Caring about Rotorua people and places is essential to the role. Photo / Andrew Warner
No experience needed, contract or temp work and a potential pay packet of just shy of $166,000 a year. What sounds like the perfect line of work for Rotorua jobhunters is being advertised on Seek.
But this is no everyday opportunity.
Rotorua Lakes Council has taken the novel approach of advertising its 19 elected member positions, to be filled through October’s local government elections, on the online job board.
The listing went live this month and asked for “everyday legends” to stand for a variety of positions.
The job ad lists the roles of mayor, 10 councillors and eight community board members as up for grabs – the catch being that to be successful, applicants would need to be voted in on election day, October 11.
In a rarity for a job listing in 2025, no required experience was specified, just a “strong desire” to serve the community.
You must also be a New Zealand citizen, over 18 and on the electoral roll, and able to commit time for meetings, reading and other events.
“No suit or political jargon required,” read the listing. “Just a genuine passion for our people and places.”
The ability to guide major decisions on topics such as housing, roads, parks, events, the environment and district growth is listed among the responsibilities of the roles.
Other favourable abilities included listening, debating and “just generally getting stuff done”.
The apply button links to election and candidate information on the council’s website.
“We’re always looking for new ways to encourage more people to vote and stand in local body elections and the Seek advertisement is something additional we’ve tried for the first time,” said Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Andrew Moraes.
“We’re not the first council to do this.”
Auckland Council has done the same on the LinkedIn jobs page for this year’s elections.
Tauranga City Council’s “now hiring” ads for its extraordinary election in 2024 attracted three complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, claiming they were misleading. The authority dismissed the complaints.
Candidate nominations for the election must be in by midday on Friday.
At present, only 15 official nominations have been announced. Others, such as Mayor Tania Tapsell and several other councillors, had yet to formally apply but had signalled their intent to do so.
Even with those known to be standing included, the tally would be just 20, compared to the 43 overall who stood for election in 2022.
Moraes was not concerned.
“Generally speaking, there is a rush on nominations in the final days and we expect that will be the case again this year.”
Local Government New Zealand advised prospective candidates to get their applications in early.
“We know from past elections that many candidates choose to wait until the final week to submit their nominations,” said chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene.
“We strongly encourage candidates not to leave things to the last day, to allow time for information to be checked and any issues resolved.”
The independent Remuneration Authority sets pay rates for elected members.
If an applicant toppled Tapsell and took Rotorua council’s top job, they could stand to earn just under $166,000 a year, based on 2024/25 rates.
A position as deputy mayor, deputy chair of council or committee chair pays about $149,000 annually.
Deputy co-chair of either the Community and District Development Committee or the Infrastructure and Environment Committee pays just over $101,000.
Councillors with no additional responsibilities are paid about$62,000-$67,500 a year, while those elected to lakes or rural community boards make about $9000-$10,000, or $18,000-$21,000 as chairperson.
Rotorua voters will elect a mayor, one rural ward councillor, six general ward councillors, three Māori ward councillors, four Rotorua Lakes Community Board members and four Rotorua Rural Community Board members.
Voting is open from September 9 until noon on October 11.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.