A large pool of skilled migrants remain undiscovered by potential employers until they are helped to present their expertise in a way that Kiwi businesses can relate to.

 

There are so many skilled migrant jobseekers who often just need assistance with presenting their qualifications, skills and experience to potential employers says Migrant Employment Co-ordinator, Jude Ryan-O’Dea.

 

This includes discussing job expectations, advising on relevant upskilling courses and writing curriculum vitae (CVs) and letters of application that are appropriate in the NZ context. This will assist them to get a fairer hearing. Some migrants will write, “I would be honoured to work for your prestigious company”, which is not necessarily appropriate in the NZ context.

 

Many migrants focus too much on qualifications when practical skills and work experience are often considered as important by many employers.

 

“At the end of the day, their applications can be overlooked because a lot of them have really good skills that aren’t detailed in their CVs while they are putting such emphasis on their qualifications.”

 

It’s equally important not to present a CV that is over-inflated, and Jude Ryan-O’Dea will quiz migrant jobseekers on anything that seems exaggerated. “I don’t let them pull the wool over my eyes. I advise them to be honest and only include facts in their CVs, as any information given that isn’t for real might cost them a job opportunity especially if they reach the interview stage.”

 

JudeRyan-O’Dea works for the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce (CECC), connecting migrants and refugees with some of the 4000 employers on the CECC database. The CECC aims to address Canterbury’s skills shortage, which is acute in certain areas. Ryan-O’Dea works hard marketing her migrant employment programme to potential employers and breaking down barriers and perceptions that many employers may have towards migrants and refugees in the workplace.

 

“It’s been interesting because you could go to one company and they may be hesitant or maybe have never considered employing a migrant or refugee in their workplace. But they’ll take on one, and after some time they will employ others.”

 

The CECC migrant employment programme has placed over 350 migrants and refugees since it began three years ago.

 

For migrants with specific skills, it’s often a case of introducing a jobseeker to an employer in a specific industry. Ryan-O’Dea aims to match jobs with migrant jobseeker skills listed on her database. Usually she sends the employer the migrant’s CV with a letter of introduction attached explaining that the person is part of her migrant and refugee job placement programme. She invites them to meet the person or call her to arrange an introduction. “I get [the jobseekers] to email letters to me first so I can check them and then make sure they’re applying for the right kind of job.”

 

Ryan-O’Dea spends a lot of her time talking to her clients about their job expectations and courses they can undertake to upskill. “If you’re an accountant from downtown Delhi it is often beneficial to upskill by enrolling in an appropriate course. For instance the MYOB payroll course is quite a good entry level step into an office environment from where they can progress.Or if you’re an engineer you may need to know about NZ building codes and regulations.”

 

Migrants with a New Zealand qualification get jobs more easily than those relying on overseas qualifications. “I’ve had less trouble getting jobs for students who have graduated from our universities.”

 

In the past, Ryan-O’Dea has experienced difficulties with people brought in under the old general skills category, some of whom came in via “dubious” immigration consultants who charged them a lot of money and often gave them inaccurate information and advice on the ease of obtaining work.

 

The new “skilled migrant” category, where people have a job offer first, is a much fairer system, she says. “Before, It was very unfair bringing people here, when they’d got a degree but often no work experience, because many of them didn’t have a hope of getting a job just based on their degree. So now with the need to have a job offer first, it’s definitely a lot fairer to migrants. Under the ‘old’ system some people arrived with very high expectations and quickly became disillusioned when they could not obtain jobs based on their qualifications.”

 

The Canterbury Migrant Employment Programme is funded from two streams: The Department of Labour’s Settlement Division funds the skilled migrants and Work and Income New Zealand funds the unskilled migrants and refugees.