I'm afraid the 'friendship visa' is a myth. Sponsorship is accepted by INZ to take the weight of providing evidence of the financials off an applicant, for those visas where that is part of the requirements. See here
http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/Sponsor.htm. The person has to fulfil the other requirements for sponsorship to be a possibility. You could sponsor your friend for a visitor's visa, or a work visa if she were your partner, without her having a job offer, but otherwise she would need a job, or job offer, in line with her skills.