citicat

Hi all this company is interviewing in the uk and hiring hgv class 1 drivers they have 11 depots in nz and once passed interview you can live near any depot, 5x 10hr to 12hr day runs no handball $16.75 an hour starting wage,

Not the best company about but its a way in for 3 months experiance the go for full pr,

DEPOT DETAILS
Auckland
Blenheim
Nelson
Christchurch
Ashburtton
Timaru
Dunedin
Gore
Winton
Lumsden
Invercargill


CONTACT DETAILS
Aaron Brown
Group Personnel Manager
FW McDowall Ltd
PO Box 84
Winton
New Zealand
Phone: 0064 3 236 5555
DDI: 0064 3 236 5008
Fax: 0064 3 236 5009
Mobile: 0064 276 742 862
www.mcdowall.net.nz

happynz

Wow, that's a pretty good wage for places like Gore, Winton and Lumsden.

phil01

Hi,
word of warning with McDowall group...they put a lot of expats on permanent nights and there is no PR for truck drivers! They will tell you that if you work for them for 2 years they will then sponsor you on work to residence which is another 2 years...tieing you into that company for 4 years but I would ask how many drivers and want proof of any that have actually got residence through them!! The $16.75 is not a starting wage it is the permanent wage for the duration of your contract and on the wage unless your wife works the 50 hours a week is not enough to pay the bills!

Use them to get a foot in the door but don't sign a two year contract!!

Colin in the middle

Hang on lets get this right they are paying $16.75 starting wage for someone from the UK with a Class 1 HGV?

Who will be footing the bill to convert the UK Driving Licence, them or yourself?



Sorry but that wage for that kind of work with that level of driving licence is a joke. NZ is short of HGV drivers and you can get a wage way better than that, probably why they are aiming at Expats simply because they are not paying the going rate for that licence class.

BEVS

HHmm. I believe that Heavy Goods Driver is on the Immediate Shortage list only.
As Phil01 points out , this means a Work to Residence route. [Correct this, if I have understood wrongly Phil01]
If it's Work to Residence then Permanent Residency could be some time in coming.
Meanwhile the trucker would be working under a 3 yr work permit. They couldn't claim family credit or get a community card etc.
With a wage of just $16.75 they would need the above benefits to top up their income.

IMHO $16.75ph isn't a living wage for a family. The wife would have to work I would suggest and even then making ends meet could be a struggle.

phil01

That's right Bev also the $16.75 is not enough for work to residence...must be earning $45k working no more than 40 hours which equates to around $21.65 an hour.

Don't be misled into thinking you will get PR from this. We came over on a 3 yr work visa with the promise of PR the only reason we have been able to apply for PR is through my wife being a HR Advisor...we went through every route possible but HGV is not and does not seem to be going onto the long term skills list as such PR can only be obtained through the WTR and then as a trucker it is not likely.

Colin in the middle

I can not see Truck Driving getting on the immediate skills shortage list.

Even though there are a shortage of drivers and this will only get worst as the majority ar older and retiring soon. The amount of Younger Drivers obtaining HT Licences is low.
However there are a lot of Australian Truck drivers who employers in New Zealand have very little difficulty hiring, well this is mainly because the majority of major Haulers are in fact owned by Australians.

Truck driving in New Zealand is very differant from what is done in the UK.

TeamEmbo

I thought they'd raised the minimum annual earning to $50k?

BEVS

It already is and has been for some time.
83231 Heavy Vehicle Driver

Immediate Shortage List

The link is to the PDF file .

Ah! Perhaps you meant the long term skill shortage list.

BEVS

What if the employer could gain an Approval in Principle by showing there was no other suitably qualified NZ resident for the work?

I agree that PR through WTR as a trucker would be unlikely.

phil01

You can easily come over on a temp visa and you can keep renewing it without a problem...the problem comes when you decide you want to stay.

We came over with me being a trucker on the 3 year temp visa and because we loved it decided we really wanted to get residency. So we emailed immigration and no it is not and there are no plans for HGV to go onto the long term skills list, it is not classed as skilled so even on the higher wage as a log truck driver and I am earning over the required amount WTR was not offered. We went to an immigration agent who told us as a Trucker we could not get residency...but as my wife had a qualification in HR if she got a job in HR we could go for either skilled migrant or WTR with her as the main applicant. She hadn't planned on working, she has always worked but coming out here wanted to spend time settling our daughter in, but as it was the only way we could get residency has now got a full time job in HR and as such we have now got our ITA. But not everyone is in that position. We have a lot of trucker friends who's partners work part time, one in a school, one in a supermarket, one is full time in admin but none of them are able to go for residency through either route. They are happy here but they constantly have, as we did, the concern of having to go back to the UK. Each time you renew your visa it's medicals and police checks, it's expensive and there is always a chance you will get turned down.

I would recommend NZ to anyone but don't be fooled by any company promising you PR as a trucker it seems unlikely to ever happen and yes they have talked about it going on the long term skills list but again that has been rumbling for years and when the lists altered earlier this year still didn't happen.

Colin in the middle

Its a very crazy situation with Truck driving over here, I got my NZ licence back in 1996 but during the great lest change all our NZ Paper Life Time licences to 10 year Photo within a 12 month period during 1999. The Groups I could drive got lost at the time I was unaware of the error.
Recently got the class 2 back but a long winded way of doing things.

Brings me to my point, Few years back I met a Police Officer in Taupo with a Funny Northern Accent. Turns out he came over here to do Truck Driving but the performance involved with changing his licences put him off, he ended up becoming a Police Officer.

I also know a couple of truck drivers who go to Australia to avoid having to go back to the UK and the performance involved described by Phil.

As much as is should be classed as a skill shortage because simply there is not enough Truck Drivers around, It wont be because any New Zealand Resident who holders a NZ Car Licence can simply do the Theory Test and do a approved Driver Training course and obtain a HGV licence. There is no skill involved the Course is open book and you simply cant fail.
Which is a worry for safety in my view and again why there is a shortage of Truck Drivers.

The other thing compared to the UK is the cost of maintaining your licence, over here you could also require Dangerous goods etc tec even if your just hauling courier parcels.

Colin in the middle

Slight problem is only takes One driver to be on the Job Seeker list with that licence within NZ and the application is void.

BEVS

Actually scrub that. Don't know what I was thinking. I do know better and have given meself a slap with a wet kipper for not thinking straight !

An NZ employer doesn't have to seek Approval In Principle if the skill is on the Immediate Shortage List. It's taken as read that there is a shortage and he can employ overseas workers that fit the bill without recourse to NZIS

The immediate shortage list offers the overseas worker nothing more than a work permit/visa.

How then can the worker , who may have been here for three years on a work permit, manage to gain PR.
Has anyone out there managed to gain WTR or PR from a job issued under the Immediate Shortage List?

It still seems that some form of sponsorship from the NZ employer would be the way to go. After all the shortage is acknowledged.
How long should a skill remain on the immediate shortage list before being deemed long term ?

Perhaps a query via Sarahs lovely NZIS enquiry form is in order.

phil01

The problem is the worker doesn't manage to gain PR! The skill can be on the immediate list indefinitely which is why drivers need to be mindful before you sell up in the UK, if you don't have anything else to fall back on to secure PR you will only ever be here on a temp visa. Which is great if you want the chance to be here just don't get conned into believing any company that tells you they can get you PR, make sure you ask exactly how they plan on doing that!