KEY POINTS:
For many New Zealanders, the return home from years overseas can be a struggle as they battle with boredom, what they see as narrow-mindedness at home and the fact that no one cares that much about their travel photos.
And many are tempted to leave again, adding to
New Zealand's brain drain, a Waikato researcher has found.
Waikato University school of management PhD student Naomi Walter-Pocock said for many Kiwis the return home could be a bizarre and sometimes lonely experience.
"New Zealand changes while they're away and they've changed too so when they come back it seems unfamiliar and strange to them.
"It depends what stage of life people are at, but for those wanting parties and all the excitement of a single lifestyle they had in London, this really is quite a shock for them," she said.
Mrs Walter-Pocock decided to research what it was like for people coming home from their OE after she returned from her own adventures in Europe a couple of years ago and found there was a lack of support for people like herself.
She visited and talked to more than 30 returnees and some of their "affected significant others" throughout the North Island.
She found many of them battled with what they saw as their homeland's "island mentality".
"They say we're in our own little world. They often cite what's in the news ... and these people, who now have a more global perspective, are like, 'Who cares about this stuff ?' "
Department of Labour figures show there are about 460,000 New Zealand-born expatriates.
The Government has been encouraging them to come home, and in the year to December, 23,000 New Zealanders returned after having lived overseas for a year or more.
Mrs Walter-Pocock said many returnees found it difficult to relate their experiences to friends and family who hadn't travelled.
Many said recruitment companies often valued only what they did before leaving New Zealand and not the skills or experience they had gained while away.
"It's a real frustration that this experience overseas isn't recognised. A lot of recruitment companies see their only value being that they're not going to leave again, when in many cases the reverse is true," said Mrs Walter-Pocock, who worked in the IT industry in London and Switzerland during her own OE.
In many cases returnees got itchy feet within the first six months and although no statistics are available, Mrs Walter-Pocock was certain people were leaving.
"It's a natural part of the transition to question your decision to return and nearly everyone goes through it," she said.
"I don't think we can say house prices are driving people overseas on their return but certainly a lot of people do find it hard to get ahead - especially if they haven't brought back a huge deposit.
"People certainly don't come back here to get rich."
She said some long-term travellers returned to New Zealand with unrealistic expectations about how breezy things were likely to be.
The situation wasn't helped by a Department of Labour drive trying to lure expatriates back home with an "overly positive" spin on how things are.
"I spoke to one guy who came back because of that campaign. The campaign said Auckland had changed and it's this vibrant place compared to what it was 10 years ago.
"That may be true but it's not vibrant like, say, London is and the guy came back and thought, 'Oh my God, what the hell have I done?' "
Travellers needed to question why they really wanted to come home again.
"Sure it does have fantastic elements to it and most people are initially happy to see their family and friends again but people should have realistic expectations and focus on their reasons to return."
The Department of Labour did not have statistics on the number of New Zealanders who return but choose not to settle and move back overseas.
A spokeswoman said New Zealanders returned for "myriad reasons often unique to individual or family circumstances" but lifestyle rather than financial gain was a driving factor for many.
The department's NZ Now website (www.newzealandnow.info) gives information about living and working in New Zealand and is aimed primarily at Kiwis living overseas.
It has had more than 1.16 million hits since it started in November 2005.
The department also has marketing efforts in Europe, the United States and Australia. Nearly 16,000 Britons have registered their interest in working in New Zealand since October last year and a similar number of Americans said they'd be interested.
SUMMER RETURN MADE IT EASIER TO SLOT BACK IN
Like thousands of New Zealanders, Lenny Kumitau lived and worked in London as part of his overseas experience.
A journalist before his trip to the UK in 2002, Mr Kumitau worked in administration at St Clements Hospital in East London and had a variety of other positions working in museums around London.
Now a media manager at Unitec in Auckland, the 31-year-old returned to New Zealand at the end of 2004.
Was it difficult to re-settle in New Zealand?
Yeah it was. Life in London was very, very fast and it is one of those places that chews you up and spits you out.
You kind of get caught up in that and then you come back here and it's kind of off the pace, it's hard to get used to. You'd find your friends had settled down and their priorities had changed and you were still on that buzz of being away overseas.
My friends and I used to catch up at the local pub, sometimes five or six times a week, whereas over here it was a bit different because you would see some of your mates once every two weeks.
You also had to travel to the other side of the city, and you were always wary of drink-driving. So it was tough in that sense.
Did you find recruitment companies didn't value what you had learned overseas ?
I didn't really go through a recruitment company to get my first job back here [at an NZ Post call centre] but I did find that coming back here, the doors were a bit more open because I had done my OE.
I just felt that employers were looking at me like you'd done your OE and you weren't likely to up and go.
But was that really the case? Did you want to up and go back overseas?
I came back in summer when people were having barbecues and spent a lot of time catching up with friends.
It helped doing things like that because once the weather got a bit colder and everybody went back into hibernation, I did start thinking "what am I doing here"?
I'm pretty much settled now but there's still a small part of me that hasn't settled back.
Can more be done for people returning from their OE?
I think it's up to the individual to realise that things are not going to be as fast paced as they are in London or wherever they have been. But as much as lots of things don't change, you do find yourself as a bit of an outsider from your time being away.
Has it been a struggle since?
One of the things I said I'd do when I came back home was to save for a house but I've really struggled to do that so I'm thinking of heading back overseas just to save some money ... more out of necessity than choice.
