaluated as an engineering professional. Anyway it would have been clear to my case officer that I was a professional in the IT industry when I was being interviewed. The subjects that I took in my degree had some remote relevance to my subsequent career and that was the only weak link I could relate in my EOI submission. It still worked out and I was granted resident visa at the end.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    8

    Default

    Thanks for all the feedback.

    Sounds like the only hope for getting credit for both would be to couch his current job in engineering terms, which isn't too big of a stretch since he works in the alternative energy industry. As part of his job he's been trained in solar panel installation, for example.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    105

    Default

    We had almost exactly the same situation way back when we submitted our EOI. OHs degree in Electronic & Electrical Engineering, claimed points for critical skills shortage (IT Project Manager) & degree but because they didn't match up they took off the work experience as a PM dropping us below the threshold. It took a job offer to get us to ITA.

    Some of the info on these threads might help, my OH is mgbridges:

    http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31784
    http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16386
    http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13640

    Good luck
    Mrs. B.

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