Academic jobs- lecturers

[tigerlily]

I'm wondering if anyone has experience of the universities in NZ? My husband will be applying for lecturer positions, and I'm just not sure whether it will make any difference if we already have PR or not. It seems that many schools are expecting international applicants. So would it make any sense to go through the PR process without having a job offer? We do want to be in NZ, but with so few schools (compared to UK or US) we may not find any jobs for him in a reasonable time (like before we have to take up residence). Any advice would be wonderful.

[ruthyroo]

Hi there

Can't give you any direct advice as I ended up not following the lecturer route but for what it's worth...

Yes there are far fewer lecturer type jobs here in NZ (less people = less students) than US / UK but the good news is that the competition is perhaps less tough - a PhD really counts for something out here. As always it depends very much what the subject - anything medical / engineering / science is very much in demand. Also you are right that unis are very internationally oriented - one of them was going to fly me from Scotland to ChCh just for an interview! My impression is that they aren't too bothered about whether you are on a work permit or PR at the time that you apply. Lecturing is a shortage occupation so if you get a job offer you can apply for a WP on the spot in NZ if you have all your paperwork in place.

You are right to wonder about how long it might take to get a job offer. In the 15 months I have been here, there have been about 2-3 lectureships in total that I might apply for... compared to probably 10-20 in the UK. But you never know. My advice would be to start getting your paperwork together (it takes a while to get it all) and start applying for jobs. I would certainly expect any decent uni to help you with the process of getting your WP etc too.

[clg]

Ruth has good advice and not really much to add about it except that I would say there is probably a bit less competition for positions than in the US, Soc/Sci and Humanities are the toughest market here like in the US. I would also suggest contacting unis and let them know you will be coming over, it may help influence their job search planning and it may well be that if he is in a real shortage area they may want to talk ASAP.

[tigerlily]

Thank you very much for the advice. His area is business, specifically leadership. He is still finishing his PH.D., and should complete next December (06). We would love to have a job lined up for the start of the year the following Feb, so I'm hoping that something will come up. Here in the US, academic jobs are often posted a year in advance. But I haven't seen any like that posted in NZ. I'm thinking that he could send his C.V. and cover around when he is closer to completion and perhaps get a little interest that way. Good old guy, he says he is even willing to do some adjunct work or even work in administration (his old gig) to get us there. I hope so, because I'm on a campaign to get us to Wellington!