Aucklanders packing up to seek work in the Bay

Claudia Nelson

MORE Aucklanders are searching for jobs in the Bay, according to local recruitment agencies - one noticing a three-fold increase in inquiries in two months.

The news comes as new seek.co.nz figures show the Bay of Plenty is the fastest growing region for new job ads, TradeMe reports an 18 per cent increase in applications for Tauranga jobs over two months and NZ Post figures show a 70 per cent increase in movement from Auckland to the Western Bay.

Claudia Nelson, director of recruitment agency The Right Staff in Tauranga, said there had been a significant increase in inquiries from Aucklanders in the past four to six weeks.

The majority of the inquiries were from people wanting to know what the market was like and how easy or hard it was to find work.

About two-thirds of those people had already decided to move down and were looking for work, in some cases when their partner had already found a job in Tauranga, and the other third were still deciding and scoping out the job market before committing to the move, Mrs Nelson said. Most of the Aucklanders getting in touch were well qualified in industries in the average to above-average salary bracket.

"They're often quite well qualified but Tauranga is a very specific work market and sometimes they just don't match.

"Generally, there's an over-supply of qualified people moving in and not enough roles for them - or just not the right kind of skills to match."

There were 329 jobs listed in Tauranga on seek.co.nz this week, which was still concerning, Mrs Nelson said.

"For a region like Tauranga, I don't think that's very many ... That represents jobs in all industries and all pay levels, so if you're just one person with your set of skills there's probably only a handful you can apply for."

She would receive about 50 applications for most jobs and up to 100 for administration roles in a two- to three-week listing time.

1st Call Recruitment managing director Phill van Syp said Aucklanders showing interest in the Bay was an annual trend leading into summer.

However, this year the trend was boosted by the competitive Auckland housing market, which was encouraging Aucklanders to look elsewhere if they could find a job.

"Tauranga is starting to get bigger. Those bigger jobs are starting to pop up here and there and that's helping attract people here. You just have to look at Tauriko and see all the growth out there ... There's some great opportunities here and it's not stopping."

He said it was all a reflection of a growing city with a lot of attractive assets.

A NZ Post spokesperson said requested changes of address in the past two months from the Auckland district to the Western Bay and Tauranga City districts had increased by 70 per cent compared with the same time last year. The 189 requests was also a 4 per cent jump from the two months prior.

Seek.co.nz reported the first nine months of activity in the Bay's employment market was up 9 per cent compared with the same time last year, suggesting it was Aucklanders looking further afield.

"Latest data from Seek shows while Auckland remains the main centre for underlying growth of new job ads across the country, Bay of Plenty's recent performance demonstrates to jobseekers that looking beyond the Bombays could be a viable next career move," a statement said.