The Asia Pacific Headhunter

So, You want to move to New Zealand?

I’d say that for every NZ job I’m working on, I get about 2 to 5 people who apply from overseas wanting to move to New Zealand. I guess I can’t blame them. We do, after all, live in a country blessed with beautiful landscapes, a small population (we just passed the 4 million benchmark last year, I think), a "creative" economy, unique culture, good quality of life . . .

For those of you who want to move here, this is my best advice as a recruiter. But before I get to that, I need to make something clear: Applying to jobs online from overseas is the LEAST EFFECTIVE way of getting a job, especially for a job with a company that will sponsor you for a visa. I’m not saying this is absolute in every case, but it’s definitely the rule rather than the exception. I get emails from applicants saying that they are available for phone interviews and will move to New Zealand once they get a job offer. Sure, this makes sense for you, the overseas applicant. You want to make sure you have something secured before you decide to uproot yourself, your family and your things and move halfway across the world. Let me tell you why this will not work.

1. Think of this from the point of view of the company. The whole hiring process, from reading CVs, to interviewing (2 to 3 times), getting references, technical tests, to getting the offer together, is a very long and involved process involving A LOT of different people. People who are extremely busy, with different schedules, different concerns about the position in question, requiring different information, and so on. It’s a big commitment – time-wise, labour-wise and money-wise, to even consider an applicant. Why would they invest their time and effort in interviewing an overseas applicant, going through the whole process, when there is no indication of commitment on your part in physically being here, other than you saying that you will? Your physically not being here is a BIG indication that you are not 100% committed. You could easily decide not to move for lots of reasons: financial, family, personal, bureaucratic, political – it’s a tenuous situation --- you’re a HUGE risk for a company to invest their time and effort to even consider. Especially since there are a lot of highly educated and experienced Kiwis (both born-here and immigrants) who are physically here – the overseas applicant is hardly appealing.

2. Most companies here in New Zealand are small. A large-size company over here would be comparable to medium-size companies in most other more populated countries (i.e. everywhere else). The majority of businesses here are SME with less than 10 employees. (For a better look at the profile of NZ business, take a look at Ministry of Economic Development website.) This means the resources to recruit and hire are smaller. It also means they are most likely looking for people who  come from a smaller corporate background, where  the candidate is comfortable working in much smaller teams. Many overseas applicants have experience in large corporations with thousands of employees with  larger resources working on larger projects and markets. While that kind of experience can always be valuable, it may not always be the case for certain  smaller outfits working in  a much smaller market.An  online application from  someone overseas with that kind of background may not be the most appealing in comparison to  local talent who are physically here.

Here is my best suggestion:

If you are serious and committed to the idea of immigrating to New Zealand, you really need to do your research on the kind of companies you are interested in joining (read my earlier post on How to Get the Job You Want). Contact key people early on, explaining your situation and your plans. Initiate your immigration application. Make appointments with those people you’ve contacted. Then, board a plane and physically come here! Plan a stay long enough to be able to meet with those companies that you’re interested in and feel you really have a chance of finding a good opportunity. Plan to meet with hiring managers and expect to stay for a few weeks to accommodate for several interviews.

To check out requirements and the point system for a work visa, here’s an overview of the Skilled Migrant Application Process from the Immigration New Zealand website. It explains everything you need to know about whether or not you can immigrate based on your work experience and skills. Another option is a temporary work visa. Click here for the overview.

Important Disclaimer: I am not a legal advisor in any way, shape or form on matters of immigration. This is just my personal general observation as a recruiter. For those who truly pursue the move by actively going out and finding and meeting contacts, the move can happen. But for those who expect something for no committment on their part, a move would be highly unlikely.

Blogging from the Adventure Capital of the World

Sorry to be so quiet over the last week. But I am (supposed to be) on holiday with friends and family in Queenstown, New Zealand. I am a Kiwi but until this week I have never been to Queenstown. And until this point I assumed it was a pretty nice place with a lot of adventure sport opportunities, like bungy jumping, the Shotover Jet etc. However, I was not ready for the sheer beauty of the area. In the past, I have listened to people say that they think it is the most beautiful place on earth. But normally I have been pretty quick to ignore that as parochialism, since I have been to many countries and found beautiful areas in all of them. Despite that I actually find myself thinking Queenstown truly matches the statement, no matter how subjective a claim it may be. Queenstown is spectacularly beautiful. So much so that I find it hard to describe it and photos completely fail to do it justice. In spite of that I will try anyway and post some photos I took yesterday from above the town.

In the last picture you can see one of the newer adventure sports, that seemed to be a lot more popular than bungy jumping - "parapunting". Parapunting is basically taking off from a hill with a parachute attached to you and your tandem partner (the instructor). My friend Jamie Land had a go and has some spectacular photos to prove it.

The Health of New Zealand's ICT Sector

IDC New Zealand, on behalf of the HiGrowth Project, NZ Trade & Enterprise, and Microsoft NZ,  just released a comprehensive profile of New Zealand's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector. The report provides a spreadsheet of searchable resources for companies to locate funding sources and ICT Industry Bodies. It's full of interesting insights as well. For example, did you know that:

• Total revenue for 2006 is expect to grow to $11,963 million from $9,495 million in 2004
• Half the industry resides in Auckland
• 73% of ICT companies - large and small - are exporting
• That 7.5% of the industry creates 60% of its revenue
• That around a third of ICT companies don't have a written business plan
• And a third don't have an advisory board or a board of directors - including not just small companies but some very large enterprises
• We are a truly national industry with significant activity in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago

To read the full report click here.

New Zealand Loses 50 Financial Planners in One Fell Swoop

Talk about a major dent in the NZ market! How will we replace all these Financial experts?  According to the Scotsman Online, Edinburgh-based insurance giant Standard Life has grabbed 50 Specialist Financial Planners from New Zealand and relocated them together with their families to Edinburgh to help build a critical new saving and investment platform in time for its stock market flotation.

Alright, it's a partnership with First New Zealand Capital, but who knows, I wonder how many of them will stay there??

Japanese Reaction to New Zealand Broadband

One Japanese New Zealander reacts to Telecom New Zealand's upgrade to our "broadband" service.

Shigeo Morimoto wrote:
"I was a little bit surprised to hear that even a consumer group praised the upgrade plan of Telecom, which makes our connection of 2Mbps to 3.5Mbps at the same price. I thought it was a joke because I've got connections of up to 100Mbps downloading and uploading flat rate plan in Japan by paying less than 3500 yen per month ($43 NZD approximately), though it actually records only 20~30Mbps at the moment."

Only 20-30Mbps flat rate! Let's face it NZ, when it comes to telecommunications we are in legitimate trouble.

To see how this Japanese Kiwi, who spends time in both Japan and NZ, watches Japanese TV when he's basking in the Nelson sunshine, his blog is Enjoy Cultural Differences.

First CEO Podcast from NZ

We all have favorite companies to watch I am sure. I think it comes from our competitive nature to pick winners before others do. One of my favorite companies to watch (and bet to be winners in the future) is New Zealand based startup - Aftermail. They are based in the home of Peter Jackson (Wellington) and have already made huge inroads into the US and Europe with their innovative enterprise email intelligence tools. They also happen to have a fantastic blogging culture (the CEO and others have them) which makes it easy to keep up with what they are doing in trying to take their talents and products global.

Last week their CEO, Rod Drury, completed what I think is New Zealand's first podcast from a CEO. It is an introduction to Aftermail, and is a great listen for anyone at the enterprise level who has a problem managing email (who doesn't?). From a recruiting standpoint Aftermail seem to have it all right, with such an open culture candidates should easily be able to judge their own interest level in the company. They will also sponsor the right people to move out to Wellington if they have the right skills (.Net and Microsoft tools) so if you are interested they are hiring.

The Trouble with New Zealand Entrepreneurs

Fascinating article from Inc. about New Zealand Entrepreneurs and how the culture in New Zealand doesn't creates entrepreneurs who are motivated to create large businesses. I read this with a lot of interest because of my experience in Silicon Valley and at home in New Zealand, and a lot of it rings true.

While NZ is described as "business-friendly" it isn't particularly "start-up friendly". Tax is way too high to allow small start-ups to attempt exporting and the local market is too small to do much more than subsist. Government efforts are focused around providing services through government departments. Unfortunately like most government departments they don't have the motivation or skills to provide real help for small start-ups. The reality is that the NZ government would be best served by scrapping a lot of the programmes they create for business and giving it back as tax thus encouraging businesses to expand with their own capital. Government is just too big in such a small country for business to truly be encouraged.

While New Zealand may not be Silicon Valley soon, it is still a great place to live! In fact if you are student then it is even better because the NZ government has just announced they will be scrapping interest on student loans. You have to vote for them in the next election though. I think it will encourage a LOT of people to borrow.

How Do You Find a Job in New Zealand?

During my career as a Recruiter in the USA, Asia and in New Zealand, I have always had a lot of contact from people overseas who want to get a job in the region I am working. Currently I have some strong clients in the software industry here in New Zealand and for positions for these clients, we currently get more response from candidates overseas than those who are here in New Zealand.

These responses are normally from job boards where we post the positions. As a direct search firm we don't rely on job boards but we do try to use them at times. I have placed people who have applied from overseas, but it has been rare, so personally, I think it is pointless applying in this manner. For the candidate I guess it falls into the "mud at a wall" strategy of job hunting.

However just recently, I was made aware of this business - NewZealand-JobSearch.com. This is a company who will search for a job for new immigrants or people with an interest in moving to New Zealand. Their fee is about US$1300 (NZ$1800) as a retainer and another US$700 if or when they find you a position.

This is really interesting to me as a Recruiter because as most people are aware, we charge absolutely nothing for candidates if we introduce them to a position. And rightly so too, because we don't work for the candidate; we work for the client. But the premise of NewZealandJobSearch.com is that they work for the candidate in helping you find a job and only charge you for it.

However, while I don't know much about this company and can't comment on the success of their model, I do have some points for anyone overseas who is thinking of engaging this type of service. Firstly, since recruiting companies in New Zealand charge recruitment fees of anywhere from 12% - 20% depending on the kind of position, you can take your salary and work out what a good recruiter can do if they market you to clients they feel will be interested in your skills.  So if you think you will earn NZ$50000 in New Zealand, a good recruiter could market you for a fee of NZ$6000 to NZ$10000.

Now the problem is that Recruiters won't necessarily market you because you don't pay them. But my point is that if marketing your skills is worth that much to some clients in this market, and a job search firm charges considerably lower, the question is: how much marketing and how effective will it honestly be for $1800 NZ?

I would think that most companies like this would claim to have a huge database of companies to introduce your details. In New Zealand though, if they didn't have the entire database of every company in New Zealand  I would  be  surprised. After all, it is available free online at www.companies.govt.nz. But as most people know, it is one thing to have a database; it is something else altogether to be able to actually get someone to take the time to look at your career details and work out whether they are interested in you for a position.

I am not going to say that this method cannot be successful, but it does concern me a little bit. US$1300 is not an inconsiderate amount of money to pay someone to help you find a job, depending on what they do for you. If all they do is email your CV to companies then it is exorbitant. But if they do what I think would be useful, then it would involve a lot of cold-calling and some thoughtful research into where you would fit, how to approach the right people, and then persuading them that there is a lot of value in them meeting with you. That is very, very hard work and time consuming. But that is what we do when we market candidates and headhunt, and as you are aware, the fee for that is considerably higher.

Buyer beware?

 

"Barmy Army" Recruiting Campaign Manager Moves On

I didn't expect the reaction to be so quick but it seems the GM who managed the "Barmy Army" Recruiting campaign I talked about here has been moved on. A bit reflective of other problems within the business but there is no doubt that the recruiting campaign was one of the least focused I have ever seen. Still me writing about it is probably increasing it's effectiveness and longevity online at least.