Can recruiters help you find a job in New Zealand?

In New Zealand, there are two types of recruiters. In-house recruiters and agency recruiters.

In-house recruiters are members of the company's human resources department who assesses current staff and fill vacancies from within the existing workforce or externally through candidate applications while an agency recruiter works for a staffing agency that may serve multiple clients. These agencies helps organisations match employees with employers.

Working with an agency recruiter can be a good idea, but you need to know that you would not be their client. They are tasked to find the best candidate in the market and match them with the employer's requirement. Agency recruiters would have a small influence in the whole recruitment process and their clients have the final say of the candidate to bring on board.

How can a recruiter help you with your job search?

Recruitment agencies are well connected to the New Zealand job market.

They have good relationships with the companies you are looking for job opportunities with. This will sometimes allow them to give you inside information, meaning you can get ahead of the competition for a role, or even be offered a role that is not being advertised on job boards or social media. (Learn more about the Hidden Job Market).

We advise you to take the time to research recruitment agencies that have the expertise to help you. They could be generalist agencies, that cover a vast range of industries or industry-specific agencies.

Our Job Search Professionals will point you in the right direction and suggest the best contact for you.  

Will the recruiter represent you and work in your best interest?

This depends on the recruiter you are working with.

Both type of recruiters are tasked to find the best candidate for the vacancies they need to fill. In-house recruiters would have the freedom to select a candidate that best suits the organisations needs. There may be times where a candidate might not meet allrequirements but is able to demonstrate potential and benefit for the company, In this this circumstance, the in-house recruiter may have a bigger influence in the recruitment decision making and can therefore can make a case to bring you on board despite the gap.

Agency recruiters are engaged by employers to find the best suited candidates that meets the employers requirements and are readily available to start working. One of the expectations when engaging the services of a recruitment agency is that they can fill the vacancy with the least amount of time. Thus, candidates that don't meet the requirements set by the employers may not be necessarily entertained right away.

When contacting a recruitment agency or replying to a job listing, migrants will inevitably come across the following remark:

"Unfortunately, we are not able to consider your application if you do not possess or are not eligible for a valid work permit or working visa."

How can NZIC help you find a job?

No matter what position or industry you work in, searching for a job isn’t easy and it is important that you remain pro-active during your job hunt as much as possible.

With so much competition for roles, it is tough to stand out from the crowd and make yourself an attractive candidate to an employer. To achieve this, we encourage you to open up as many channels of opportunity as you can!

One way of aiding your success is by utilising both types of recruiters to be able to find you your next job opportunity. We do not consider ourselves to be competitors to recruitment agencies, we help organisations by connecting you (our clients) to recruiters and help bridge the gap of the difficulties of hiring someone from overseas.

At the end of the day, it is in our interest to get you a job. We are not a recruitment firm. We represent you and your best interest.

Our Job Search Professionals have developed excellent cooperations with leading recruitment firms and New Zealand employers in various fields of expertise and may be able to recommend a suitable recruiter for you!

Our Job Search Coach says:

"So no doubt when dealing with some recruiters you’re facing a huge amount of frustration and a brick wall.

From their perspective I guess, they are being paid by an employer to find someone to quickly to fill a role and then getting paid a commission for doing so.

It’s a financial risk to a recruiter to place someone they consider an ‘unknown’ should we say (without local experience), as should that person not work out, their commission may not be paid and it will affect the reputation of the recruitment company.

You and I both know that skills and experience-wise you’re completely able to do the job, but I think it’s just the way that recruiters work and the fact they’re doing a paid job for an employer, that adds the difficult element in there."  

Read more Job Search FAQ's:

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Essential Job Search Tips for your Job Hunt in New Zealand
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Job Searching in NZ

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