New Zealand is a preferred country of destination for immigrants who are in the search of employment opportunities. They travel there due to the good economic stability, quality of life and aesthetic nature of the environments found there.
There is a variety of jobs available for anyone who wants to have a new beginning in the country or just carry on with what they were doing back in their home country. Therefore, getting a job in New Zealand is not very difficult for anyone who wants to follow some specific measures and know where to search for a job.
The information contained in this article will include ideas on the type of jobs open to immigrants, visas, necessary pay and ideas on how to apply for jobs in New Zealand.
Entry-Level Jobs for Immigrants
Many a time, it is common to find immigrants taking lower paid jobs while trying to seek a better future in the new country. Some of such jobs are available in New Zealand especially in hospitality, retail, agriculture and construction sectors. These jobs are more usually less restricted for the newcomers and do not necessarily always need one to possess highly specialized certification or rather prior working experience.
For instance, there are so many vacancies in positions that require subskills such as kitchen assistant, farm worker, sales assistant and cleaner among others. If you master a specific profession, then you can also participate in construction as a worker or helper.
Although these jobs are not as well paid as the skilled positions, they provide immigrants with opportunities for a fast and smooth transition to employment in the local economy. They are also able to advance to more professional positions with time and after mastering the working environment within New Zealand.
New Zealand Visa Requirements for Employment
In any case, for an immigrant, it would be impossible to work in New Zealand without a relevant visa. The type of visa at this depends on the skills you possess, the job you want, and how long you want to stay. Imigrants with intent to seek work normally apply for the Work to Residence Visa, Skilled Migrant Visa, and Essential Skills Work Visa.
The Skilled Migrant Visa is intended for those wishing to immigrate to New Zealand as skilled workers or managers. To be eligible, there are several requirements that must be met and they include among them having a job offer, and passing a competency test in English.
The Essential Skills Work Visa is for immigrants who want to come to New Zealand for work, but their occupation is not on the skilled shortage list. On the other hand, Social Insurance and Work to Residence Visa grants health fund membership and free life migration respectively, which let the skilled workers apply for resident certificate after working for specified time.
Salaries for Immigrants
The wages for immigrants in New Zealand depend on the occupation, sector, and experience level. Immigrants may require entry level jobs that pay about between $NZ 20 to $25 per hour, especially in the service industries. For example a school teacher earns about NZD 49,832 while engineers, IT specialists, and healthcare workers can earn NZD 55,657 and above and can earn more than NZD 70,000 per year.
New Zealand has a minimum wage law that remains at NZD 23.65 per hour as of April 2024. It is important to note that this wage applies for every worker in the country, including immigrants, so everybody is paid a minimum baseline wage for his work. The remunerations also differ by region and, as expected, the commercial cities of Auckland and Wellington pay better than the countryside.
Application Requirements and Documents for Working in New Zealand
There are some documents that are required especially while applying for jobs and vacancies available New Zealand. These usually comprise of a current Curriculum vitae (CV), cover letter/letter of application, and certificates of qualification or work experience. Some jobs may also require for example, professional references or a police clearance certificate. If the job you are applying for falls under one of the speciality fields such as, health, engineering, etc., then your overseas education credentials will have to be from an authority in New Zealand.
Further, your CV should align with the New Zealand employment sector and the position you are seeking to apply with the content skills experience as well as achievement level.
Tips for a Successful Application
- Tailor your CV: Ensure that your CV looks exactly as New Zealand CVs look like. Always be specific, brief, and ensure you only mention aspects that are may be of relevant with the job you have applied for.
- Research the company: While submitting your application for any post, make sure that you have researched on that particular firm and the position which you are seeking to fill. It also gives you an opportunity to know more about the organization when answering questions during the interview.
- Get references: Some jobs require letters of recommendation from previous employers which can be helpful in this process. When writing your references it is advisable to use both landed and global employers if possible.
- Be persistent: The process of job search is not short and can be long for the immigrants. This means that when the job hunting process reaches a daunting stage the job seeker should be patient, keep on applying and persevere.
Jobs and Vacancy Websites to Find Employment Opportunities
Here are some of the sources that immigrants can use to obtain Jobs information and search for jobs in New Zealand Google, more so the job search engines as well as other classified advertisement sites. Some of the most frequented sites include.
- Seek (www.seek.co.nz): A major New Zealand job site and provides listings of jobs for different careers in every field.
- Trade Me Jobs (www.trademe.co.nz/jobs): An example of an employer’s portal that allows for advertising job vacancies regardless of the level of employment or skill set.
- Indeed (nz.indeed.com): It also has a New Zealand section for searching jobs, categorizing by location and job field.
- Workhere (www.workhere.co.nz): However, this platform is oriented on the meeting of foreign talent with New Zealand employers; thus, it is suitable for immigrants.
- New Kiwis (www.newkiwis.co.nz): Co-developed for migrants, this platform assists the skilled immigrants in finding employers in New Zealand.
To sum up, the New Zealand has a great potential in the number of job providing opportunities for immigrants irrespective of the sphere. This allows immigrants to get jobs and have a good employment experience in this country once they have grasped the visa regulations, wage standards, as well as the method of application to work in this country.
