To date 80% of skilled immigrants who complete the OMEGA Mentoring Programme find relevant employment in New Zealand.  OMEGA is pleased to capture some of their stories to show both the incredible determination in their search for the right job, and the valuable contribution that their mentors make to this process.

Migrating to the Right Job – May 2010

(taken from Professionelle website)

Finding the right job is often a challenge.  If you are a professional migrant to New Zealand, however, that challenge grows enormously, and requires unusual depths of perseverance and courage to succeed.  Here, Ruth Osborne from OMEGA shares the story of Toni Pasay, an experienced HR professional from the Philippines.  With support from her OMEGA mentor, Toni got a toehold on the employment ladder, ultimately co-creating with her employer the role that would secure her residency.

Help for the Long Haul - March 2010

What drew Jonathan 'Woody' Ramirez to relocate his life from the Philippines to New Zealand was simply the promise of a better life.  He had excellent experience of fifteen years and thought that he would easily be able to get a job.  However, the promise of a better life dwindled as he and his mentor had to keep their hopes up over eight challenging months before finding the right job.  Woody comments:  “Getting a visa in the Philippines is not landing a job in New Zealand!” 

Focussed Quality rather than Quantity - November 2009

With a total of sixteen years in IT and IT management in the Philippines, Ben Lim learned through his mentor, that the best approach to finding an appropriate job in New Zealand, was to focus his application process on suitable roles. Within a few weeks of doing this, he landed a substantial role as ICT Operations and Client Service Manager at North Tec in Whangarei.

Interview Preparation - October 2009

“If I remove the input I've had and imagine what I would've been like, I would probably still be looking for work.  It made a big difference…”, comments Vaughan Granier an HR manager who arrived in Auckland from Dubai last year.  His mentor helped him recalibrate his interview style to suit the Kiwi approach.

Energy in the Interview Room - September 2009 

Nevril Rebello, a research scientist from the United Kingdom and India started looking for work in New Zealand in March 2009.  He was recently appointed as a Production Documentation Specialist with a pharmaceutacal company, and credits his mentor Steve Moss, a Business Improvement Facilitator, with assisting him to develop his confidence and energy for the interview, making all the difference. 

(with thanks to Helen Robertson for the photograph)