Singaporean looking for a job in New Zealand. Discrimination?

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#368515 17-Aug-2010 08:35

beuno99:
johnr: Can a employer give you job? I thought I could be very wrong but you could only come to NZ on a tourist visa

John

Yes they can. If they offer me a job, I would be able to get a work visa or residence visa rather easily.

I'm pretty sure that they will also have to prove that there is no one locally suited to the job before you are able to get a work visa. Given the amount of unemployment rate of people coming out of university etc it may be quite difficult to prove this.

You also have to take into consideration that the majority of companies want someone who will be able to start work within a month, and the process of getting a work visa can take a while.

I'm not wanting to put you off, but you should probably realise that it will be harder for you to get employment because of the red tape an employer would have to go through compared to hiring someone locally.

wreck90

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#368516 17-Aug-2010 08:39

Why'd you want to come here anyway?

Earn less, pay higher taxes on what you do earn, expensive property, high costs for food and consumer goods.

There's also a lot less opportunity. Ever ask yourself why there are no big companies based in NZ?

If I didn't have family and friends in New Zealand I wouldn't be living here.

bonkiebonks

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#368526 17-Aug-2010 09:13

wreck90: Why'd you want to come here anyway?

Earn less, pay higher taxes on what you do earn, expensive property, high costs for food and consumer goods.

There's also a lot less opportunity. Ever ask yourself why there are no big companies based in NZ?

If I didn't have family and friends in New Zealand I wouldn't be living here.

meesham

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#368531 17-Aug-2010 09:22

wreck90: Why'd you want to come here anyway?

Earn less, pay higher taxes on what you do earn, expensive property, high costs for food and consumer goods.

There's also a lot less opportunity. Ever ask yourself why there are no big companies based in NZ?

If I didn't have family and friends in New Zealand I wouldn't be living here.

How about it's a safe place to live and raise kids, an easy going lifestyle, great summers, skiing in the winter, amazing landscapes, the cities and towns aren't overcrowded (coming from Singapore I'm guessing this will be a big plus for the OP) and those are just the reasons off the top of my head.

I'm originally from Australia and have been living in NZ for a few years, I originally just came here for a visit but I wouldn't live anywhere else now.

dpw

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#368551 17-Aug-2010 09:55

bonkiebonks:
wreck90: Why'd you want to come here anyway?

Earn less, pay higher taxes on what you do earn, expensive property, high costs for food and consumer goods.

There's also a lot less opportunity. Ever ask yourself why there are no big companies based in NZ?

If I didn't have family and friends in New Zealand I wouldn't be living here.

+1

-1

If money is all you're thinking of then yes, don't bother coming to NZ. I just came back from 10 days in Indonesia where everyone told me I'm earning peanuts. My answer is quite simple - it's a lifestyle choice! Wouldn't change it for anything...

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exportgoldman

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#368552 17-Aug-2010 09:56

beuno99: So I have been searching the internet and responding to job ads from New Zealand, but so far, to no avail.

So I was just wondering, are New Zealanders open towards accepting Singaporeans? I am a typical young Singaporean fellow - I speak English as my native language, was educated almost entirely in English with Chinese as my second language but I can't read or write much Chinese to save my life, and I look totally 100% Chinese.

Having hired a few engineers in the last year I would say that for us at least, the top points for a candidate are in the order listed

1. Ability to be understood, foreign accents so thick we cannot understand them means clients will struggle as well, this includes a reasonable grasp of the english language.

2. Good at their chosen field, there is a LOT of competition at the moment, and we find most immigrants fake their CV's - don't know why, perhaps because it's harder to verify than a local where we can call their previous employers.

beuno99: I am quite interested in knowing what New Zealanders think about Singaporeans. Will employers give me a chance? What about the public at large?

I have heard about "anti Asian" racism and all the hoo ha about Asians taking over to Oceania but is racism a cause for concern?

The only two things I know are that Asians make up as much as the population now as Maori's, they have a strange fasination for kittys and Singaporeans got their city back from the British a few years back.

We have hired mostly foreign nationals after putting people through work based exams, as those are the ones which have passed with the highest marks but for the last job we posted we recieved around 100 applications for.

About 50% of the CV's we then saw people off were faked FYI, and we nearly missed some candidates as their less impressive non-faked CV's didn't shine through. WE caught that in the engineering exam.

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jonb

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#368635 17-Aug-2010 13:39

beuno99: So I have been searching the internet and responding to job ads from New Zealand, but so far, to no avail.
So I was just wondering, are New Zealanders open towards accepting Singaporeans?
beuno99: I am quite interested in knowing what New Zealanders think about Singaporeans. Will employers give me a chance? What about the public at large?

If you don't have at least a work-visa already you likely spend alot of time applying to jobs without even getting a reply. Nothing to do with race, just the extra work a would-be employer has to do compared to hiring someone with a work visa already approved.

Even if you have a work visa or residency already approved, you'll be at a distinct disadvantage applying from overseas. You really need to physically be in NZ.

My advice is to stay in Singapore whilst you apply for the visa (I came here on a work-to-residence visa), even if that means a couple of years delay whilst gaining more experience/masters degree to reach the required points. When you've got that sorted, start job hunting. I started job hunting before arriving, having phone interviews and the like, but only after making the commitment and emigrating to the place did I get an job offer.

In my opinion there's no racism in the IT field. Where I work in a team of 15 there are only 4 'kiwis', the rest are either from UK, European, US, Thai, Malay and Chinese. You may find some jobs specify you must have 'New Zealand Experience'. A slightly dubious term which as far I can tell means you're good fun for afterwork drinking, and not raise an eyebrow when your workmates clock off early to open the beers.

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wazza15

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#368646 17-Aug-2010 13:49

You may find some jobs specify you must have 'New Zealand Experience'. A slightly dubious term which as far I can tell means you're good fun for afterwork drinking, and not raise an eyebrow when your workmates clock off early to open the beers.

+1 and thats so funny! Ha ha so true!

BlueToothKiwi

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#368703 17-Aug-2010 15:11

beuno99:
I have heard about "anti Asian" racism and all the hoo ha about Asians taking over to Oceania but is racism a cause for concern?

You will find New Zealanders (in general) to be very tolerant people with appreciation for diversity.

When I wanted to move to NZ from the UK sixteen years ago as a new graduate, I sent my one page CV to 2 employment agencies. I told them I am coming on a 2 week holiday and gave each agent a week. I landed here and had 19 interviews timetabled for me - and I accepted the 11th one... went back to UK sold my house and came to live here.

You wont find an agent who will do that for you now. The supply of skilled workers in New Zealand is plenty full so you need to have something that sets you apart.

Why should they hire you when they can hire a locally educated graduate (or someone with NZ experience) without the hassles with work permit / extra paperwork. It is not racism - though people are not perfect and you might find the odd racism.

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Ragnor

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#368707 17-Aug-2010 15:18

Auckland is very ethnically diverse doubt you'll have any major issues here.

The last two people we employed (web development) here at our company were a French Canadian and a Irishman both on working holiday visa's.

I agree with the advise that it will be a lot easier to get a job if you have a working holiday visa and are in the country.

I would be surprised if any companies would hire someone who they had not met in person for an interview, unless you had a really rare and unique skillset with some kind of existing public profile.

Jaxson

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#368717 17-Aug-2010 15:33

BlueToothKiwi: Why should they hire you when they can hire a locally educated graduate (or someone with NZ experience) without the hassles with work permit / extra paperwork. It is not racism

Sums it up perfectly. There are lots of people looking for work at the moment (recession) so don't leap to conclusions as to why you are not getting any luck with employment responses etc.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4032012/2700-applicants-for-150-jobs

I like the study here angle, as this at least gets you here and on the ground. That in itself would be a huge step up in desirability of your CV application. You would get some attention by you were currently in Singapore but looking to return back to NZ instantly for the right job. This amounts to faking your CV though really, as you aren't really in that position.

You would have to be very uniquely qualified to get someone to willing to sponsor you as this is a lot of effort/trust on their behalf over and above what they'd need to do for applicants already based here in NZ.

beuno99

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#368744 17-Aug-2010 16:12

meesham: How about it's a safe place to live and raise kids, an easy going lifestyle, great summers, skiing in the winter, amazing landscapes, the cities and towns aren't overcrowded (coming from Singapore I'm guessing this will be a big plus for the OP) and those are just the reasons off the top of my head.

I'm originally from Australia and have been living in NZ for a few years, I originally just came here for a visit but I wouldn't live anywhere else now.

Singapore right now has an unbelievably large percentage of foreigners. Around 50% of the population is foreign now. I am pro immgration but what is worrying is that almost all the migrants here are from third world countries, we are not attracting first world migrants. And the overwhelming majority of them are illiterate or near illiterate, they cannot even speak or write to a Singaporean Primary one standard.

Many of them are Malaysians or Chinese and the informal sectors here is almost entirely Chinese speaking now. So you have the store fronts, menus, all in English but the waiter or sales assistant can't even speak a word of English. It is amazing really. This immigration thing has gone very wrong, and they are still looking to import another 1 million immigrants without any mandating any English tests. Jeesh. We are giving out PRs and citizenship to migrants from third world countries who are not even literate to a local 5 year old standard.

New Zealand has immigration too, but at least migrants have to speak English and fit in, not the other way around. At the end of the day, Singapore is only 20km by 41km. It is always nice to have a change of environment for a few years, have some variety in life. I am sure NZ has lots of crappy things but at least it would be a change of scenery for a while.

As for salaries...NZ's salaries are not that much lower anyway. It is harder to find skilled jobs but I can make do with what I earn. I also don't mind paying more taxes if I get a social safety net and free healthcare in return.

chiefie: I have to agree with beuno99, Singapore and Malaysia are both bumiputera (multiracial) country and all different races and cultural are well mingled and been living and sharing in good harmony. Something that many countries are still finding difficulty to mix well.

Anyhow, I've been living in NZ for 18+ years, studying high school and university and tertiary study. And my work experience has only been in NZ, and never had the experience of working in Asia (market).

You have to be clear that Singapore and Malaysia are vastly different countries. One has English as its main language, is secular and has good law and order. The other has Malay as its main language and is less safe and orderly.

Racism has always been strife in Malaysia. You mentioned bumiputra, you might want to google that.

wreck90

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#368765 17-Aug-2010 16:36

New Zealand has immigration too, but at least migrants have to speak English and fit in, not the other way around. At the end of the day, Singapore is only 20km by 41km. It is always nice to have a change of environment for a few years, have some variety in life.

As for salaries...NZ's salaries are not that much lower anyway. It is harder to find skilled jobs but I can make do with what I earn. I also don't mind paying more taxes if I get a social safety net and free healthcare in return.

Sorry, I'm diverting the original question a little, but I'm curious sometimes as to why people move here.

If I had no family ties/friends in NZ, I'd go to Australia , it is a safe country too, and their wages will soon be double that of NZ.

NZ advantages are, not too hot, nicer landscape, more socialist (if you like that).

Australia have hot weather , boring landscape, lots of beaches (but not nearly as nice as NZ beaches in my opinion), much better economic prospects and more culturally advanced (some would argue he he ,but ignoring the aussie yobbo they are).

As far as working in NZ, I worked for IBM a few years ago and they recruited a few people from the Philippines via an Auckland recruitment agency. The recruitment agency arranged the necessary documentation etc.

You could try contacting several recruitment agencies. I'm not sure if an agency can still 'sponsor' though. The system was abused to some degree and I recall the government looked at changing the agency rules. But, beware the agency may take significant cut of your income, especially in this situation.

StarBlazer

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#368784 17-Aug-2010 17:28

Good luck with your attempts to come to NZ - I'm not financially better off than I was in the UK but the quality of life here is great - and wouldn't go back for all the cheese and onion crisps in the world. You are probably more likely to face "racist" jibes being from England - but it's more about poking fun at the way we all talk rather than the hatred to foreigners that England suffers with. We're all unique really!

Getting through immigration is dependent on whether you get the points - the more points you have the more likely you will get in the country. Do you have a skill in high demand? Some jobs, such as SAP, there is such a high demand for skilled consultants that companies will help with immigration and relocating costs.

The best resource is to look on the immigration NZ website. That's what I did. The points calculator is easy to use and there is a wealth of information about the visas and what jobs are currently in demand. We got permanent residency within months because of my skill and I didn't have a job offer - in fact I didn't even start applying properly until we landed.

PS if you are a skilled SAP consultant PM me :)

Procrastination eventually pays off.

gehenna

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#368803 17-Aug-2010 17:51

it's not just a non-nzer discrimination thing...

i recently returned to NZ from a year overseas. I'm a NZ citizen and had a moving date in mind but no amount of applications or calls were successful as no-one really wants to bother with the hassle of dealing with a person in my (or your) situation when there are so many people available and in the country already.

i would be very surprised if you secured work prior to moving to the country. your best bet, imo, would be to save up and move here temporarily. if it ends up that you don't find work while you are here then at least you've had an extended holiday. however i imagine you'll have a lot more luck actually being in the country and having your paperwork already sorted. visibility is a huge thing - being able to meet someone face to face is a lot more likely to secure you a job than replying to ads online and outlining your situation.

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