Seasonal jobs in conservation/resource management (park ranger or forestry research)

[sbzellison]

Hello all!

My boyfriend and I are planning to come to NZ this winter (Dec 2012-April 2013) under the working holiday visa program (we both are under 30). We're very interested in getting jobs with the DoC or other conservation agencies, preferably as park rangers. We both have multiple years of experience with fieldwork, both as backcountry rangers and forestry research technicians, and both have Bachelor's degrees and Wilderness First Responder certifications. My questions for those who work in this field are:

1) What is the demand for seasonal park rangers? In the states, there are many positions for skilled, temporary seasonal rangers to patrol trails, check permits etc.
2) What is the season length? Is December-March/April a reasonable timeframe to come and expect to find a job? In the states, four months is the average length of a temporary job.
3) When would we need to start contacting employers/applying for jobs like this? Or, is it better to wait and try to get a job once there?
4) Why haven't I thought of doing this in our winter season earlier? We are SO excited!!

Also, my boyfriend has a medical issue and I'm wondering if it will hinder our visa process. In 2011, he had his leg amputated below the knee after a serious, work-related mountaineering accident. He usually does not need any medical attention, but if anything happened, he would need to see a prosthetist for repair of his prosthetic. I would be nervous to commit to NZ without knowing anything about how to solve problems like this.

Thanks in advance!
Sarah and Jim

[Gran]

This may help.
http://www.conjobs.co.nz/

[JandM]

Could your boyfriend ask the prosthetist who supplied his leg to recommend someone in NZ? I imagine this is a rather limited field, so that any practitioner would be aware of their equivalents in other areas of the world.

As to whether the chance of an accident to his prosthesis would have any effect on how his medical would be viewed - I don't know. I don't remember the question ever being raised before. Does anyone out there have any information?

[JandM]

Okay, a bit of research has thrown up this link. http://nzals.govt.nz/

[JandM]

And here http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/i42991.htm is the detail of acceptable standard of health for Residence - there's no mention there of being an amputee being a block to this. He might have to provide medical reports showing that he does not have any ongoing problems because of the amputation, I would guess.

[sbzellison]

Thank you both for your replies. After reading the links you gave, I don't believe it will impose significant difficulties on either getting a visa or getting treatment while in NZ. My understanding is that it's significantly easier to obtain a temporary (working holiday) visa rather than a resident's visa.

Thanks for the links to conjobs.co.nz. Have been perusing this site for a few weeks now, and looks like most of the jobs posted are permanents; we are interested in seasonal positions.