Working in New Zealand

How to find a job in NZ

We had thought it would be really easy to find a job in New Zealand, we had heard so many stories about people making a lot of money on farms or by chance meeting super nice people, who would them offer work.

It is not as easy as it seems. First, you need to have a New Zealand bank account, which is the simple part. There are many banks to choose from. After recommendation of our friends, we decided to go to the Kiwi bank – what a fitting name – with its typical green logo. The account is for free for two years and you get a card for online banking. Next thing is to get a IRD number for taxes. This will be sent to you by post, which is why you also need a fix address. An own car is a big advantage, as most of the places are very remote and there are no public transports to get there or away in your free times. Important for all official working places is the working holiday visa, which you have to demand, before entering the country. When you have all these things, you can start looking for a job. But: Prepare for long waiting times, few answers, and many rejections. During the time that we have been there, many heavy rains had destroyed a big part of the harvest, why not much help was needed. Another thing is that for the fruit picking, you need to pay attention to the seasons. Different fruits and vegetables are harvested at different times. Even if it is not the season, a lot of work is required as wiring – which means, putting the plants back behind the wire -, cutting trees, planting and packing – which is again work for the harvesting season. The jobs that you could find are:

1. Fruit picking and packing

2. Wiring and cutting trees

For these jobs, you will not get paid the minimum wage. Normally, you will be paid per kilogram of picked fruits or for the amount of trees that you did. Sometimes, you don’t even have fixed working hours, but you will have to achieve a certain limit. These job sound easy and fun. Many people told us, how much money they made, because they were so fast. But: this is mostly true for string, big guys. When I applied for these jobs, I was directly rejected. I was too small for the trees or too weak to do the wiring. The only thing that they said, would be good for working was the fruit picking, but even there they told me, it was hard to even come close to the minimum wage.

3. In a restaurant or bar: barista, cooking assistant, bartender, waiter

These jobs are easier to get, mostly in cities. Especially for bartender and barista pre-knowledge is required, sometimes also for waiters. Cooking assistant and dishwasher are jobs for everyone. You will get about the minimum wage for that. But the thing here is, that they prefer keeping you for longer times and not only for a few weeks, what most backpackers are looking for.

4. Farm jobs: Mucking out, milking cow, bringing animals on the fields and getting them back in

Also a job for strong people. Even if you are good with animals, but small and weak looking, they will not trust you doing these kind of jobs. In addition, they want people, who know how to treat animals. So, if you are strong and good with animals, this is your job! Being strong is a lot more important than the treatment of the animals.

5. Babysitting

Obviously only on long term. Families want to have a babysitter for at least half a year, a year would be even better, which is by the way completely understandable. It is not good, especially for young kids, to have continuously changing contact persons around them. This would be the perfect job, of you like kids and staying with a family. You can save your money and then travel afterwards. But never do it, because you think it is easy earnt money! I know people, who thought that and don’t even like kids. Really bad idea. You will be completely desperate and hat your job. Only do it, if you like children and know

6. Promotion

Sounds good, but it actually means running around the whole day in a hot dog costume. If you like that, go for it!

7. Woofing, HelpX and Co

This is not work in the traditional sense that you work and get paid for it. It normally means that you do a job, most times about four hours a day, for what you will not get paid, but can stay for free with the ‘employer’ and get free food. Sometimes, they will pay you for extra hours, but most of these people don't have have the money for that. For finding your job and place to stay, you create an account on a platform, descrive yoursefl and your experiences. 'Employers' will post descriptions about themselves and the demanded work. Now, you and them can go on search for fits. But, don't give up to soon. They will not answer fast or sometimes not at all, because they recieve thousands of requests. This is the perfect chance to get in contact with locals: work together, cook together, eat together, live together! To find these kind of jobs, you have to register at platforms. The woofing for example is work on organic farms, other networks may include other tasks.

Our experience:
We had several woofing experiences, which I will tell you about in another post and also worked as dishwashers for some time. We never had bad experiences and loved the people that we worked with! We made the experience that it can be very hard to find a job, but it is always worth to keep searching. If you have any questions or doubts, feel free to contact me and I will be glad to help and maybe even pass some contacts.