FridaysRealName

Hi there

Im Irish, having spent the last few years in Oz have decided its time to take a look elsewhere for a wee while (no intention of going home yet, the economy is in an awful state). Was just wondering in general how you regard the job situation in NZ for a person of my experience. To break it down

Did a bit of labouring back in the day , however in Australia Ive almost exclusively worked labouring on sites. General residential site labouring (moving materials, jackhammering/ demolition, clean up, digging, assisting tradies), landscaping labour, office strip outs, all the above really. Pays well in Australia and being a hot country its the type of work you want. Would prefer to be doing this type of work in NZ if the money was right. In Australia most of us score work thru the Sydney Gumtree site, but its equivalent for Auckland looks alot quieter.

I dont have any 3rd level qualifications or trade. Left school with high school leaving cert, dropped out of 3rd level in my first year
Since then, I worked 2.5 years in a large well known financial service company back home, at first in the call centre, later getting promoted to the position of Compliance Analyst (fancier than it sounds ). I swore I would never work inside an office again but if the wage is higher for office work in NZ than it is for construction labouring I would give it another go.

Also did a few weeks of warehousing dogsbodying in Australia. Typical packing, moving type stuff. Did farm work as well though Ive absoloutely no intention of living anywhere outside a town/ city in NZ.


Coming to NZ I would probably be willing to do anything similar to the above, although my preference would be labouring. Just wondering though, is it realistic to expect to be able to score reasonably paid work in the above fields? In Australia working construction obviously I met a lot of Kiwis and most of them had a fairly negative look on the wages in NZ. In that case, what would be the availability of office work given my above description of experience, in your view? Id more than likely be looking to stay around the Auckland area for most of my time in NZ (better weather ). From what I heard the Christchurch re building has barely started yet.

Cheers

Snap Shot

Um, what you've got to offer sounds good. All I can tell you is what happened to us. We arrived in Christchurch in March last year. The February 22 earthquake happened four days before we left England. We had sold our house, quit our jobs, moved our money to NZ, said goodbye to family and friends and departed Heathrow airport on 26 February. Both one way tickets to NZ bought the previous May. We had only been planning it for four or five years, but hey.

My husband is a kiwi and works as a Management Accountant and couldn't get work in Christchurch. Interviews did not result in a job offer. He got fed up to the back teeth with employment agencies and their baloney. I'm into office admin. After 6 weeks of looking I got a temporary admin role. It was supposed to be for 12 weeks but in the event only lasted 4 weeks. Basically they got an old employee to return which was cheaper than agency rates. Yeah, that old chestnut.

We were both unemployed, fed up, broke, no car, collecting our groceries by bus and asking is this an improvement on what we had in Britain ? After three and a half months our savings had all but gone on rent etc. It was at that point my husband started to look for work all over NZ. He was eventually offerred a job in Wanganui, a provincial NZ town two and a half hours drive from Wellington.

So much for the 'main centres' of NZ i.e. Auckland and Christchurch. It was the same deal in Auckland where he comes from i.e. interviews but no offers. We agreed to stay in Auckland for 6 months whilst waiting for the earthquakes to settle in Christchurch. Again, all just employement agency baloney. Same deal for me too. Finding a flat to rent was a joke too. We just weren't being taken seriously.

So, if you think you will be luckier, then come on over and give it a go. Maybe you've got a mate who can fix you up with a job ? No ? Well neither did we.

The phrase, 'Christchurch re-build' is not much more than a marketing slogan. When we lived in Christchurch March to June 2010 I could not believe how silent the CBD red zone was. In daylight hours it should have been buzzing with deconstruction work. No, it was silent. On the rare occasion I ever saw anyone there in Hi-Viz they were standing still. I did wonder if Christchurch had the will to rebuild itself. Mayor Bob Parker would say yes. I have read on these boards that companies are offering jobs to people in Christchurch before being awarded the contract. Power cuts and blocked sewers (so you can't flush your toilet, or take a shower or do the washing up or use your washing machine because the used water will not drain away) do not make ChCh a fun place to live.

Give it a go, just come with an open mind an a back up plan. FWIW I've now been looking for work since coming to Wanganui (population 48,000) last June. I've had 2 job interviews but no offers. I'm applying for admin jobs but 50% of companies turn me down without interview, I just get the long silence from the rest. Palmeston North is a larger town about 45 mins drive away. I've applied to work there too. So far, same deal. In Britain I walked to work in 25 mins. It would just be ironic if I ended up driving an hour and a half to work and back instead in clean green New Zealand.

I also feel, in the past at least, that I've always bounced into agency work in Britain. Could that happen to me now if I returned ? I wouldn't chance it at present. I don't seem to have 'bounced' into agency work in NZ. Except for Christchurch, which didn't last. Was that a flash in the pan ?

BEVS

What is your visa status in Australia. & ( cheeky question) how old are you .

I will just say that you won't score a high paid job as a labourer or even as a skilled trained tradesman.

DC10

I can only concur with what Debbie has said above. Like her, my background is in admin, and like her I found the situation grim when I returned to NZ late last year and spent a couple of fruitless months job-seeking. A lot of the jobs I could clearly have done in my sleep, but there was just no interest whatsoever from local employers. They seem to have their own funny fixed ideas about what/who they want and that is that. Overseas (well at least British) admin experience is apparently not well regarded.

Following the NZ debacle I've been in Australia for about 6 weeks and am at least getting interviews (with referees contacted), and hopefully (with the process slowed by Christmas) an offer in the next little while.

NZ might be completely different for someone from a trade background, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. If you do get something you will be very lucky if the pay rates are comparable to Aus.

If you have good work in Aus my advice would be to keep those options open and go to NZ with a view to having a look around for say a month or so.

Best of luck

FridaysRealName

Hmm, not looking too promisng with this talk of potentially weeks of waiting Thanks anyway, still open to more recommendations keep em comin

One thing I forgot to mention, what are the bar licencsing laws like in NZ? Next Kiwi winter will be during the 2012 European Championships- do most of the big cities have 24/7 sports bars and Irish bars open all night? Most of the matches will be played in the small hours/ mid morning NZ time- Id rather watch Ireland in a crowded bar full of Irish fans than in a house on my own. Cheers

Catchafire

It depends, if you are 18-30yrs old, you can get a WHV for NZ. Then getting a job is easy, even if it's low paid fruit picking or reasonable (for NZ) temp work in a office.

Jan n Neil

Stay in Aussie fella, you will get a labouring job here but you will be on 15/16 bux an hour the money sucks and it isn,t a cheap place to live, the climate is better tho

Neil

tweetweet

Look at trademe job sites. also backpackerboard.co.nz.
For something more exciting than labour work, what about looking at tourist resorts around NZ. they are usually in beautiful places and although the wages will be low (as will labour work) you can enjoy the lifestyle (ie Abel Tasman, Mt Cooke, Fox Glacier).
ideas - wilderness guide, glacier guide, ski guide, dishwasher, cleaner, etc

Justcol

They want you to have qualifications to make coffee in NZ....seriously

tweetweet

haha that makes me laugh!! the coffee in NZ is very good though.

I read this article, quite interesting
"NZQA "Experts" value Oxford degrees as worthless"
http://nzqa.co.nz/myexperiences.html

and this

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=637846

as they say it's not what you know but who you know.

DC10

That is funny about their take on an Oxon Masters, but in a way you can see the point as you gain a Masters there automatically if you are still alive one year after completing your three or four year BA.

There is no additional study required, so having a Masters from Oxon (and I believe Cambridge too) is not really the same thing as having a BA and Masters from somewhere else (albeit that yes, Oxbridge are top tier institutions).

Apart from the Oxbridge quirk, having a UK Masters is not the same as having one from Australasia as in the UK a Masters is usually (but not always!) taken by candidates who are not good enough for a PhD

BEVS

Baristas appear the world over. They are also normally trained to mix cocktails , run bars etc. It's more than just serving coffee.

Dumbledore

My advice.... stay in Australia and come over for a long holiday / travel etc.

Wage rates in NZ have hardly moved the past 5-6 years sinice the GFC hit, there is higher unemployment than Australia, and costs of living are very high & have gone up hugely over the same period.
After having lived in Sydney for 3 years (2007-early 2010) and about to return, I can tell you that the only thing you will probably find cheaper in NZ is rent, but even that has gone up over the past few years.

There is no doubt NZ is a very beautiful country but very parochial and in terms of job offerings very limited. As for Chch rebuild no-one wants to say it and the Govt is trying to down play this, but the fact is that until they stop getting fairly large aftershocks there is no way they can start any major rebuilding and scientists last week admitted that aftershocks could continue for the next couple of decades (although size of them should slowly decline).

If you come on holiday from Aus, you get a great rate to the Kiwi and should be able to get a cheap flight on one of the airlines if you pick the time when they have a special on.
Take a month off - fly into Chch or Queenstown and do a massive tour of the South Island

DC10

And roughly 500,000 Kiwis have recognised this and voted with their feet .

Bonesyhead

Mate, tried to find a pub to watch the world cup (football) with a bit of atmosphere without much luck, so the euros will be better watched in aus. And let's hope trapatoni gives those boys a rev up and we can add a few clips to the highlights reel to go with houghton and packie. By the way, I'm a kiwi, I agree with the other post about coming for a month and playing it by ear.