Scankguy

Hi all

During my recent holiday to NZ to extend my visa into a permit and have a look around I spoke to a water company in Auckland who had a job available which would fit in with my skills and experience. After 4 days in Auckland it seems to be a place I could live albeit not the great outdoors I had in mind before.

However the company told me the salary would be 2x my uk wage in dollars. This surprised me as I have been told wages were lower in NZ and 2x may be appropriate for, say Dunedin, but would have expected Auckland to be higher as the cost of living is more.

Also as I would be filling a specialist role normally requiring post grad qualifications and extensive specialist experience I would have thought the company would have been offering incentives for me to come and fill the job quickly.

Is 2x uk salary the norm for Auckland or are the NZ companies expecting UK emigrants to take lower paid jobs to exploit the fact that we are all so keen to move across? I already have the residence permit so dont need a job to immigrate

I cant see the point in moving to Auckland and being "poorer" than in Reading! At least I have a house here....I would be better off in another area of NZ if 2x UK salary is the guide.

Any views??

Cheers

David

happynz

I often see a TV advert imploring people to "Go To Dunedin", so er...go to Dunedin.

Apple12

When people say that the wages are lower here, then it means that the wages are lower here.
You might not be being fleeced, and although you can always negotiate, you will at some point reach their highest dollar, and they will lose interest in you.
Converting pounds to dollars does you no good at all, as it depends on what you will spend those dollars that you earn.
If you want to earn less, but also have lower living expenses, then see if you can do your job for a company elsewhere in the country. I am in ChCh, have post graduate quals, and earn less than your magic 2x UK salary. However my living expenses are way less and my life is quite comfortable.

Mandie

The job i've been offered in NZ is not even x2 uk £ in NZD

i would need to be offered $20,000 more to match my UK salary...but i don't want to go to NZ to make £££££, i want to go there for the quality of life, less people/cars etc

think you need to think what is most important to you then make a decision from there. Good Luck
Mandie

Scankguy

Having enough money for a decent place to live and some left over for food (not mutton and beef sausages...) is a pretty high prioirty - lol.....

Point isnt about making huge money - I would be working in a city bank in London if that was my goal in life

Point is that as Auckland is so much more expensive than the rest of NZ, a higher salary would be reasonable to match the standard of living you could expect elsewhere. I liked Dunedin - and would have a higher standard of living for the 2x salary than in Auckland as houses seem to be $100k cheaper.

2 x uk salary is of course a large pay cut in real global terms and doesnt get close to matching my UK salary, eps as the pension isnt included. That would be fine if the other costs were correspondingly lower, esp housing in Auckland. Perhaps not appreciating that the costs are not so cheap explains the number of recent posts from returning Brits.

Good luck with your move.

David

Apple12

David, I think you need to have a rethink on priorities. If you want to earn high salaries then there are places in the world to do so. NZ is not one of them. If you want to earn a high salary then NZ is not the place to move to.

If you want to move to NZ, then there is a natural ceiling to the salary you can earn. This might mean that you need to choose a different company which might pay more, a different region that might cost less, or a different country.

Many migrants use their first job offer as a way into the country, earn some cash, meet people, network, and figure out what they want to do next. Noone is tying you into the first job for the rest of your career, you will have the ability to move on.

Why would a company give you a top of the range salary when they don't know if you will stay past six months, if your experience is useful, or even if they like you. You don't even have any local referees! However your second job in NZ may give you what you want. Use your first job as a stepping stone.

Mandie

Yeah, get your point...that's a difficult one then, personally i'd be more inclined to go with the Dunedin move, especially if you're not gaining anything by moving to Auckland...but then again i'm not a city gal so i'd pick a smaller town over a large city any day

Good luck in whatever you decide to do
Mandie

Beachcombers

David

NZ is not the UK, it is in fact another country with a completely different economy. You can not compare the cost of living in Reading vs Auckland and expect to have "like for like". Auckland is expensive (in certain areas). Is Reading expensive compared to London?

As for being "poorer", well how "rich" are you?

You are lucky enough to have a residency permit. There are no barriers to living and working anywhere you wish in NZ.

Auckland is not for everyone, we spent two years there and struggled.

We now live in the South Island and I earn a third of what I did in the UK. Yet we scuba dive, we own our house, I have a job I love, my wife works outdoors all day, she rides and trains horses, we can choose to go down the beach, bush walks, fishing, swim in the river or just chill at home with a great bottle of wine.

I am the richest man in the world, as far as I am concerned.

lapsed kiwi

Beachie - nice post
OP - if you can't "see the point" in moving to AKL then probably the best advice is not to, ie if you feel AKL has no advantages over Reading that may offset a lesser income, then you probably won't enjoy AKL. I earn less than the magic $2-1GBP ratio compared to when I was in the UK, but you wouldn't get me to live in Reading for my old 50kGBP without holding a gun to my head.