Getting ready to hire people from overseas

When preparing to hire overseas workers, you should consider the extra costs that can be involved in hiring someone from overseas. These can include advertising, overseas travel and relocation costs.

Hiring someone from overseas takes patience and perseverance, and can be more complex, costly and time-consuming than hiring locally.

On this page you will find information and tips on hiring workers from overseas and identifying issues and challenges that may not be part of hiring someone locally.

If you are new to hiring workers from overseas, the following information will help you through the process:

• Check that your job vacancy meets the requirements of 1 of the visa categories and find out what you need to do to support a visa application from an overseas person.
• Consider which country or countries you are likely to find suitable candidates in. Take into account things like cultural differences and how well the skills and qualifications from different countries will fit into the New Zealand workplace.
• Some countries have rules and regulations that you may need to consider when hiring.
• Think of creative ways of getting the message out that could increase your reach. For example, working with or through other employers, your industry association, a recruiter or local Economic Development Agency.
• Set realistic timeframes — factor in time for:
  
  • your normal employment processes, like advertising, evaluating CVs, interviewing and checking references
  • visa application processing
  • the overseas worker’s preparations for moving, which may include selling their home, gathering documents for their visa application (such as medical and police certificates) and getting occupational registration, if needed.

Other things to consider when planning to hire someone from overseas include:

• How long will it take to get someone started?
• Who in your business will manage the process?
• What will you do if you get a huge response?

You will want to find the best person for the job and your business. Using effective processes for hiring people from overseas will increase your pool of candidates and maximise the chance of finding the right person.

SkillFinder is a free online tool that connects New Zealand employers with skilled workers overseas who have expressed an interest in living and working in New Zealand.

Connecting you with skilled workers overseas using Skillfinder

Hiring overseas workers has many benefits. Diversity helps bring a range of opinions, problem-solving skills, insights and connections to a team. This could lead to higher productivity and better outcomes for your business.

Diversity Works New Zealand (formerly the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust) publishes information about the benefits that diversity can bring to your organisation.

Diversity Works New Zealand

It is important to check your job advertising for slang and colloquial language. Some potentially confusing words and phrases, like ‘think outside the box’ or ‘can-do attitude’, are very common but can be a barrier to understanding for many newcomers. These phrases add little to the description of the job, or the skills required.

Write a clear, realistic and specific job description that workers will understand. Include key details such as the nature of the job, leave provisions, wage and a clear job title. People from overseas will also be interested to know whether you are offering a relocation package, and if so, what is included.

One way a business can avoid bias in their hiring process is to use blind reviewing when assessing CVs. This means getting a person independent of the hiring process to remove applicant names from applications before they are assessed. This avoids unconscious stereotyping and makes sure the focus stays on what matters — the experience and skills needed to the job well.

A few tips for evaluating CVs:

• Look at the relevance of the applicant’s skills and experience.
• Think about the value the person could bring to the wider organisation.
• Consider diversity when shortlisting candidates.

Pre-employment guidelines — Human Rights Commission

Workers from the Philippines are increasingly important to a number of New Zealand employers wanting to fill labour and skill shortages. When you hire workers from the Philippines, you must follow the legal requirements of both the New Zealand and Philippines Governments.

Hiring overseas workers from the Philippines