My Move to New Zealand
Today’s about my move to New Zealand. In today’s episode, I share a personal story about my Dad’s decision to move the whole family to New Zealand, in 1995. I also share tips on how you can optimize your CVs for jobs overseas, hopefully these tips will help you get hired overseas. Download more tips from www.englishmadesimple.net/CV. Enjoy :)
Episodes mentioned
[143] To Start From Zero – English Expression
YOUR CV CHECKLIST – click here!
GET JOB READY 3 week coaching program – click here!
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Transcript (My Move to New Zealand)
Hey guys, you are listening to the English Made Simple show, this is episode number 1-4-4, number one hundred and forty four, numero ciento cuarenta y cuatro.
Hey amigos y amigas, welcome to the English Made Simple show, my name is Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net, www.englishmadesimple.net.
Today’s episode is a very special episode. It’s special to me. I want to talk about something that I am really passionate about.
I want to share a story about me that you might not have heard me talk about before. I don’t think I had shared it before.
And what is this story Milena? What’s the story about? What do you want to talk to us about?
The story is about my move to New Zealand.
And then at the end of the episode I have a gift for you and I want you to take action. So stay tuned until the end of the show.
Great, now let me begin by sharing my personal story, it’s to do with me and my family and our move to New Zealand.
Here it goes…
In the summer of 1991, my Dad made the hardest decision of his life. He had decided to move the whole family to New Zealand. And guess what…there’s of 5 of us. My Mum, Dad, my brother, my twin sister and me. I am the youngest!
Why New Zealand?
According to my Dad, he told me that the Government of New Zealand had been inviting professionals from all around the world to immigrate to NZ around that time.
Both my Dad and Mum had good jobs in Serbia, my Dad was a Senior Systems Analyst, he was high up in the company, my Mum worked in Supply Chain. Both of my parents had good education and they had intermediate level of English. Just to give you an idea of their English level, they could both read and write in English but they really needed to practise speaking English. Which was fine…That was the level of English they had back then.
So my Dad saw an opportunity to move to New Zealand, he was looking for a better life for his family. And that was the main reason for our move really. You see, the economic situation wasn’t great in Serbia in the 90’s, life was hard. But my Dad was determined to make a better life for his wife and kids, and for himself of course.
Just to let you know, the process of getting the Permanent Residence wasn’t easy, it took about a year. It was a long and expensive process. But we got it, in the end!
In May of 1995, we finally got the visa and moved to New Zealand.
By the way, we didn’t know ANYONE in New Zealand. Nobody.
We had to start from scratch. Remember guys, we learnt this expression in the last episode, episode #143. What it means to start from scratch…
I remember, we were so excited, especially us the kids, to be moving to New Zealand yet we were anxious as well.
My Mum and Dad were both optimistic about finding a job in their professions, they were excited with the prospect of starting a new life in New Zealand and being able to provide for their kids.
They were scared as well, but they were willing to put in the effort. Do whatever was necessary to find a job.
Looking back, I think my parents were a bit naïve. And you know what, I don’t blame them. I was in their shoes as well, after my University days, trying to find a job, I was naïve too back then.
So after a couple of months of settling in, in NZ, looking for a place to rent, getting kids enrolled into school, opening bank accounts, everything that we had taken for granted back in Serbia, we had to do it again but in a different country. We had to start all over again. So after a couple of months of settling in and organizing everything, my Mum and Dad decided to look for a job.
We thought it was easy… but it was not!
More on my move to New Zealand
Here is what my Mum and Dad didn’t know about job hunting in New Zealand.
· They didn’t understand the recruitment process in New Zealand first of all
· They didn’t know that looking for a job is a full time job in itself, it requires a lot of effort
· They didn’t know how to write their own CVs, what to include in the CVs
· They didn’t know how to prepare themselves for job interviews
· Plus, they have interesting names, foreign sounding names, they didn’t know how to spell their names over the phone
And the list goes on.
We had so many embarrassing stories, stories that would make you cringe, make your face go red with embarrassment. Like for example, after numerous tries to spell her name over the phone, my Mum gave up in the end and she just hung up the phone in the middle of the phone interview. She was exhausted and frustrated. She just hung up the phone and couldn’t take it anymore.
Whaaat? What happened?
Whenever we think about these time, epscially the embarrassing moments, well…nowadays we just laugh, we laugh about it but I can tell you, it wasn’t funny back then.
I remember, Mum was embarrassed, she broke down, she was in tears, and she completely lost confidence in finding work at all.
And you know what guys?
It took my Mum and Dad 2 years to find a job.
Two years!
They did have some odd jobs here and there – just part time jobs to get by, but not a permanent full time job that they wanted to have.
Now when I think about it, when it came to job hunting for my Mum and Dad, they actually didn’t know who to approach for help, they didn’t have the right guidance – they were learning it the hard way, all by themselves.
Anyway, that was back then. Now let’s fast forward to 2017.
It took my husband 1 month to get a job in Australia.
My husband emigrated from Chile to live in Australia and it took him less time to find a job here than what it had taken my Mum and Dad.
And might I add that the recruitment process is the same in Australia and New Zealand.
So you might ask yourselves, why did it take my husband 1 month to land a job in Australia?
Funny you should ask! He had me first of all. He was able to lean on my expertise and guidance. I have experience with job search, I worked for various companies, and I used to work for a recruitment company before. So I was able to teach him how to write his CV, how to write the Cover letter, how to write emails to send to the recruitments agents and how to best answer job interview questions.
It’s interesting that most immigrants don’t think about this before they move overseas. They take things for granted, they think getting a job will be easy for some reason.
What they don’t know is that looking for jobs can be as stressful as applying for a Visa. Looking for a job is a full time job in itself as I said. It can take a lot of time just to prepare.
So having said this, I would like to make the process of finding a job super easy for you.
What I would like to do now, is share 3 important things you must have in your CV when you are looking for work in Australia or New Zealand.
Just so you know, your CV is the first thing the hiring manager or recruiter sees before they even invite you for the interview. The main goal of the CV is to get you that first interview.
When the hiring manager looks at your CV they only have less than 6 seconds to decide whether you are going through to the next stage or not. If you think about it and put yourself in recruiter’s shoes, the recruiters .. they are busy, they look at hundreds of CVs a day… So let’s make it easy for them to find you.
That’s why I’ve decided to share these 3 tips with you today on how you can optimize your CV. If you’d like you can listen to this episode again, take your CVs out and check if your CV has the following:
First of all,
· How long is your name? How many names do you have?
You can put your full name on the CV but make sure the person who is reading your CV knows what to call you. This applies to us who have foreign sounding names. So if you have 3 names like Enrique Martín Morales. You can simply write on your CV Preferred name: Ricky Martin. You should keep in mind to include your First Name and your Last name, ideally you should have 2 names written in your CV, so you can make it easy for the hiring manager what your first name is, what to call you.
The second thing to note down:
· Does your CV have all the relevant sections? Apart from education and work experience, Does it have a section for your Career Objectives? Does it have a section called Professional Summary?
This is the second thing the recruiters will see after your name. This section must be written in such a way to convince the hiring manager that you are the right person for the job and that they should continue reading the rest of your CV… ok?
Another thing you can include in your CV is the following:
· Are you a member of any groups/organisations outside of work that could be relevant to the job you are applying for?
List all the groups you are a member of. If you belong to any special groups in IT, mining or engineering industries then put them down in the CV. List the relevant groups to the job you are applying for. Also, if you had any volunteering [experience] in the past, include it in your CV as long as it’s relevant to the job. This will make you stand out from the crowd. It will make you stand out from all the other candidates.
Remember, when you are writing your CV don’t be scared to show off. This is your time to shine. You are the best at what you do, so show it in the CV.
Great, and the last tip that I want to mention, I want to ask you something…
· Do you have a LinkedIn profile? Great! Is it in English? By the way, it’s pronounced LinkedIn not LinkED in.
It’s important to have a LinkedIn profile if you are looking for work overseas, especially in Australia or New Zealand.
Awesome, I hope you were able to follow me so far amigos y amigas.
You know what guys, I am feeling very generous today! What I’ve done is I prepared a CV checklist for you so you can optimize your own CVs, simply go to www.englishmadesimple.net/cv to download your FREE CV Checklist.
This is available just for the listeners of the English Made Simple show. So, go to my website, www.www.englishmadesimple.net/cv to get more tips.
There will be more tips than what I’ve shared with you today…
There will be a link to the Free Checklist in the description of today’s episode – You can find the link in there as well.
I would also like to let you know that I am running a 3 week training program called Get Job Ready this is starting on 23 October. The program will make you Job Ready in Australia and New Zealand, so that you don’t have to struggle like my parents did.
At the end of the program, you’ll have 1 CV completed, and you will write it in English by yourself, you will find 3 jobs you can start sending your CVs to, and you’ll have me beside you to guide you and train you.
This program is for you if you are looking to advance in your career, if you are looking to apply for jobs in Australia or New Zealand. And it’s only for people who are serious, committed and who like to take action.
To find out more about the Get Job Ready program go to www.englishmadesimple.net/job
Do you have a friend or know someone who is moving to New Zealand or Australia? I’m sure you do! Do them a favour and share this episode with them today. Help them out!
By the way, you don’t have to be living in NZ or Australia to do this program with me. This is an online coaching program. You can do it from anywhere in the world.
And remember guys it starts on 23 October and it runs for 3 weeks. It’s only available to a small group of people, I like to work with a small group of people, a group of 10. If you’d like to learn more about this program, go to www.englishmadesimple.net/job and you can read more about it in there.
Great! I hope you enjoyed the episode today. I hope you found today’s episode useful.
Don’t forget to download the Free CV Checklist, use it to optimize your CV at home. Go to www.englishmadesimple.net/cv to get a copy of the [Free CV Checklist.]
Awesome, thanks for joining me today guys. You’ve been jamming with Milena from English Made Simple, you’ve been an awesome audience as usual, until next time, hasta la proxima!