Antstar

….the title kind of says it all but just to give you the full story; I’m currently on a 2 year work permit in Canada which is due to expire in April. I’m working in the Oil & Gas industry which has taken a massive tumble over the last six(ish) months and people are getting laid off in my company daily so I’m not even too confident I will make it to my visa expiry date! (Especially if I stay on BritishExpats all day! )Since I really don’t want to return to England to live (I’m not on the run from the law, just fancied a change, honest!) I decided to apply for a one year working visa in New Zealand which was approved today so I have 12 months to use it or lose it!

What I’m really after is some advice on the best areas to work for civil/structural engineers, I have checked out the seek job site and Auckland seems to be busy but I was hoping there might be some people on this forum who could give me some advice as to other areas to look at? My girlfriend is also planning on coming; she is a chemical/process engineer so finding work for her will also play a big part in deciding where we end up…

Any help would be fantastic…………

Jill and Rob Stanton

Hi

The New Plymouth, Taranaki area would be your best bet, if you are wanting work in the gas and oil industry.

Two companies that I can think of that may suit are Transfield Worley and Vector....... take a look at their websites to see if anything is available.

Hope this helps

Jill and Rob

Antstar

Thanks for the advice Jill and Rob, I will definitely look into these areas. I probably should have said in my original post that I am open to changing industries. One of the attractions of NZ was that there seems to be a huge number of infrastructure projects going on or in the pipeline. I'm only 27 so I'm feeling young enough to switch industries if the right job comes along. As much as I enjoy the Oil & Gas industry it is notorioulsy up and down! I could definitely opt for a nice steady infrastructure project, even if it means a lower salary......Having said that I will keep my options open...

Thanks again for taking the time to reply, much appreciated.

julieandgraham

Hi

Just to let you know that Transfield are moving into power plants and infrastructure projects. My OH has a job there and his future boss phoned him to reassure him of the position since some of the oil/gas projects had been put on hold.

Other company's which are actively recruiting in New Plymouth are BECA, and ADECCO who are smaller than transfield bur provide engineerig solutions to a number of industries including Dairy /Oil and Gas/ Infrstructure.

I was initially worried about New Plymouth as my OH is an electrical engineer within Oil and Gas but I am a electrical engineer from Marine background but taliing to a number of companies they are really crying out for engineers and they are a bit more open minded to what position you can do unlike UK when you have to meet every requirement of the job description.

Our recruitment contact was James Brown from Hay's New Zealand who was great.

Julie and Graham

Antstar

Excellent, thanks Julie, I will have a look into those companies. I'm currently working for WorleyParsons (one of the parent companies of Transfield Worley) so I'll see what's on offer and a company transfer might be the easiest option. Thanks for the recruitment agency contact too, once I have got my CV together I will forward it over to him, got to keep my options open!

Also glad to hear that Kiwi's are a bit more flexible on the job role you can do, it's all sounding good so far!