KEY POINTS:
If you're heading to the UK for an OE and wanting to secure employment before you leave - don't bother.
There are so many jobs, both professional and non-professional, that kiwis will not be left wanting.
Katrina Savage, branch sales manager for STA Travel-Working Holidays, says people seeking
work in a café, pub or temping in an office, should be able to land a job within their first three days on the ground.
"We don't have anyone come home who can't find a job. There is plenty of work over there. You're not going to have a problem getting a job."
Most casual staff go over on a British Working Holiday Visa which allows people to work for 12 months out of their two years in the UK. While you may not need to look for work before you leave New Zealand, you do need to get a jump on the airfares.
"I've got a lot of kids ringing me now and wanting to go in June, July or August. Cheap seats are hard to get. I've been doing this for six years and flights are just getting busier."
It's best to book your tickets at least six months in advance to find a good airfare, especially if you're going in peak season.
If you're looking for professional employment during your OE, it's best to go in on a Highly Skilled Migrant Visa because they are renewable.
UK companies are grabbing up candidates as fast as they can in finance, accounting, banking, law, IT, sales and marketing, human resources and engineering. Simon Swallow, CEO at Global Career Link, says kiwis can expect a salary roughly 82 per cent higher in the UK.
"An IT project manager who might be earning $80,000 in New Zealand might go to the UK and be earning £55,000."
And even for these jobs, trying to find a placement before you leave is not the best strategy. Swallow says it's "a royal waste of time" to look for a UK job on the internet. Being on the ground, he says, is everything.
"Only three per cent of people will get a job before they arrive in the UK. It may be less. Employers simply won't hire sight unseen in the UK."
Your CV might be written in English but you'll need to translate it for the UK. UK CVs tend to be shorter and formatted differently. For instance, the UK's Age Discrimination Act means you do not need to reveal your age on your CV. And just because you've worked for the largest company in your field in New Zealand, don't expect anyone in London to have ever heard of them. UK employers are more formal and adhere to strict credit and reference checks.
"Anything that's on your CV you need to have referenced in the UK. A lot of the employers simply won't do that until you're in the UK."
About the only time candidates can secure employment before arriving is if the employer has come to New Zealand and run a road show or a job fair. But Swallow insists it's standard practice to enter the UK with no job prospects at all.
"It they're half decent at what they do, they'll get a job within a couple of weeks. To be reasonably blunt about it, if they've got a degree and a pulse, they'll take them."
Swallow says his research shows that the average accountant stands a 95 per cent chance of being placed by the first four agencies they see.
"The first one that you go and see will probably lock you in a room and ring around all their clients saying,'I've got a really hot accountant. You need to see them now."'
Most people take a professional OE once they're three to five years out of university. These candidates fit into the heart of the UK's chronic skill shortage. Anyone with any experience in the financial services industry is likely to be snatched up first but anyone with skills will not be left out. Swallow is so keen to keep in touch with his recruits that he's giving them SIMs.
"We'll give away SIM cards to candidates who are going over before they arrive in the UK so that we know what their UK phone numbers are."
And it's not just in London where jobs are hot. Katherine Hall, Frog Recruitment's development manager for New Zealand and the UK says candidates are venturing outside the main centres as companies outsource to outlying businesses.
"Kiwis are looking to different places like Dublin, Cardiff, Edinburgh and places a bit further a field for a different experience. It's not all about going to London."
But one thing Hall recommends is that if you plan on returning to New Zealand, make sure the experience you're gaining is going to be useful back home.
"When you come back here, you've got to think about how those skills transfer into a role that you might be doing here."
