However, there has been a growing trend in 2017 towards utilising the wider global candidate pool in the construction, property and engineering sectors. Now, this could be a Wellington thing, as we know Christchurch has had to hire global talent to cope with the re-build and given the size and diversity of Auckland our friends up there have often utilised overseas candidates.

Yet, in Wellington, we are still a bit of a parochial bunch and generally like to hire from within our own. What school did they go to? What kind of pedigree do they have? These are still common questions from clients and in some client facing business generation roles, these could be important.

However, I wanted to outline some important benefits of hiring from overseas, a trend that we are seeing our clients take up more and more as the drain on local talent continues:

1) They come for the lifestyle, not the money. Although they may have been paid well overseas, they will never get comparatively paid here, so often it is not about money. Not saying you can underpay them, but they won’t be negotiating every last dollar like some local candidates.

2) They bring a different perspective and sometimes different way of doing things. This can scare people off overseas candidates but different perspectives allow for more creative problem solving which can enable growth in ways that may not have previously been possible.

3) They can, in fact, generate a whole new network of potential clients you were not aware of. Different nationalities tend to have meetups or networking events for those that have emigrated from a particular country.

4) Generally, they have bigger, better and more systems focused experience than candidates that have worked for local firms. This is simply due the sizes and variety of the industry overseas. We are a small country, with a comparatively smaller industry which is why bringing those with a wider range or more focused experience can be beneficial to your business.

5) And lastly, diversity is good. Plenty of blogs talk about this and I’m not going to re-hash this topic here but it is a good thing.

So, if you are looking to come out to NZ, I encourage you to apply and push your case. If you have a hard to fill role, work out exactly what you want and maybe include some candidates without local experience. By shutting your company off to overseas talent you are turning away talent that could be the best fit for your company and settling for a not so great candidate, which in the long run costs your company money.

Mike