Migrant Tales – IT Professional Still Can’t Get a Job

/ November 10, 2016
easy

Kiwis are still the candidates of choice for NZ employers

“You’re Hired!” is something immigrants don’t hear a lot in New Zealand.

Are you thinking of moving to New Zealand because of the recent Brexit and US election results, and the Canada immigration site is still down?

Before you jump from Trump’s frying pan into Key’s beer sodden BBQ, read our Migrant Tales series – hundreds of first hand and honest accounts of migrant life in New Zealand, without even a hint of kool-aid.

bbq-john

John Key demonstrates the traditional Kiwi art of beer drinking while Prince William cooks lunch

Here’s our latest tale. This was first published on a British expatriates’ forum. The author is asking for tips for getting work.

So I moved to NZ a couple of months ago and have been struggling to find work as an IT project manager. I have good experience with blue chip organisations and have had a few Interviews but nothing is landing. They all have said that there were other candidates more suitable for the role and don’t get and more feedback then that. I have never had issue getting work I the past so I’m wondering if there is something I’m missing here. Am I being unreasonable thinking that I would get work here? How long did it take for other stuff to land a job? Thanks in advance.

Here are some of the replies from other British immigrants. It looks like too many people are chasing too few jobs and New Zealanders get preferential treatment over immigrants.

as you are getting interviews I would say its not the CV. It could just be that you don’t have any NZ experience so I’m afraid you may just have to carry on applying and see if you can get some interview help with a agency. MrF had to advertise for a job recently for a big data analyst and web developer and the agency sent through 20 candidates so you can imagine how many they didn’t send through. NZ experience depends on the person interviewing you, if it was MrF then no but some places are a bit jobs for the boys. Also bear in mind that some interviews will be just going through the process and candidates have already been chosen. Doesn’t help you but unfortunately happens here more than we ever noticed in the UK. Have you got a Linkedin profile? are you member of IT forums/groups? You need to be trying everything to get you name and skills known out there.

In my experience there’s still far more that would actually rather take on an idiot that they or someone else in the team knows, rather than take a chance on a total newbie.

totally agree with that, hence me saying jobs for the boys, and then its so bloody hard to get rid of someone who is just not capable of the job.

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19 thoughts on “Migrant Tales – IT Professional Still Can’t Get a Job”

  1. I think one have to be realistic as an immigrant. NZ is one of the poorer western countries. Consequently your standard of living (on average) is lower than in countries such as Netherlands or Finland. Either due to lower incomes and/or higher cost of living. Also its natural (but not fair) that having identical qualifications and experience the Kiwi will always have an advantage. Obviously there is a lot of hype surrounding NZ (incomes, opportunities, climate). The real issue is that potential immigrants believe this BS. These days you can google properties and rents etc. Also a holiday viewing it through the eyes of an immigrant instead of a tourist is extremely valuable. And it should come as no surprise that getting work in the lifestyle spots such as Queenstown and Nelson is almost impossible. Kiwis also try to live there and are not successful.
    I lived in NZ for over 16 years and decided , despite a good job, to move back to Europe. Emigration from NZ was the right choice for me. To sum up, the NZ hype clouds the rational assessment if NZ is for you. Any migration decision should involve the fact that you never will be first choice regardless which country you move to. Never ever should emotions and unrealistic dreams guide you.

    • Yes and lovely photos of people lying in rivers and lakes are mostly bullshit as these waterways are so polluted you will die from a disease if you don’t freeze to death in the blue photo shopped water,just carry on and fool yourself is the kiwi mantra,I have friends travelling the globe and asking me to join them,lol I live in N.Z and have to save up to pay my electricity phone and internet bill even though my house is valued over a million bucks ,friggin joke.

  2. I am currently studying at Weltec doing the Bachelor in IT Networking Major and working in a IT Office in Wellington since it is semester break, thing is that it is about who you know and when I found out I got the job, I was really in tears over my wages

    • Russell,

      They would perhaps stay for about as long as Karl Popper did!

      Seemingly Popper’s residence in New Zealand (1937-46) went largely unnoticed – even though he wrote one of his most influential works ‘The Open Society and Its Enemies’ while living here.

      He too came here as a result of a changing political landscape – but (in his case) when the Nazi threat had subsided – he simply slipped out the country and returned to Europe.

      • Yossarian,

        Yes, I’ve read the ‘Open Society and its Enemies” and I remembered that Popper had taken refugee in NZ, temporarily.

        I’d say that Prof. Dawkins is having some fun. Twitter seems to cause some people to suffer from verbal diarrhoea, even if they’re very smart.

      • Yossarian,

        Tragic news. We have quakes here in Oz, however they usually just rattle the crockery, then it’s over.

    • They will find that it resembles this scene from Idiocracy:

      And some will be sadly martyred when they reply to that Kiwi insult:
      “You some kind of softcock?”
      with
      “That’s not what your mother said!”

  4. Living in NZ for 7 years now and after sending over hundreds of applications with advanced US degree and international experience in 10 countries, I have yet to get an IT job offer from a NZ company. But I have 100% success rate here with Australian and other foreign owned corporations. Go figure.

  5. Message to the coward owner of the e2nz website who wants to remain anonymous and only publishes articles that bashes NZ. You are an ignorant imbecile. Every country has its downsides. You should travel to other developing countries get a taste of how difficult immigration and doing well is in those countries because it takes years and years to achieve it. You are nothing but a faceless moron and I have IT friends that are going to hack your website.

    • I am a New Zealander that escaped folks like you. Nearly 1 million New Zealanders live in Oz. I live in the UK where I meet many New Zealanders that are never going to return.

      I can tell you that I have lived a very fulfilled life here in the UK and have grasped opportunities which would have NEVER been available in NZ. The people here are far more intellectual and bright. Living in New Zealand was like Ground Hog Day.

      You are just a typical uneducated Kiwi bro whom reminds to never return there. I am sure there are many more in Oz that would agree with me.

    • Kind of amusing since you have attempted to remain anonymous yourself, show an obvious ignorance about how the internet actually works, and group New Zealand with “other developing countries”.

  6. It has been comical to witness the New Zealand media’s coverage regarding how many Americans are looking to New Zealand to escape Trump. Frankly, Trump is the least bad of two terrible choices and I do not see many Americans emigrating merely because Trump is in the White House.

    I am happy to have emigrated from the United States and I can assure many people that many countries abroad offer great opportunities. However, New Zealand is only suitable for naturally indolent people and those who despise intellectual activity and knowledge. I would analogise New Zealand to a left-wing version of the worst parts of the Deep South. I once told someone that Kiwis often displayed the same cluelessness as Fox News viewers, except they had a smug left-wing attitude based on nothing except the product of their imagination.

    I would recommend to any prospective migrants that they bypass New Zealand and look elsewhere if they want to escape political perdition.

    • It’s a cheap way to make headlines in the world news when everyone know that Americans don’t give a rats ass to venture out in this remote island

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