For the benefit of job applicants, I thought I'd share some current information regarding timelines from initial contact with prospective employers to interviews and (possible) job offer. This is my own experience, so may not be applicable to others, but since I've found that the pace of recruitment here is so slow compared to what I'm used to, it may be useful for planning purposes:
Initial contact (recruiter rang me): 11th May. I thought the position sounded a good fit, so sought to explore it further.
First interview with recruiter: 16th May. This took place at his office, and lasted about an hour.
Second interview with recruiter: 22nd May. Same location, in response to queries from the prospective employer. Also lasted about an hour.
Skype interview with prospective employer: 6th June. This lasted nearly three hours. The employer had delegated initial vetting to his staff in Queenstown, so elected to conduct this via Skype.
Shortlisting and referee checks: 12th-23rd June. All referees (including those overseas) were contacted.
First in-person interview: 18th July (next week).
All told, that's over two months, and obviously no guarantee of success.
Now, that's for quite a senior position, but my current role also required three interviews and took roughly 12 weeks from initial contact until a formal offer was made. It may be that other industries have a more-streamlined process, but probably less so than you might expect -- my daughter in Auckland has found multiple interviews and a couple of unpaid trial shifts to be the norm even for part-time restaurant server and bar staff positions.
I'm sorry if there are those on job search visas or similar who find this unsettling, and I'm sure that there are many exceptions, but my own experience is that a three-month recruitment period is not at all unusual, and would plan accordingly. By way of comparison, in the US it was absolutely routine for an offer to follow an interview immediately, or within a couple of days, so it was a bit of an adjustment to see how deliberative the process is here in NZ.
Forewarned is forearmed, and good luck to all.