In March of this year, I began a new role at Tyler Wren offering support to our overseas candidates, in order to make their transition from their home country to New Zealand a positive experience.
By offering a friendly welcome with home-made fudge and biscuits, along with practical advice and city orientation, I try to answer all queries and answer questions tailor-made to candidates’ requirements. This can be anything from helping with school zones for parents, picking them up from the airport to supplying a “starter kit” for their new property.
We have welcomed over 20 new people who have been placed by Tyler Wren to date this year, and we have a further 8 in the process going to five different regions of New Zealand.
A few good tips for settling in:
- Don’t rush into a long-term rental – get to know the area where your work is and assess the transport routes, cutting down on commute time means more opportunity to explore your local area and familiarise yourself.
- Finding interest groups, sports teams or if you are religious, a community that suits your faith so that you can meet like-minded people in a community outside of work. We also have a large network of contacts from all walks of life to introduce you to if you want support to do this; we often organise small activities to get people together.
- Taking photos of yourself participating in activities, picnics, places you visit. Pinning them up on the fridge and around the house to help make memories and give you a feeling of belonging.
- Don’t try to organise everything at once when you arrive, have a good rest and a walk, remember why you are here and get to know your immediate surroundings. Give yourself a week before you start your new job to get the basics sorted (bank and phone, IRD number) and get over your jet-lag.
- Understand you may feel excited to start, then overwhelmed with new information and don’t be too hard on yourself. Ask for help, Kiwis are friendly and willing to offer support.
The feedback that we have received from our new Kiwis is that the first 3 months are tough, but after that, it gets easier by the day. None of them regrets their decision to move to NZ and almost all are planning to stay on and be here for the long term.
Article by Leonie Stapleton – Kiwi Mum