Christchurch firm tackles migrant jobs hurdle

Christchurch firm tackles migrant jobs hurdle

Migrants with first-hand experience of the frustrations and disappointments that can face those trying to gain New Zealand residency and enter the workforce are leaping at the chance to support a unique new immigrant job placement service.

Long established Christchurch-based recruitment and job placement agency Stu Macann & Associates has just launched NewJobZ.co.nz, a web-based service that aims to help prospective migrants gain New Zealand citizenship by finding them jobs before they migrate.

NewJobZ director Keith Lightfoot said existing immigrants were often frustrated at being unable to provide any real assistance to family and friends wanting residency because New Zealand’s immigration rules had been tightened to focus on a requirement for applicants to have job offers.

“NewJobZ recognises that it is extremely difficult, even for highly skilled people, to arrange jobs in advance of moving to New Zealand,” said Mr Lightfoot. “We can bridge that gap, based on our 10 years’ experience in successfully finding jobs for people considered by other agencies to be extremely difficult to place.”

The NewJobZ website offers would-be migrants a free online self assessment. Acceptance into the NewJobZ support programme requires payment of fee that carries a money-back guarantee if not satisfied.

Mr Lightfoot said Stu Macann staff would then apply their wide-ranging skills and experience of the New Zealand job market to match NewJobZ clients with suitable work.

“We tested the idea on many existing immigrants during the planning stages and they expressed overwhelming support. They wished it had been available when they were contemplating moving to New Zealand. More importantly, they were excited about its potential for giving future migrants some kind of certainty about their chances of gaining residency and finding meaningful work.”

Mr Lightfoot said the NewJobZ programme was unusual in the high degree of accountability it placed on staff to work closely with their clients and keep them informed on a day-to-day basis about the job-seeking efforts being made on clients’ behalf.

“We recognised that many thousands of would-be migrants have watched their dreams of coming to New Zealand shatter, despite sometimes paying large sums of money for assistance or using funds to travel New Zealand seeking a job themselves. NewJobZ has been designed to eliminate that kind of risk and give them confidence that a team of highly experienced people is working on their behalf.”

© Scoop Media