Advice pls--> Resident Visa granted for engineering professional couple ; but no interviews :-( -

[Jeanna]

Dear experienced- professionals,

Me and my husband were just granted a pair of resident visa last November and we are currently still in Singapore.

Both of us are engineering professionals, husband is a Manager in a MNC manufacturing firm with Equipment and Automation background for around 8 years and myself a Test Engineer of 5 years experience. I am also holding a test certification which is also very well recognized in NZ.

Our plan is to keep working here in Singapore until we secure a job in NZ. So, we have been sending our CVs to various job agents and hiring companies in NZ informing them about our visa status, and also our willingness to travel by our own cost to NZ every 2 weeks since we have the budget to do so, but so far we did not get any response from them. And the jobs that we are applying in NZ have the exact match of our skill sets here and are very high in demand in NZ (Thank God for that). But sadly to our disappointment, we did not get any interview invitations.

I am wondering what is the requirement of hiring companies in NZ so that we have a chance to be interviewed ?
Will they only call us up once we are physically in NZ ?

In other words, do we really have to resign from our job here in Singapore and relocate to NZ and wait for job interviews?

Thank you in advance for your inputs to my situation here.

Jeanna

[JandM]

You are up against, partly, a NZ mindset which favours looking someone in the eye and shaking their hand in order to judge them personally (even alongside a CV, however impressive), and partly, a history of bad experiences.

The trouble is that many NZ employers are mistrustful of applicants from overseas, because so many turn out to be timewasters. People apply for a job without having researched the stringent NZ immigration laws, and so without realizing the amount of time and money it will take to obtain a visa. Or they apply without having discussed the matter with their family, who are then not in agreement to such a change in their lives. In either case, the employer, who thought he had made an appointment for someone to start in the near future, would end up with nobody to do the job, and having to start all over again.

For this reason, many NZ employers are reluctant to deal with anyone from overseas, unless and until they have come to NZ to be interviewed, and/or have started the visa application process. Both scenarios demonstrate a commitment of time and money, and go some way to proving the candidate's serious intentions to making the move.

Quite a few members of the forum have managed to get job offers by making a recce trip, having contacted prospective employers or agents beforehand, telling them when they will be available for interview.

Yes, I know you have done a lot of this, but it's still hard to get over the hurdle of "overseas application > wastepaper basket". If you've walked in their door in person, it's a better chance.

[Shrub Tub]

Hello & Congratz for having the Residence Visa,

My suggestion is to book a flight & have a recce trip to NZ to activate the visa & meet to face to face with potential employers.

If you will tell them your arrival dates; you will manage to have some interviews in advance & you will be able to have first hand information regarding the culture, environment etc.

Target the cities & companies & try your luck. I hope you land up in a good job.

Wish you best of Luck !

[Jeanna]

Hi, thanks a lot for your advise and opinions. Ya, perhaps we really need to schedule 1 week visit and meet up with job agents and employers. Planning to go in March , coz saw the previous post that there is not much jobs between the month of Dec and Feb.

Thanks....

[lokety]

@Jeanna Since you have the resident visa but not yet set foot in NZ, perhaps you want to make sure you put that as a very eye-catching headline in your CV. E.g. "Current Resident Visa Holder, Ready to Arrive in 2 Weeks". Like what @JandM said about judging personal appearances, putting up a video profile of yourself on YouTube (something I'm researching to do) may make it slightly easier for employers to swallow.

[Otaku]

OP if you are in QA/Software Testing, PM me your email. I might have an opportunity for you in my company.

[Jeanna]

Hi Otaku,

Not able to find the icon to send to your Private mail.

Hope to hear from you soon.

[JandM]

You have to make five posts on any thread, and after that the forum will automatically switch on your ability to send and receive PMs. Give it about twenty minutes to 'notice'. After that, click on someone's username over one of their posts, and you will see PMing as one of the options in the drop-down box.

[GaryTeh]

Dear experienced- professionals,

Me and my husband were just granted a pair of resident visa last November and we are currently still in Singapore.

Both of us are engineering professionals, husband is a Manager in a MNC manufacturing firm with Equipment and Automation background for around 8 years and myself a Test Engineer of 5 years experience. I am also holding a test certification which is also very well recognized in NZ.

Our plan is to keep working here in Singapore until we secure a job in NZ. So, we have been sending our CVs to various job agents and hiring companies in NZ informing them about our visa status, and also our willingness to travel by our own cost to NZ every 2 weeks since we have the budget to do so, but so far we did not get any response from them. And the jobs that we are applying in NZ have the exact match of our skill sets here and are very high in demand in NZ (Thank God for that). But sadly to our disappointment, we did not get any interview invitations.

I am wondering what is the requirement of hiring companies in NZ so that we have a chance to be interviewed ?
Will they only call us up once we are physically in NZ ?

In other words, do we really have to resign from our job here in Singapore and relocate to NZ and wait for job interviews?

Thank you in advance for your inputs to my situation here.

Jeanna

Hi there,

I have a couple here in Christchurch (Singaporeans/Malaysians) who have almost the same background as you guys. The husband works for Tait Communications ( he is in Software Engineering ) and the wife works for a college ( she is in IT). I think that Tait Communications ( largest electronics manufacturing company in NZ) may have vacancies for test engineers and possibly for your husband too (he is in manufacturing automation I presume). Regardless there is quite a large manufacturing base here in Christchurch and automation engineers are always in demand.

Although I am currently retired, I used to work in Penang in the electronics sector before moving to Singapore (also in the electronics sector - semiconductor backend test).

Let me know if you need me to touch base with our friend and we can take it from there.

Cheers.

[Ace]

You might be able to get past a few more screeners if you don't say on your CV that you're in Singapore. Just say you're available to Skype anytime. If the Skype call goes well, take pains to be available for an in-person interview on short notice.