Mentors' skills help migrants

New Zealand firms are urged to make the most of skilled immigrants who choose to settle here. Photo / Sarah Ivey

This Friday is International Migrants' Day, a time to celebrate the contribution immigrants make. But what are the steps businesses can take to ensure New Zealand finds itself in a win-win situation?

Vaughan Granier, an HR manager who arrived recently from Dubai, has a story that many skilled immigrant professionals share.

Despite a great CV and international experience, he at first found it very hard to find appropriate work, sending out more than 80 CVs. The advice he got was that in Auckland's smaller job market, a major factor for success was to network.

"The job market I have come from has never relied on networks for sourcing employment. In New Zealand it is very much a relationship-based environment."

So Granier shifted his approach. "Initially I applied just through websites. I stopped doing that and I started meeting people, going to their offices, asking for time, making a point of direct contact, so that if my CV ever arrived on their desk, they had a face and personality they could match it to.

"Although I can't directly say that is what made a difference, it was a significant shift in how I was approaching the job market."

When Granier did apply for his present position through Seek, the recruiter handling the appointment had already met him. Granier also joined a professional association, and a more informal network of qualified HR professionals. Through these groups, by reading extensively on workplace practice and law, and by meeting with a mentor, he rapidly developed local knowledge of the HR sector.

Granier's experience shows how hard it can be for well-qualified and skilled immigrants to find suitable work and make a genuine contribution to the economy. The big picture is that New Zealand does not make the best use of the skilled immigrants who choose to settle here.

According to the OECD, International Migration Outlook (2007) "nearly 50 per cent of all skilled migrants to New Zealand [are] inactive, unemployed or confined to jobs for which they are over-qualified".

Some of Auckland's leading business people, including David Rankin of Auckland City Council and Chris Quin of Gen-I, have signed up to do something about this, by volunteering in a mentoring programme initiated by the organisation OMEGA.

OMEGA director Justin Treagus says, "While many new skilled immigrants can and do manage to navigate their way through the unique job-entry barriers they face here, it may take them many months; months where they are unemployed and confidence is eroded.

"By linking them with someone who knows the landscape, it is that much easier for them to apply locally-appropriate strategies to their job-search. We find that over 80 per cent of the skilled immigrants who are mentored through OMEGA's programmes, find work relevant to their qualifications and experience."

The Mentoring Programme matches people who share the same skills and industry knowledge. Mentors make a commitment of 16 hours over 16 weeks.

"Essentially the mentor provides the skilled immigrant with a bespoke point of reference," said Treagus. "Because the local person knows their sector, they are able to provide guidance, suggestions and moral support."

The business people who have signed on as mentors have accepted a collective responsibility to ensure skilled immigration benefits New Zealand. Recognising and retaining skilled immigrants and the diversity they offer to the workplace helps ensure a productive and vibrant country.

A recent Department of Labour study showed that immigrants contributed 68 per cent more in taxes than they received in benefits. For local-born New Zealanders the corresponding figure is 13 per cent.

Overall the immigrant population had a positive net fiscal impact of $3.3 billion in 2005-06, compared to New Zealand-born population at $2.8 billion. Treagus believes this evidence is compelling and is asking Auckland's professionals to make a contribution: "With International Migrants' Day this week, mentoring a skilled immigrant can be a way to make a difference."

An Information Breakfast about the OMEGA Mentoring Programme will be held on Friday, December 18; see www.omega.org.nz

Overcoming barriers

1. No local experience: This is the single greatest job entry barrier for skilled immigrants new to Auckland.

2. Little social capital: New arrivals find themselves with knowledge gaps on local market information for their sector. Further, they do not know how to go about accessing professional networks, or even realise that many parts of the Kiwi job market place a high value on who, rather than what, you know.

3. Specialists vs generalists: Many immigrants with specialist skills take time to work out that they must become generalists. They find that many workplaces call for a spread of general skills, and struggle to offer this or even make the transition to a different way of working.

4. Lack of local lingo: Many skilled immigrants take some time to change the way they market themselves, and sometimes have to adopt a more personable style of communicating their skills and experience.

Ways to beat them

1. Update your CV with local experience: It might mean taking a lesser or slightly different role, but the aim is to gain local experience and then re-start your career. Through the next two points you will gain the chance to offer local references.

2. Volunteer: Everybody needs an excuse to get out of bed. Volunteer your skills and experience in not-for-profits to build your networks and bolster your local experience.

3. Go temping: The right job hasn't turned up? Become a temp and prove your skills and experience. You will continue to earn an income, and at the same time prove your worth to a company that might want you back.

4. Go out: Take a break from job hunting via computer and actively try to meet fellow professionals and potential employers. Nothing beats face-to-face encounters in New Zealand.