There are several specialized information agencies to help immigrants adapt to the local labor market and assist in job searching and employment in New Zealand.
Auckland Business Chamber
Auckland Business Chamber offers an excellent opportunity to receive free, yet highly effective, assistance in job hunting and to understand how the hiring system works in New Zealand. This support is available to everyone in the country on a work visa or a resident visa.
Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Immigration Department provide employment assistance to immigrants. On the agency’s website, you can find more information on job searching and take a short online employment course. There is also a job board listing vacancies from employers who are open to hiring immigrants. You can also upload your CV there.
They used to have several courses. For example, New Kiwis Career Success Course, which was regularly held either in the company’s office or online.
The course helped to understand:
- where and how to search for jobs in your specific industry
- how to correctly read job advertisements and what to pay attention to
- write a CV and cover letter that work
- how to prepare for interviews and answer tricky questions
They also organize their events in different cities:
- Rotorua
- Tauranga
- Hamilton
- Whangarei
Belong Aotearoa (ARMS)
Another valuable service for employment and adaptation support is Belong Aotearoa (formerly Auckland Regional Migrants Service – ARMS). The service regularly conducts workshops and courses for immigrants, such as:
- employment courses
- English language improvement and accent reduction courses
- healthcare, education, and tax systems seminars
- civil rights and resolving legal disputes
- seminars on immigration-related issues
Please note that some courses are free, while others may have a fee starting from NZ$20.
There are also volunteering opportunities available. These are mostly administrative roles that are great for improving conversational skills, getting used to a working environment, expanding your network, and gaining a reference for future job applications.
Careers NZ
Careers NZ is an excellent information platform about education and retraining, job searching, and the labor market. It is particularly useful for its database of professions recognized in New Zealand, providing detailed descriptions of each job, required qualifications, and salary expectations.
Kiwi Education Online-course (coming soon)
Over the past few years, we’ve helped dozens of students to take their job-search skills to a whole new level. We witnessed how newly gained knowledge, well-crafted CVs and cover letters helped them to find a job faster. Based on our experience and a deep understanding of our students’ needs, we have developed an online job search course for New Zealand.
You will learn how to:
- tailor your CV to match a job posting using the right keywords
- write a targeted and motivated cover letter
- optimize your LinkedIn profile so that job opportunities find you
All of this will be delivered in a clear and convenient format, with practical tasks to help you reinforce the material and move confidently toward your goal of landing a great job in New Zealand. We’re still in the process, meanwhile you can read our article about job-hunting.