Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

Hi Everyone

After 15 years away I am finally going to be coming back home, I am so excited but also scared. My husband who is British is making the move with me and although he is also excited, we are both a little nervous, we are not moving until January 2020 so still a lot of time to plan and I am sure I will have a lot of questions for everyone on here. it is so nice reading how helpful everyone is.

a few questions to start off....

Question 1
Plan is that we start out in Auckland for a few months to see what the job situation is like, I work in finance and hope to have my level 4 AAT by the time we move, my husband is a Network Architect, is it best to register with agencies or apply for positions directly, over here as soon as you put your name down you have a job interviews lined up.

Question 2
Does anyone have suggestions of where to look in Auckland, we don't have children and would love an area that we can go for walks etc.... close to amenities but not ridiculously expensive. It also sounds silly but I would prefer no where near Avonddale as I am terrified of spiders...lol

Question 3
We initially want to do a short term let of about 6 months with a furnished place, does anyone have a recommendation of a good agency to use?

Question 4
Should we stock up on things like toiletries, cleaners, medicines, etc before we go over? I know things like tooth paste and shampoo etc are a lot more expensive over there. Was there anything that you wish you took with you that you didn't. I was speaking to a colleague today about the dyson fan and thought that would be something I want to take with us, but then wondered would it be compatible with NZ voltage? does anyone know by any chance. I will happily research as well.

they are all my questions for now, thank you so much for taking the time to read.

a very excited Kiwi :)

Re: Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

Question 1
Agencies generally are not that interested until you are here in the country but may be a little different for you being a Kiwi. Get yourself onto Linkedin and try an build up some relationships before you get here though and let agencies know you are coming a few weeks beforehand.

Question 2
I think as a starter you can't go wrong renting in apartment in town for a few months until you find your feet and establish where you will be working, as traffic is nightmare from every direction you really need to figure out what your commute is going to be.

Question 3
Competition is tight for rental so you have to keep an eye on all the major real estate players. Have a look on Trademe and you will see almost all of them are listing there .

Question 4
Things continue to change in the shopping space and life is much improved for me now that we have a few international players in the scene: https://www.meccabeauty.co.nz/ have stores opening up in Malls and prices are comparable to most international online retailers. Chemist Warehouse just getting going in a few places https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/
https://www.farmers.co.nz/ are also pretty good for household items, toiletries and beauty stuff.

For anything else there is always online shopping trusty old M&S shipping costs are reasonable and often free deliveries at certain times if you spend a certain amount. I usually buy shampoo and stuff on line from https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/ they often have free delivery and they deduct the GST which makes them usually the cheapest option whenever I have compared prices.

Checkout the price of your favourite products online and see if its worth stocking up

We hear Ikea are finally on their way also.

Voltage is the same, you just need to change the plugs on any electrical appliances or use an adaptor.

Re: Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

I was an AAT when I came over. It wasn't widely recognised, so be prepared to explain that it's equivalent to Level 5 Diploma, and CAANZ's Accounting Technician qual. I upgraded in the end, I'm CIMA qualified now, which is recognised here.

It does tend to be boots on the ground with jobs here, but I got in touch with agencies before I arrived, and lined up interviews with the agencies for the first week we arrived. As you're entitled to work here, you can apply for jobs directly with companies, some companies are willing to do Skype interviews, I know mine does.

The best piece of advice I got off this forum was to bring lots of powerboards/gang plugs with me. I changed the plug on the power board, and plugged all my UK plugs into the board. Get one of the power boars that have their own fuses for safety.

Re: Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

I would rent wherever you like, CBD living inaux ducks arse, seriously tiny apartments, the size of a bedroom, for hundreds a week but it's you call. I'd rather rent in an ok ish area and move on from that.

Stock up on things.....no, it's a waste of time and money. We are not 3rd world, you can buy things here. It might cost you 50p more but seriously.....it's 50p

Re: Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

HI Bo-Jangles,

Thank you so much for your answers, they were really helpful. I will definitely start networking with LinkedIn a bit more when the time gets closer.

Exciting news to know the Ikea is going to be making its way there, it is such a great place and I will definitely miss when I move back home.

Re: Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

Hi JanieJones,

Thank you for your reply, do you mind me asking how you got your CIMA, did you do distance learning for it? which company?

With regards to jobs and applying directly, which is the best site to use? Trademe? Seek? or do these only use agencies?

Will definitely invest in the power boards. :)

Many thanks for your advice.

Re: Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

Hi Justcol

thanks for your reply, I will check out the areas outside of CBD

Re: Coming Home..excited and scared with lots of questions
 

I did CIMA through distance learning, there's no tuition providers here. I work for a government agency, quite a few recruit from overseas, it depends on the job.
I looked at jobs on Seek, and targeted the agencies that were handling the types of work I liked the look of, without applying specifically for any roles.