juliayona

I would sign up with a house sitting company and do a house sit in an area near to where there are companies in your field of expertise. You will save money and have free time to go for interviews . Many Kiwi's go on holiday for a long stretch and want their house and pets looked after. Very often they will have a car for you to use. Just an idea, that's what I am doing

john_hepburn

Apologies for the blatant threadomacy.

Did the OP ever secure a job?

I'm a biomedical scientist myself and am still contemplating the move to NZ but am unsure about prospects.

geoff52

I am a research scientist in biomedical sciences. I moved from UK to Canada over twenty years ago, but many of the issues I faced then on the job front applies today as then and even more so to NZ.
I found even though my job was on the Canadian Skills list, when I arrived in I found there as in fact an over supply of research scientist rather then a shortage. I only realized this after about six months living in Canada.
So dont be fooled into thinking that because your profession is on the NZ skill shortage list that you can walk into a laboratory job for the following reasons,
Firstly how many laboratories are there. Will they have a job at the level you are looking for, and there are technicians already in NZ who have network who will get the jobs. I found at the University of Toronto there was the old boy network.
I had a Ph.D from Cambridge (UK) and many publications to my name. I applied for jobs from the UK all over Canada and was invited for interviews at several universities in several provinces. I was offered several jobs and decided to accept the offer from University of Toronto, and they arranged my permanent immigration. I would not have come to Canada without a job offer because I would had to take jobs not in my field because jobs for scientists is very rare. I would not have been offered a job as a technician because I would be overqualified. There are many highly qualified immigrants who are driving taxis in Toronto because they cannot get a job in their field, although they were on the Canadian skill shortage list.
I never considered moving to NZ because the country is too small to have many jobs for technicians or scientists.
My advice to you is dont move until you get jobs in your area, because if you move without a job you may end up doing jobs in other fields than the one your qualified for.
I am sure there are immigrant taxi drivers in OZ and NZ who are highly qualified but cannot get jobs in their fields.
In Canada medical testing laboratories are being centralized, privatized, and automated. Thus reducing the number of technicians required.
All doctors and hospitals ship their samples to these centers.
Good luck with the job hunting.

MrsFychan

sorry unaware OP has not been on the forum since Oct 2016.

john_hepburn

Ah well, hope she got there in the end.

Mark Smith

A good friend of mine here was a qualified Biomed scientist, however the DHB tended to only recruit from within a certain chosen few, she could only get work as a technician. Eventually fed up, she returned to the UK last year and is now fully utilising her qualification.

john_hepburn

Ah. Doesn't sound like it bodes particularly well.

If a local can't get a job then think the chances of someone coming in from outside are about 0.

Thanks for the response though.

Mark Smith

Bare in mind that was only in my locality though. Good luck either way.

Bumptious

Yes, well I came out here on holiday with the intention of staying and did, applied for work visas etc once here, mind you that was 30 years ago so easy to do back then.Just as well it all worked out though as I only had 200 quid on me and got offered two jobs within 3 weeks phew!!