Sparkleydiva

Thanks Cappuccino. It is true, we can always visit. Having a job makes it so much easier to return, at least one of us will be earning and that takes a huge weight off our shoulders.

scrubbedexpat094

Have PM'd you

KOH2

Good luck Sparkleydiva - hope everything goes well for you with the move and on the job front in the UK.

I'm already beginning to miss the better aspects of the UK (and I haven't even left yet) but at this moment in time NZ is the place to be for our family.

I've learnt that life is never set in stone and as our kids grow up and want to explore/find (better) jobs we might also head back to Europe. It's good to have the experience & choice though.

All the best on your journey.

Sparkleydiva

Thank you.

Yes, experience does make a huge difference and although my girls were much older when we came here, living overseas and completing their tertiary education here has had a big influence on how they view the world. Good luck, missing parts of the UK is fairly normal, and for me the fact I can return and re-experience those things but with fresh eyes and appreciation is something I can't wait for! Good luck.

fourseasons

Hi Sparkleydiva

I lurk on this forum and occasionally post, I hope you don't mind me asking you a few questions?

How did you and your girls find their tertiary education and how as it changed their view? Do you feel it was better/worse or just different to what they would have done in the UK? Have your girls found it easy or difficult to secure jobs since finishing?

Good luck with your move, I haven't been to Plymouth in years but you are right, it is in a beautiful area.

Thanks :-)

Sparkleydiva

No problems, will answer as best I can.

The tertiary experience has been very good. My youngest and myself have been at Auckland Uni and my eldest went to AUT.

Youngest did an Arts degree, starting with English and Classics, her interest areas but through the way you 'build' your own degree here rather than the more prescribed pathway when I attended uni in the UK in 2003, she switched her double major to English and Art History. This was purely through taking a class to 'fill up' her timetable, loved the subject and has excelled since. I think this has offered her opportunities she would never have considered in the UK as she would not have been exposed to this subject.

Elder daughter did design degree at AUT - that was ok, but don't think her experience was as good, but partly her own doing.

In both cases though I don't think either would have done the subjects they chose here and some of that is through the flexibility of applying directly to the universities and the applications not going through UCAS.

Youngest has gone on to complete her Masters and is now going to Edinburgh to do her PhD in Art History, with work experience guaranteed and opportunities for curation.

With regard to work post qualification - this is a huge issue across the board in NZ irrespective of degree taken. As you may have seen on some other threads, there are so many qualified teachers, doctors, nurses, dentists etc and no jobs for them. This is part of the reason they are returning home. Youngest has only been able to get a part time casual job at uni doing note taking. Has tried to get voluntary experience at the art gallery but they now require a PhD to be a volunteer apparently. Her friend is doing her PhD here and has volunteered at the museum as she is studying some of the artifacts there, and they advertised her role but she didn't get it. Eldest graduated in 2012 and has done accounting jobs since with a 10 week secondment this year to event management and has finally used some of her skills. But that is now over and she is back accounting. This is frustrating when they offer the subjects but no work is available and if it is, it usually require a 2 year minimum of NZ related experience.

I think with them being 18 & 20 when we moved it was at a very impressionable time in their lives and adding into the mix the university education, cultural differences and them being migrants has just expanded their vision and they have become very tolerant of change. Whether this would have happened had we stayed in the UK I'm not sure, but is a positive outcome for them and all of us really.

Looking forward to being in Devon, but not maybe the moving part of it all!

LauraNotts

Good luck drop by and say hello to us every now and again

Sparkleydiva

Will do and thank you

fourseasons

Thank you for that info, that's useful to know. Whilst the move to NZ hasn't been great for me personally, I do think that the experience has been worth it for my 2 children. That said we are planning to return to the UK either this year or next.

One of my areas of concern has been and still is the education they are receiving and we have decided that they will complete their education in the UK. Where they go to university, if indeed they do, will be up to them. The info on course flexibility is interesting. It does seem hard to get a job here especially without NZ experience, although to be honest I'm not quite sure what this is and how it holds so much value!

Anyway best of luck to you and your family, I hope the move back goes smoothly.

Snap Shot

It makes no odds. They just seem to want you to be kiwi-fied some how and what ever that may mean. (Did I really once get an admin job at a local authority because I confidently referred to the Westpac Stadium as, 'the cake tin' during the interview when asked about my hobbies ? ) Unless your job has a seniority to it, in which case you will be top dog for the pack to hero worship and it won't matter where you come from.

Some Kiwi's like to travel overseas and apparently it's a good thing for them to have overseas experience on their cv. However, if someone comes from that self same overseas they get turned down due to lack of NZ experience. Go figure !

I got my first job in NZ within a few weeks of arrival which was a temp job from an employment agency. It took me a year of applying for jobs to get my next job offer.

When I've been at work, the actual work I've done is no different to what I've done back in Britain. Same meat, different gravy sort of thing.

Well if you don't mind the interruption of the morning and afternoon tea breaks that they build their day around. Also the small town cliquiness that reads across into the work place too.

Next month sees the completion of another 12 months without paid employment for me. I do voluntary work so I can at least feel useful and it puts an up to date reference on my cv.

I apply for jobs, get interviewed but inevitably get turned down in favour of the internal applicant yet again. I also suspect the interview process has been abused by some just for their own curiosity on the pretext of interviewing me for a vacancy.

Tom H

You've chosen Plymouth over Sheffield!!! You could have been in the same city as the mighty Sheffield Wednesday

To be fair, I'd have done the same thing. Love sheffield to bits but my goodness they know how to moan about everything in life do the lovely dee dars. Plus the Barbican area of Plymouth is beautiful. Then there's the parks which just gives it that extra over Sheffield and the beautiful peak district.

Have a lovely time back in Plymouth. Hope the move is a successful one and enjoy the sights of Devon and Cornwall.

Sparkleydiva

Thanks Tom - am really looking forward to it now. Only 6 weeks and 6 days until we go!