Time To Leave – Can’t Find Work
Continuing in our series of Migrant Stories: first hand accounts of migrant life in New Zealand, taken from locations around the net. This post is taken from an emigration forum. In it the poster tells of how difficult it is for even a skilled migrant to find work in New Zealand, how savings are being eaten up whilst he suffers rejection and rejection in a country that told him he was needed there.“Auckland is a desperate place to find work. I’ve applied for countless jobs. Some, I have 110% confidence I could do well. Others, I could turn my hand to easily. I’ve been told 5 times I got the job only for the employer to withdraw the vacancy or project. I work hard at finding work. I have many, versions of my CV. I’ve sought professional help with the CV and interviewing. I spend every day looking for work and find almost nothing to be positive about. My confidence in this job market is shattered. Even if I get a job now I cannot picture myself being happy, valued, confident and progressing here. The situation has by now, affected my personal confidence and I find the length of my unemployment an embarrassment and an issue in itself.
New Zealand is a lovely place but if you cannot earn a living, what is the point ? I feel lost and isolated here. I think I have made a huge life changing mistake coming here. I spend most days alone trying to grind out some opportunity for work. Its a miserable depressing existence. Also, we are gradually losing everything we have. Living off money we brought here for a house. Its a sickening feeling. Total financial free-fall and I have no way to reverse it except to consider leaving.
I know things are bad in the UK right now but looking at job sites there, I feel like a starving man peering through a restaurant window. I see opportunities which simply don’t exist here. I see opportunity and a means to to carry on. I see friends and family I don’t see here. I see potential and a better “life” than I have here in this place. I’ve never given up on anything in my entire life, ever. But with the annual christmas employment slump on the horizon (usually 4 months long) I am now days or weeks away from buying a ticket out of here.”
Yes, I left for that same reason. Sad though, it is taking a long time to recover not only my confidence, but my skills have become so outdated in only a few years. Also, jobs are very hard to find for a professional. I am here in one of the top 5 major cities and most IT jobs have already been outsourced to India except for the highly specific roles. You may have better luck there in the UK, as they are the least affected worldwide I have been told.
one issue is that nz’s reported unemployment rate is artificially low and measured in a weird say that does not reflect actual conditions.
such as
unemployed often go to Australia to find jobs, thus no longer being counted as unemployed in NZ. though if they could not go to Australia, they would be.
people are employed by family or through their social connections and the circles are tight here, so the actual obtaining of that employment is not as easy as it might seem
the segment of workforce age that should be looking for, or in, jobs, many in that age range have left the country to look for them, so you have many children and many old people here living in poverty.
From the labour website -
“A person is officially unemployed if, *during the week they are surveyed, they did not have a paid job, were available for work, had been actively looking for work in the previous four weeks, or had a new job to start within four weeks*. Registered unemployed are people registered as job seekers at Work and Income New Zealand offices.”
so you can imagine what sorts of human scenarios would not exactly fit that description but could still create miserable living conditions not accurately depicted by statistics.
the numbers of “underemployed” are greatly minimised as well. anecdotally, most migrants seem to be underemployed and I do not know how they measure that figure as 5.5%.
I thought I was the only one having ‘negative’ thoughts about NZ but expressing them verbally would mean that I complain a lot. I am glad (not really) that some people share my sentiments.
gugel, that’s what the people who are practising deception want you to believe. That you are in a minority. That way, it makes it easier for them to tell you that your goat is a dog…
Wait… so the only reason they’re wanted is BECAUSE of their money, and people have the CHEEK to say in a derogatory manner “You paid to be here!”
I didn’t hear those migrants respond… “Well, we pay YOUR subsidies and doles…!”
I maybe selling T-shirts next week or month. My first design coming from this forum: 100% Pure Ripoff NZ. My customers will be from the ‘disenfranchised’ migrants and kiwis. What do you think?
Good idea, be sure to price them appropriately
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Have you tried looking for a job in other NZ cities? I started from a provincial small town before I managed to find a job in Wellington. Finding the last one took me a while, and put me lots of times in despair. Be patient, don’t give up.
I wonder if you have seen Pio’s study or articles relating to it. Racial profiling in recruitment and other matters.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/new-zealand-039not-bed-roses-immigrants039-says-academic/5/42378
The comments are worth reading. One comment was utterly gormless – “Why dont migrants go farming or make pottery on the beach in a country town like many kiwis do?”
Pardon me now, while I shove my eyes back into their sockets.
This person has evidently never seen the marketing, or been to a recruitment expo. I, for one, among others I know, was told that New Zealand was of a size that allowed it to serve as a testbed for advanced digital technologies, especially in the area of telcom, and that foreign experts were desired for that reason, and that relevant jobs were available on that basis. Encouraging skilled migrants so they can weed silverbeet and throw clay around in the sand? Do they think New Zealand will develop by magic, simply by virtue of importing smart people to rub shoulders with their population?
Your blog post is not a mind opener but also I want to say that you are not the only one writing about this. I too am concerned with the fact how the New Zealand job market is still shut to many migrants out there. I wish something needs to be done
I’m a Kiwi and I just wanted to share with all the expats on this board that they are not alone in their experience of feeling scammed by the NZ Government policy and finding the job market extremely difficult.
At high school we were pressured to attend university and promised great jobs upon graduation. Of course when we graduated there were few to no jobs which is why so many of us go overseas. I graduated in law and despite applying for countless jobs I was rejected from everyone, even a law firm where I had been working part-time for nearly two years. The reason was because I am female and New Zealand is a very sexist place, and I did not have family or other connections in the legal profession here. It was essentially a closed shop, and hard for me to see guys with worse grades than me sailing into jobs. I am also 1/16th Maori, and although I never disclosed this fact, I believe my slightly non-White appearance may have been as issue.
Racism is an issue here. Certainly in my family, I was the first to discover this truth that we are part-Maori, the rest of the family have kept it a secret and did not want to know and told me I was wrong when I found out our history. What led me to discover it was a DNA test, which I took after years of looking in the mirror and knowing I just did not look completely White. I was in my mid-30′s when I found out.
I really feel I was scammed by the NZ govt. The fees were higher than I would have paid in the UK, and I had to borrow on a student loan which at the time was charged at 8% interest from the day you started studying. Students in other countries only paid interest after they graduated and at a much lower rate. By the time I finished university, I had a $60,000 debt, $20,000 of which was from compound interest alone and the rest was to pay fees and some living costs over six years. I worked near full-time throughout my degree, lived partly at home with my parents, and still barely could afford to live so borrowed small amounts to cope.
I was extremely fortunate because upon graduation, I was able to secure a job overseas and repay my debts after about five years of hard work. I would never have been able to repay my debt had I stayed in New Zealand given the extremely low salaries, even for a local and a lawyer (albeit junior). I have now let go of the grudge I held against the NZ government for the student loan scheme (scam) but still find the thought of returning here to live too much.
When I went abroad I quickly learned that so many of the things which I had been taught to believe since birth were normal were not in other countries. For example, in England I could live in a brick home with carpets and central heating and be very comfortable, and it’s not normal to live in a wet, freezing cold and mouldy home. I remember when I was growing up I only knew one family that had carpeting and central heating in their home, and they were very rich. They were generally regarded with a very toxic mix of contempt and jealousy in the community.
I also found that the cost of living was so much lower, and consequently the quality of life much higher in other countries. For example, in America, I could buy the same pair of jeans for $50 that would cost $150 in New Zealand and I had money left over to enjoy my life and not scrape by constantly. Kiwis in general disappoint me with how mean they are over money, and I don’t know if that meanness is innate or caused by the suffering we go through all our lives on low incomes and ridiculously high expenses. All I know is the country has been severely mismanaged and public finances are a mess and the private economy is stale.
I also found I was much physically safer in other countries, experienced less crime personally. I used to think it was normal to be burgled every few years when I lived in New Zealand, and to be fearful for your personal safety at night, particularly as a woman. At university I went on a protest march against rape. Really we had to protest that we wanted to be safer? I personally experienced an attempted sexual assaulted by a man on Queen Street in Auckland, the case went to trial, and he was found not guilty in a verdict where the judge ruled that I was too pretty and the man simply could not help himself. I’m also aware that it seems in New Zealand we have many mentally ill people at large residing the community and accordingly they do not have regular meds or treatment. We used to care for them in facilities but it was too expensive and they were turned loose for “community care”. And of course there are the gangs, and drug problems. For many disenfranchised and disempowered Maori whose land has been stolen by settlers and with no whanau or tribal associations, gangs are very appealing substitutes where they can feel powerful again.
I also found I excelled in the workplace in the UK and my race and gender have never been an issue to my knowledge, probably a plus if anything in these days of affirmative action type policies. In general I would never recommend that anyone move to New Zealand for work opportunities as it is a firmly closed door. Your best option would be to become self-employed if at all possible, and then don’t expect much other than high taxes and for your skills to quickly become stagnant.
I have also grown spiritually from travelling. In New Zealand it is very racist, narrow and close-minded and right-wing Christianity dominates as the only accepted religion. It took me many years to move out of the mindset as it was indoctrinated from an early age. Unfortunately New Zealand is a small island isolated at the end of the earth, so it is very insular and encourages this kind of mindset. A classic example – it is a country of people who live surrounded by oceans with delicious seafood, but most Pakeha at least do not eat seafood at all, only beef and lamb. I personally never ate seafood until after I lived in Japan for years. In New Zealand you only eat seafood if you are Maori, Asian or very rich and cultured Pakeha, most likely well-travelled.
The most unsettling experience for me has been trying to discuss these issues with my family and friends about New Zealand. Any objection I have ever raised has been met with completely blank stares and deaf ears, and I’m made to feel like I have the problem or there is something not quite right with me. They are very upset with me for living abroad and do not understand the choice. I am told that I am materialistic, selfish and vain to reject them and their way of life held dear. No other reason seems to compute no matter what I say or point out. My family bear a great deal of resentment towards me for my time away as they view it. They still expect I will move home eventually, despite living abroad now for over 10 years. So I have great difficulty with family.
It’s also very strange to try and have an open and honest discussion about New Zealand with other expat Kiwis. Bear in mind, you’re talking with a group of Kiwis who have all left the country, and have been living abroad in some cases up to 10 years or more, and they will all say they love New Zealand, plan to return home just as soon as they can, retain their broad nasal Kiwi accents etc. etc. etc. But none of them actually mean it and just continue to live abroad. If you can get an honest admission from them on the truth, it’s spoken in hushed tones. You would think we were all defecting from North Korea.
The thing is that in New Zealand from birth we are brainwashed that New Zealand is Godzone, meaning the best and most beautiful country on earth. We are told constantly that we have the highest standard of living in the world, and we are better people in cuisine, culture, intelligence, sports, values, essentially that we are superior in everything. In a way, you can’t be angry at the NZ Tourism advertising, because I bet the Kiwis who put it together truly do believe it.
Also the images are fair as New Zealand is a truly beautiful place. Just what they don’t tell you is that if you live here, you would have to be wealthy to ever really enjoy that beauty on a regular basis and much of it is polluted. When I was growing up in New Zealand, I only ever went to the South Island once on a holiday my family saved up for over years and borrowed as well. We couldn’t afford to do anything except drive around so we mostly saw roads. There were beaches near us in Auckland but you could not swim at them safely because raw effluent was poured directly from the sewage system out into the beach from pipes very close to the shore.
I did go to Milford Sound and Queenstown for the first time when I was in my late 20′s and had returned as a tourist and with plenty of ££ to burn. It was fun, and a very different image of New Zealand to what it is like to live there. I certainly burnt off very quickly indeed with the price of everything being so very high. The image of us all fishing and boating is a laugh, only the very wealthiest of Kiwis could ever afford that lifestyle, and to be honest most of the year it’s so cold and miserable wet that you wouldn’t want to go out on your boat anyway.
As a Kiwi, I will always return here regularly because of my cherished childhood memories, it is a beautiful place and a spiritual home, and very strong family and blood ties, in particular I adore my little nieces and nephews and being an Aunt. It breaks my heart to be away from my family, but its the best decision for me because I am otherwise unhappy in New Zealand.
However if you are not born and raised in New Zealand, I would not recommend emigrating here, only holidays and working holidays of two years or less.
I’m glad to find this website as it has validated some of my opinions where I have never had that before.