Bridging The Ditch

Can the New Zealand labour market bridge the gap with our Australian counterparts?  After spending a week in Sydney for work and contemplating this question, the answer would have to be “no”.  Not because there is a perceived wage gap but because the markets are totally different. Take away the mining jobs in the middle of nowhere, Australia has more scale and this drives more opportunity.  New Zealand will never have this scale nor in some cases do we want it.  Australian society is a lot harsher and more competitive and there are high demands placed on individuals with little tolerance.  The current battles over the Labour party leadership and cricket captaincy are long, drawn-out and bloody affairs.

While keeping our young away from the bright lights of Sydney is proving to be too much of a challenge, there is an opportunity to attract older talent back to our shores.  Those where the busy hectic lifestyle is starting to wear thin and the hour and a half commute has become a killer.  These are the people that bring back the wider experience of working in a larger, more diverse market and value the work/life balance New Zealand can offer.  Returning expats have many advantages to prospective employers as they generally do not request relocation costs and there are no issues with work permits or temporary accommodation.

So with the wide spread use now of online employment sites like Trade Me Jobs and Seek, remember that there is an overseas-based target market looking for the opportunity to return as it is easy to forget this and limit your thinking to just the local market. Think about the key life style advantages that your role can offer around working hours and location and this, on top of the work place opportunities may be enough to gain an application from a highly skilled expat. 

^DB