Greetings everyone! I have a job-hunting story here. Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with a local consultant we can call “Laura” for the sake of this story. Laura currently works for a hospitality association. Her role is to advise 300 businesses in her territory about anything and everything they might need to improve their position in the market. During our conversation, she shared a memporable sotry about her own job search experience and how she got this job.
Half a year ago, Laura submitted her CV, which was rejected by an automated system, only she thought it was a real person who rejected her. This experience caused her to feel bad because she thought she had just missed out on her dream job but what could she do?
Two weeks later, a friend of Laura heard her story and said that he knows people in the association and they are still looking for a good candidate. He suggested that Laura should call the association and confirm if they have seen her CV.
Laura first called HR, they asked for her CV again. Shortly after sending her CV, Laura was called by the Operations Manager who confirmed she was an interesting candidate. Soon after that Laura was called by the CEO who interviewed her on the phone, apologised for the oversight, and hired her on the spot. And that is how Laura, a local New Zealand citizen found work that she was perfectly capable of doing in her own country.
When I heard the story, I immediately thought of you guys out there looking for work from abroad and often getting nowhere. The templated rejections letters all look the same and getting personal responses happens only rarely. If it was frustrating for Laura, it is even worse for foreigners applying from abroad who don’t have a friend in the industry.
Folks, the job market is broken. Not just in New Zealand, it is broken world-wide. 85% of jobs happen through networking and the other 15% are struggling to get into a different network. If you feel stalled out, stopped and ignored, you aren’t alone. Most locals feel the same, especially if they are applying outside of their network. Even top-ranked foreign applicants coming into NZ will benefit greately from having competent local support for all of the job related challenges over on this side. Let me see what I can do for you this weekend. Just send to me your CV with a few words about your status and goals. I will respond in about a day from my email at tate@employmentforimmigration.nz