Although you may have gained “points” towards your New Zealand residence approval based on your qualifications and experience, this may not mean you will easily find a job in your preferred career.

We recommend you check to see if your qualifications are recognised in New Zealand. If they are not, you may have to consider extra study or retraining to get the job you want. Alternatively, you may find work in the same area, but at a more “junior” level than you may be used to, or you may need to seek other types of employment.

It is very important that you can read, write and speak English. Most New Zealand employers prefer to employ immigrants who speak English, and you may find it difficult to find work if you cannot do so.

Your qualifications in New Zealand
The more experience and qualifications you have to offer, the better your chances of finding work will be.

If you hold overseas qualifications, these may be recognised or they may count towards a New Zealand qualification. It is very important that you find out whether your qualifications will be recognised before you move.

You can apply to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) to have your qualifications assessed before you arrive in New Zealand. The NZQA has a specialist team, the Qualifications Evaluation Service, which will assess your qualifications in comparison with current New Zealand qualifications. NZQA will charge you a fee to assess your overseas qualifications. The assessment takes about eight to 10 weeks.

NZQA evaluations are official assessments, but they are not binding on employers, professional bodies or educational institutions. Some employers may not recognise your overseas qualifications and training.

In addition, some trades and professional people (such as electricians, plumbers and doctors) need to get permission from the relevant registration board before they can work here. See Registration Bodies for contact details. If your profession falls under one of the categories listed there, it will be a good idea to contact the registration body before applying for residence. You may need to do extra training or examinations and there is sometimes a waiting list for this.

Make sure you bring proof of your qualifications to New Zealand. These should be original or “certified” copies. A certified copy is a copy of a document which is verified by the organisation that issued it or by an official such as a lawyer or a Justice of the Peace. The documents must have a stamp or signature on each page, with the name of the official printed below the signature.

You should have the original or certified copies of:

• each degree, diploma or certificate you have been awarded
• official transcripts, listing the subjects you studied and the marks or grades you obtained
• apprenticeship documents
• practising certificate, licence or registration details
• evidence of professional, vocational or trade-related employment and experience
• translations of all non-English documents prepared by an official translation service
• proof of any name change (such as a marriage certificate or deed poll).

Original documents must be provided for qualifications from Bangladesh, the People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

New Zealand’s labour market
In New Zealand you are entitled to at least the “minimum” wage if you are 16 years old or over. The minimum wage is set by law, and rates of pay in your employment contract cannot be less than this no matter which field you are working in.

Major industries are located throughout New Zealand, but some parts of the country are better suited than others to industries such as agriculture and viticulture. Others have developed as centres of excellence in particular industries, such as Canterbury and its electronics industry.

The regional map with major industries provides a general guide to the major industries in regions of New Zealand – however, you will find many more types of industry in each region.

Finding a job in New Zealand
All the major daily newspapers have a Situations Vacant section, which advertises job vacancies. See our employment section for more detailed information and links to websites giving details of New Zealand job vacancies. Some of these websites will be run by private employment agencies (also called 'personnel consultants', 'recruitment consultants' or 'management consultants').

If you apply for a job through an employment agency, you do not have to pay any fees - the employer pays the agency when the job is filled. You can also register with an employment agency and be contacted when suitable jobs become available.

Personal contacts are often the best way of finding out about jobs when you are in New Zealand so make use of any relevant contacts you may have. Ask friends, family, neighbours and other personal contacts for information about job possibilities. It can be a good idea to make personal contacts through writing to or visiting possible employers and letting them know you are looking for a job.

Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letters
Most advertisements ask for written applications – you will need to have an up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV) to send. You should attach a one-page covering letter to your CV with your contact details and your skills and experience most suited to the job.

Your CV is an important document and both it and the cover letter should be written in clear English. A CV is your personal sales tool – a record of your skills and experience, your interests and hobbies and your work history.

There are commercial organisations in New Zealand that will help you to write your CV, or if you are applying through an employment agency, they may rewrite your CV for you.

Your CV should include details that are relevant to the job you are applying for including:

• your skills
• a short list of your work history
• details of your education and training
• your contact details

• a clearly stated job goal (for the particular job)
• your skills (that suit the particular job)
• a short list of your work history
• details of your education and training

References are also important – if you have them, attach copies of written references (in English) to your CV. Some employers will also ask for a verbal referee, so you will need to give contact details. Your referees should be able to speak English.

While you should bring the original documents with you to New Zealand, only send photocopies of your references and certificates to employers as they may not always return them.

Employment Contracts & Laws
This is a general overview of laws on employment in New Zealand. For more information contact the Employment Relations Service of the Department of Labour who have a free phone service for advice on employment contract matters.

Employment Contracts
All employers and employees have employment agreements with each other. This is the case even if there is nothing in writing, or if work conditions have not been discussed in detail. New legislation on employment law means that after 2 October 2000 all agreements need to be in writing.

The term “employee” as used in this section does not include self-employed people who work for others under contracts to do particular jobs or services.

Employment agreements may be individual (covering only one employee) or collective (covering more than one employee). It is up to employer(s) and employee(s) to work out how many and what types of contract they need.

Certain things must be included in employment contracts:

• effective personal grievance procedures
• effective disputes procedures
• expiry date for collective employment contracts – individual contracts do not have to have an expiry date.

The main legal requirements are:

• minimum wages for employees aged 20 or more
• minimum wages for employees aged 16 to 19
• an employer must pay male and female employees equally if the only difference is their sex
• three weeks’ paid annual leave after being in the job for a year
• 11 paid statutory or public holidays per year, when these fall on days of the week when an employee would otherwise work
• after six months’ employment, five days’ special leave for the next year, which can be used as sick leave, domestic leave or bereavement leave
• after 12 months’ employment up to 12 months’ unpaid parental leave
• leave for defence force volunteers

• duties and responsibilities
• term of the contract
• pay rates and basis for pay
• other payments
• pay day
• method of pay
• pay review
• hours of work
• holidays and other leave
• training
• health and safety
• consultation
• company policies/codes of conduct
• restraint of trade
• ending the contract – resignation, retirement, dismissal
• redundancy

The Employment Contracts Act 1991 says that jobs cannot be withheld from anyone because they do or do not belong to an employees’ organisation.

Dismissal & Redundancy
There must be a good reason for dismissal and the dismissal must be carried out fairly. Otherwise, the employee may take a personal grievance claim against the employer.

Redundancy happens when:

• a position filled by an employee is no longer needed, or
• employment can no longer be continued by the employer for genuine commercial reasons.

Retirement
There is no set age to retire. It is unlawful to force an employee to retire because of their age.

New Zealand has a “national superannuation” scheme which entitles all New Zealanders to a pension at the age of 65 (or earlier if you were born before 1 April 1936).

To qualify for New Zealand Superannuation, you need to have been living here for 10 years continuously since you were 20 years old, and for five years continuously since you turned 50.

Many New Zealanders are also planning for their retirement by joining private superannuation schemes. You pay money into these schemes, where it is managed to give you money to live on when you retire.