Sorry to tell you, you are very unlikely to be admitted as a visa-waiver visitor, because as soon as your passport was scanned, the system would show you have a work visa application in which has not yet been decided upon. To enter as a visitor when having already applied as a worker can be interpreted as fraudulent, or trying to get round the rules.
If your reason for needing to be in NZ by 3rd August is the job, the employer knows that your arrival is only possible subject to the grant of a visa. The wished-for start date counts for nothing unless INZ issues the visa, and the employer has to wait.