I am glad that I made the move to New Zealand. I am really grateful to Kristin and the team at Accent Health Recruitment for helping me achieve my dream. I am a qualified social worker (graduated in 2009) and had been working in Child Protection services in the U.K.
My Journey to New Zealand started in 2006. I had visited the country for a month in 2006 and loved it. I always said that I would return to live there. Accent Health Recruitment made the dream a reality. I need to make it clear it did not take 5 years for Accent to find me work - that took around 3 months in total.
This is how it happened: I had decided to go away at Christmas 2010 for a few days walking in the Lake District; this gave me the opportunity to do some short walks and then spend some time in a local pub. It was while on this break I thought about pursuing my dream to live and work in New Zealand.
Following my break, in Jan 2011 I looked at a few sites on the internet and found Accent Health Recruitment’s site. There was an email link to make an enquiry and I decided to get in touch. This proved to be a good decision as within a few days I was contacted back by the team to get further information about what vacancies I was looking for and how they could help. Within a short space of time I had sent an up-to-date CV. I gave an indication of the areas of work I was interested in pursuing - including my previous experience and my career aspirations and kept in touch via email and a free phone number to the office in Christchurch.
Kristin at Accent Health Recruitment worked tirelessly on my behalf and dealt with everything from job searches, keeping in touch via phone and emails, arranging interviews and was full of other helpful advice and contacts to help with my entry to New Zealand. It is important to note that this continued during and after the major earthquake in Christchurch; which I feel is testament to the dedication of Kristin and the Accent Health Recruitment team in offering a first class service, particularly when you bear in mind snow had brought Britain to a standstill!
While Kristin was hard at work in New Zealand I was getting on with the processes of applying for Visas, medicals etc. that would need to be done. Again Kristin was really helpful and helped me save money by informing me that most of the forms I needed for the Visa were downloadable from the NZ Immigration website and were quite straight forward to complete. This meant that I could save some money in Immigration advisor costs and was put in touch with an advisor who could check my application and give me advice prior to sending it to the Immigration Office. Again this was a really useful thing to have done - as there were some obvious errors that were straight forward to put right.
During all this I was provided with job details to consider and job interviews were arranged. My first one or two job interviews were not successful, but it was all good experience and I got useful feedback. My third interview was successful and although there was a delay in finalising the detail of this - it was the Christmas break. It was worth the wait as I got a job offer that not only was in the area of work I had most interest - mental health - it is also a role that will enhance my skills and develop my career in line with my aspirations. If that does not tick all the boxes I don’t know what will.
I arrived in New Zealand’s North Island (Whanganui) on the 21.04.2011. I came here on my own and I was greeted by my employer and given some temporary accommodation for a few weeks, while I made more permanent arrangements. I started work about two weeks later. I have been in New Zealand 10 weeks and am starting to settle in. I knew settling in would take time, but that is all part of the journey. I have been told families settle a little quicker as they have more family routine the children attending school etc. so building a network of people is probably quicker.
I know it sounds a little clichéd; but that is what they did. In my experience you can’t go wrong with the team at Accent Health Recruitment. Even after arrival the team keep in touch to see how I am getting on. I am doing fine. Thanks again.
