Coming over on WHV hope to get PR
 

Hello,

First of all I would like to comment on the quality of this site - its fantastic and everybody seems extraordinarily helpful which is great. :) I have learnt a lot over the past few months.

My boyfriend and I are coming over to NZ both on WHV - he is a Assistant Sales Manager working for a well known publishing company and I am a Biochem graduate currently working in Forensic Science as a DNA analyst. We are very very keen to make a life for ourselves in NZ.

We would like to know if anyone is able to say exactly how to go about getting the necessary docs ready for an EOI when in NZ - medicals, police certificates, work history etc etc - its seems a minefield and I know that we have to start thinking about this 'boring' bit very soon - we are planning to arrive in Sept this year!

Do we really need to have a reference from each and every employer over our working history?? I am sure I read that somewhere but I think that would be very difficult, if not, impossible to gain for most.

Also, I am slightly confused about the whole police certificate - just how do you go about getting this almost unknown document in the UK? and can we leave medicals till we are in NZ - i assume this is the best thing to do since they 'run out' after 3 months??

Our first thought was Auckland/Bay of Plenty in terms of looking for work but are increasingly considering Wellington not least because my boyfriend's company has a site there.

Any suggestions regarding where to start gathering all the info we need before we head off would be much appreciated! :confused: Also if anybody with a similar degree to mine who made it out there is reading this - how does the job market for us biologists fare to the UK? I am currently on pretty poor pay despite having a degree from a fantastically famous uni (no seriously!) and working in a fiercely competitive market of forensic science - I guess they can pay what they want if there are many others lining up for the job! :mad:

Yours gratefully
GAP

Re: Coming over on WHV hope to get PR
 

Hi there and welcome

re: references - you don't necessarily need references - what you need is evidence of your work history - you could use references, pay slips, performance reviews, job offer letters, resignation letters - you need something that confirms when you started, when you finished and what the job was so that you can support your claim for the number of years of work experience that you are claiming points for.

re: police certificates - they are easy to get, they are just not called a police cert in the UK, they are person records. We went onto the website for our local UK force, downloaded the form and sent it off with the relevant ID - paid £10 each for the pleasure and it was back within about 2 weeks (they have a standard that says it will be back with 40 working days)

Good luck with your move
Vicki

Re: Coming over on WHV hope to get PR
 

Hi GAP,

I worked as a Molecular Scientist for a big pharmaceutical company back in the U.K.

The most relevant jobs I have seen over the past four years here in Auckland are those at the university. There are some other companies doing bits and bobs of research. I haven't seen much to do with forensic jobs, but I am sure there will be some lurking about somewhere!!

With regards to scientific jobs, comparing U.K. to N.Z. would be like comparing the pacific ocean to a puddle.

whatever you are being paid in the U.K. you will probably be paid less here. My first scientific job here I was paid $36000, which was less than a third of what I was being paid in the U.K. However my work was quite specialised back home and nobody is doing anything similar here in N.Z.

So having practically ruined my career I am moving back home after getting my PR....

Re: Coming over on WHV hope to get PR
 

Hi,

Thank you for your replies - they have been very informative! I do not expect to earn a great deal and as this is not my main motivation for moving that does not really concern me too much. I am wanting however a job that I enjoy within a lifestyle I crave!

I think that we will sort out the job history part of things before we go and probably leave police certs and meds till we are there since they both have an expiry date and we probably won't apply till we have been there a year at the least.

Thanks again!