“My Name is Alice, I am an Occupational Therapist and I came to NZ from England, in May.

The process to come to NZ took me approximately 8 months. The easiest part of the process was having regular contact with Accent. Accent are very supportive and help where they can with every process.

The most challenging part of the process was – I didn’t have any challenging parts!

My first impressions of NZ were ‘what a beautiful country!’ And the best parts of NZ are Queenstown and Kaikoura.

What I miss the most is my friends and family!

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is: Enjoy your time working abroad and make the most seeing this beautiful country.

Are there any major differences between your current role in NZ and your previous role in England’

There are some major differences between my current role and my previous role in England. I am currently working for a private company in community rehabilitation. We are contracted by ACC so is a steep learning curve of what they can offer the client. Quite different compared to working in the NHS.”

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.

I am an Occupational Therapist working in New Zealand. My first impressions of NZ were AWESOME. NZ has a good work-life balance which makes the Quality of Life better.

I came to NZ in February and the process took me about one year, the first 10 months of preparing were slow, but the process really gathered speed after I secured a working visa (via my husband) which the entire process took roughly a month.

Getting in touch with Accent and Prudence and her team was the simple part. They have been really supportive throughout and they organised and scheduled interviews for me efficiently.

The most challenging part of the process was to communicate my relevance as an Occupational Therapist in the NZ market in spite of being from a different country.

In New Zealand, there is more awareness about Occupational Therapy in NZ and this helps me in putting my role easily across the clients.

The best parts of NZ is that its People are very warm and friendly. It’s a very good environment to work and be in. I do miss the most is being away from family and friends.

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is be open to job roles and locations. Having a work visa prior helps if you can.

Relocating to a new country comes with its set of pressures and the AHR team was there with me throughout. They even went as far as sending me a welcome cake on my 1st day of work.

Apart from the cultural differences, my role as an OT remains more or less the same. Coming from a multi-cultural country, it has taught me to be more sensitive towards different cultures. This is helping me to practice in bi-cultural NZ with ease.

In New Zealand, there is more awareness about Occupational Therapy in NZ and this helps me in putting my role easily across the clients.

My name is Karmen, I am a Sonographer and I came to NZ from Canada in January this year.

The easiest part for me was having Accent Health staff to guide me and answer any and all of my questions every step of the way. From the very first contact by phone to learning to Skype to my arrival here to a welcome package filled with goodies and helpful snacks. Accent Health is a great team and I really liked their friendliness and attention to detail. They really wanted to help me and went above and beyond to investigate jobs for me and they truly wanted me to be successful.

The most challenging part of the process was waiting and being patient with the process and getting all documents and paper work aligned to get approval to come. I started the process probably a year ago in January 2014 and it took about a full year for things to really fall in to place.

My first Impressions of New Zealand were how helpful and friendly the people are. The scenery is amazing and beautiful, and the climate is wonderful, and these are the best parts too. Hours of Sunshine, beautiful beaches, Mountains, the ocean, the culture of the Maori people and learning.

Probably the main major difference I have noticed from practicing Sonography in Canada is the terminology. Learning the language and common terms has been both interesting and fun. For example, in Canada if someone is going for surgery we call it the OR or operating room, but in NZ it is called the theatre…… I go to the theatre back home to go to the movies lol – We call it movie theater. Also, terminology can have a slightly different spelling or name. Such as Amniotic fluid being called Liquor. Terms can be different everywhere depending on where people have trained and how they trained.

I have found that Midwives are a much bigger part of a woman’s pregnancy here and there are a lot more of them here and it has been great to learn new ways of how things are done in the obstetrical area compared to back home.

It has also been great to learn and compare the differences in Health care and how it is funded and provided to New Zealanders’ verses Canadians.

I am looking forward to more exploring and learning to come both at work and on my days off!

I am a physio from the UK who worked for 6 months in a public hospital in the North Island and 6 months in a private clinic in the South Island. Like everyone, everything was arranged over the phone and by email – but it all went smoothly and my recruitment consultant was so good with the emails and phone calls! It took a while to get registered, but once I had that I had the choice of some good jobs! Prudence arranged accommodation for us – and introduced us to many people who we socialized and travelled with!

The best times were in the summer and the travel we could do between work and on the long weekends, the money did not stretch too far, but it was the lifestyle and the people that made the trip for us

I had a great year and hope to return!

Hey there, my name is Lydia and I am a Physiotherapist. I came to NZ in October 2015 from Scotland with my partner James.

The process to come to NZ took me roughly 4 months – the easiest part of the process was getting a job. Kristin was amazing and made the process a breeze!

The most challenging part of the process was getting all my evidence compiled, essays written and chasing up references for my registration. I would definitely recommend being organised with all this as once submitted the turnaround with granting registration was really quick.

My first impressions of NZ were “Wow! this country is simply beautiful.” Plus you actually have a summer time. (Rain is quite a constant in Scotland!).

The best parts of NZ are:

1. The people who are just so incredibly friendly, welcoming and fun.

2. The beer. Enough said.

3. The Tui. It was one of the first things we heard waking up on our first morning in New Zealand.

4. The outdoors. New Zealand is made for the outdoors with so many amazing tramps, beaches, cycling, running, camping, mountains, bush – really the list is endless.

What I miss the most is our family especially when it’s Christmas. But modern technology has made this so much easier.

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is do it! You won’t regret it, we haven’t.

About your new workplace:

Are there any major differences between your current role in NZ and your previous role in Scotland?

The clinical side of things is much the same as back working in the UK. The main difference was adjusting to the role of ACC in comparison to the NHS back home. But I think I’ve got it sussed now.

Are there any similarities that have helped you orientate/transition easily?

Physiotherapy in New Zealand is the same as Physiotherapy in the UK. All the evidence, best practices, rehabilitation approaches etc are what I was using back in my previous role.

Is there anything specifically done differently in NZ that has interested you and the way you practice your profession?

I have had the opportunity to attend serial casting and splinting workshops and apply this in practice whereas in my previous role back in the UK a different health practitioner was responsible for this. I find in my current workplace there is much less focus and pressure put onto clinicians regarding bed occupancy and quick turnover in comparison to working in the public health system.

My Name is Lesley. I am an Occupational Therapist and came to NZ from Wales, UK in September.

The process to come to NZ took me 6 months from enquiry to getting here. The easiest part of the process was when I made the decision to come to NZ and I contacted Accent and Merryl advised on all stages of the process I felt I was very well supported.

The most challenging part of the process was professional registration was very frustrating.

My first impressions of NZ were how friendly everyone was, how vast the country is and how different the lifestyle is.

The best parts of NZ are the beautiful places, the wonderfully friendly people, how safe this country is, and the delicious flat whites. I could go on.

What I miss the most is my children and grand-daughter.

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is be prepared. Do your research and don’t leave everything to the last minute. I asked advice from Merryl and she was able to give me all the information I needed. Get internet access if you can skype has been invaluable for keeping in touch with friends/family and managing that homesickness.

Anything else you would like to say? If you’ve done your research and NZ is the place you want to be, be prepared to go through that process of transition but I can say it will be worth it – and if you have the right support it will be much easier

“I am a physiotherapist. I arrived in New Zealand in 2015. I had submitted my application for physiotherapy registration to the New Zealand Board in October 2014 and it was granted in March 2015. I spent time with family and travelled around North Island in my first three months here.

I got in contact with Accent to help me find a job. Through them I saw an advertisement for a hospital job in Thames.

I was keen to gain hospital experience and had loved the Coromandel Peninsula whilst on my travels. My case manager was Merryl and she was invaluable in preparing me for the interview, communicating with the employer and always on hand for any questions I had.

I was successful in my interview and have been in my nearly three months now and am loving it and the lifestyle here.

I admit the registration process was stressful and took me two months to put my whole application together. But once registered there are so many opportunities in New Zealand for physiotherapists.

Kind regards,

Marianne.”

I’m an OT working in New Zealand working at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland NZ and had loads of advice and support from the Accent HR team. I couldn’t have done it without them!!

We are loving work and life in NZ. When we arrived, we bought a car and found somewhere to rent, with a sea view! It was a long process getting here, we were shortlisted for many jobs, a lot of highs and lows but worth it in the end!

The phone interviews were hard work – really difficult to gauge the reactions, but at least I didn’t have to decide what to wear!

The work is different but the same. I caught up with Prudence Thomson (who recruited me) and she met with me and some other of the new people in Auckland, and took us out for coffee and cake. It was a good chance to meet other new people who had just arrived.

You’ll be pleased to hear we’re still here in NZ and it’ll be 10 months tomorrow. How time fly’s particularly when the beach is just down the road, and even winter in Auckland is warm; compared to what we’re used to!! I’m loving my job, despite initially being unsure about a switch to working in mental health. I’m getting to know my clients, feel I’m part of the team, and can now find my way around South Auckland without using my GPS!! John has also found work and has a permanent contract, and has even had a few nights out with the boys to sample the local brew.

So far we’ve ventured to the Coromandel, Rotorua, and Wellington and have started to make friends along the way. We’re venturing back to the UK for a friend’s wedding next month and a catch up with friends and family, so I guess that will help us decide if NZ is forever but we’re thinking about visiting Sydney early next year so we’ll definitely be coming back.

It’s a roller coaster ride getting here – but we love it

My Name is Lesley, I am an Occupational Therapist and I came to NZ in September 2014 from England. The process to come to NZ took me 3 months.

The easiest part of the process was – getting work. The job came up pretty quickly. Accent were very supportive and provided some great feedback in preparation of the interview. I received an offer about a week and a bit later. Fantastic! Couldn’t believe it .The Skype interview was a little tricky due to poor connection but the team made me feel at ease and it went very well.

The most challenging part of the process was obtaining managers agreement to verbal references – time difference being the main obstacle. Settled for written references in the end – thank you Accent.

My first impressions of NZ – The earthquake damage in Christchurch was a real shock (we have visited years ago pre 2011 earthquake). Didn’t appreciate how bad things were until we reached the city centre. However NZ people have shown us that life goes on and I admire them for their resilience and optimism.

The best parts of NZ – Christchurch and around….of course. We are thrilled to be living in Sumner. It’s great being near the sea in a small community. Very special in fact.

What I miss the most are our family and friends. We don’t miss our old home. I hate to say it but we do miss the BBC and no advert channels.

My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is to research your chosen destination and familiarise self with the NZ culture – perhaps talk to other people who have worked out here. We travelled NZ for 5 months in 2003/04 so we already had a good idea about the wonderful things on offer.

QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR NEW WORKPLACE

Are there any major differences between your current role in NZ and your previous role in England? Yes – I used to work for the NHS which is very structured and rigid system. I now have the pleasure of working for a relatively new organisation which listens and welcomes ideas from clients and employees. I have recently been invited to participate in some projects to improve and develop services and this is very exciting for me.

Are there any similarities that have helped you orientate/transition easily? Yes, some of the assessments and treatment techniques are the same as back at home and this is very reassuring.

Is there anything specifically done differently in NZ that has interested you and the way you practice your profession? Quick access and communication with other services – very informal – more opportunity to share knowledge and practice.

I would like to start by thanking Kristin and her team at Accent Health Recruitment for all the support, help and guidance they gave us in moving to New Zealand.

We started exploring the possibilities of moving to New Zealand in September 2010, following the announcements by our local Authority of reductions in service provisions. We have two sons, Samuel 11 and William 6 years old, and we had never been to New Zealand before. We spoke to numerous people that had visited or lived there, and read about the country via the internet and books. We discovered that our qualifications and profession were an absolute skill shortage in New Zealand, therefore enabling us to work there.

By then end of October 2010 we had put our house up for sale and sold our caravan. In the first week of November 2010 we had sold our house and had to make the decision to press on with our dream of emigrating, even though we had yet to apply for jobs or a visa. During November and December we applied for several posts without success. We also hit a stumbling block with our visa, as our Diploma in Social Work enabled us to work in New Zealand, but was not worded correctly for Immigration New Zealand to award us maximum points for a visa. This meant that we had to be successful in obtaining a job offer, before our visa application could be processed further. At this point we decided we needed the expertise of a recruiting agency and an Emigration advisor. Philip contacted Emigration advisor to assist with our visa application.

At the beginning of January 11, I contacted Kristin at Accent Health Recruitment to assist us with applying for New Zealand posts and sent her our CVs. The day before we moved out of our house on 13 January 2011, Kristin contacted us with the first two posts that she thought would be suitable. Philip and I had decided that I would try and obtain the initial post, as he wanted a few months break from work. Kristin however persuaded Philip to also apply, as both posts were in Hamilton and it may be some time before this occurred again.

The closing dates were the end of January and so we waited to see if we were shortlisted. We had not heard anything by early February and so Kristin contacted the DHB’s Human Resources, only to find they had misplaced the applications, but would review the CVs immediately. Success! Kristin contacted us to say we had both been shortlisted and the interviews would be 28 February by telephone, by a panel of four interviewers, at 20:00 for me and 21:00 for Philip.

Accent Health Recruitment is based in Christchurch and on the 22 February Christchurch experienced a large earthquake, destroying much of the CBD and Accent Health Recruitment’s new offices. Throughout these harrowing times, Kristin and her team somehow continued their excellent service and support, providing information and advice about our forthcoming interviews.

With Kristin’s help and support, we were both successful at interview and at the beginning of March 2011 we were both offered positions as psychiatric social workers in Hamilton. We were then able to apply to Immigration New Zealand for work visas, which were processed in 4 weeks. Kristin negotiated with our new managers for us to start work in July 2011, as we were required to give three months’ notice.

Kristin’s support did not end here though, she continued to assist us with accommodation, finding us furnished accommodation in Hamilton, with Accent Health Recruitment paying the first week’s rent. Kristin also arranged for two cell phones to be sent to the furnished accommodation and welcomed us with a delightful food hamper. Throughout our journey Kristin, Prudence and the team were always there to answer our questions, provide us with support, encouragement and always with confidence that we would be successful.

We have now been in New Zealand for two and a half months. Both Samuel and William (now 7) love it here, they are both settling in really well and enjoying their schools. They miss their friends in the UK, but have made a number of new school friends, enjoying the new way of life, outside activities and weather.

We heard on 6 September 2011 that our permanent visa applications have been successful, and we are now busy looking to buy a new home. We cannot believe it is almost a year since we started this journey and that we are now living in New Zealand and adjusting to the new way of life. It has been a journey that has had highs and lows, but we do not think it would have been possible without the professionalism, expertise and support of Kristin and her team.

My name is Helen. I am a Physiotherapist and I came to New Zealand with my husband (and our cat) in May 2014. From making the initial decision to come to live in New Zealand to actually arriving in the country took me 14 months, most of which was spent preparing and gaining my New Zealand Physiotherapy Board registration.

The easiest part of the process for me was actually getting our visas (work visas), as we had prepared the paperwork really thoroughly, so once we were in a position to apply we could send the papers straight away. In fact, our visas were granted only a few days after our applications were received.

The most challenging part of the process was obtaining New Zealand registration, mainly because of the volume of paperwork and time involved in preparing the registration application. We also only had a short time between having our visas approved and my agreed start date at work in New Zealand, so that period was quite stressful with lots of things to organise in a short space of time whilst at the same time saying goodbye to family and friends. Fortunately we had expected that this would be the case and I think we were as organised as we could be which made things a bit easier.

Having visited New Zealand on two previous occasions I had an idea of what to expect. My first impressions of Wellington were that it was a friendly, small city but that it had lots of things to do and see. It has lived up to this and we both have busy social lives as well as busy working lives.

So far, the best parts about living in New Zealand are that my daily commute to work is MUCH shorter than in England, which means I have more time in the evening to get out running and doing other activities. The lifestyle is much more outdoors-based and we have found that even with it being winter we are outdoors most weekends. Plus, the craft beer in New Zealand is great (or awesome as they say here!)

Having only been in New Zealand for a couple of months, I don’t think I have had time yet to really miss anything from England, but I do miss my family and friends, although we are starting to meet people here and Skype makes the distance seem shorter. Oh and I do miss central heating a little bit! And Lancashire cheese!

My advice for if you are thinking of coming to New Zealand is that if you need to gain registration to work here, spend the time making your application as thorough as possible, as this will prevent delays with the process. Be as organised as you can be with all your paperwork for both registration and visas and keep copies of everything. Also bring some copies with you as you’ll find that you need copies of your passport etc. for various things on arrival in New Zealand.

Use Accent’ Health Recruitment’s invaluable advice and help throughout the process. I was in touch with them from the very early stages and found Merryl’s help and advice at every step of the process invaluable to making the whole process smoother and less stressful. Accent not only helped with finding me a great job here in New Zealand but also with many other aspects of making the move. It was great to have someone here in New Zealand who I could fire questions at via email, Skype etc. and who ALWAYS gave me the answers.

Finally, if you’re thinking of coming to live and work in New Zealand, go for it! It’s a lot of hard work, time and money to get here and a long way from family and friends but so far we have absolutely no regrets about making the move. We are settling in well and are looking forward to all the things that Kiwi life has to offer.

ABOUT MY JOB IN NZ: My work as a Physiotherapist in New Zealand is based in a private neuro-rehabilitation unit. Back in England I worked as a rotational Physiotherapist in an acute hospital so the setting for my work is very different here in New Zealand and I am a lot more specialised in my work here than I was in England. However, this was something I specifically wanted from a job in New Zealand and Accent has done a fantastic job of finding me my job here.

Coming from the NHS to a privately owned company has been very different in terms of learning about the different ways that clients are funded etc., but essentially the work is similar to the neuro-based work that I did in England. I have found that I am treated as a more senior Physiotherapist here in New Zealand compared to when I was in England and that expectations here are much higher than in England. It has been a steep learning curve for me – on my second day at work I was the sole Physiotherapist on the unit! But I am enjoying every minute so far.

I wanted new challenges in my work and I feel that my employment here in New Zealand has given me these. I feel that working in New Zealand and for the company that I work for will give me much better opportunities to further my career than I would have had in England. Work is a lot less formal than in England and our uniform is much more comfortable to wear! I am looking forward to working closely with my colleagues to develop our service and my career as a Physiotherapist in New Zealand.