Quick Quiz – Job Hunting in New Zealand

1. Andy is looking for an accounting job in Auckland. How would he go about finding vacancies?

a. Visit a job listing site like seek.co.nz, Trade me or Shopless

b. Hope that some friends will find him a job

c. Email his CV to accountancy firms he finds via Google

2. A good CV will include:

a. Your date of birth, ethnicity and children’s names

b. A summary of your key skills and listing of your relevant qualifications and achievements

c. Bold fonts and lots of colour to make it stand out

3. In an interview, you are asked to demonstrate your customer service skills. Do you

a. Try to use important sounding words so that they don’t realise you have no relevant experience

b. Ignore the question and talk about something else, like your ability to word process documents nicely

c. Give real life example of when you have delivered customer service to people and mention the positive feedback you got from clients

4. Which of the following is true?

a. Migrants are paid below the minimum wage until they gain NZ work experience

b. Migrants are entitled to the same employment rights as NZ residents

c. Only NZ citizens have full employment rights

5. You’ve applied for a job and the information pack says you need to apply the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Do you

a. Find a Maori person and ask them what it means

b. Use the internet to find out more about the treaty and search job sector sites, government departments and universities for information on how it is relevant to the job you are applying for

c. Ignore the question and hope it doesn’t come up in the interview

6. You work from home and make good money selling imported products on Trade Me.

a. As the products are bought overseas you don’t have to pay any tax

b. Selling things on Trade me is your hobby so you don’t have to tell the IRD

c. You should declare all income to the IRD

7. You feel lonely and your job hunting search doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. What are some things you can do to improve your circumstances?

a. Join local clubs and activities to meet other people. They might be able to provide job leads.

b. Look for volunteer opportunities in the local community, e.g. at schools, libraries and charities

c. Investigate local education providers to see if there are any useful courses

d. All of the above

Answers:

1. While he may get success with the other options, the most reliable source of vacancies is the online job search site seek.
2. Personal information should not be given on a CV.  Only use bold and colourful formatting if you are in a creative sector that requires it.  For most, this isn’t the case and so b is the correct answer.
3. If you have been shortlisted based on an honest CV, then you should have no trouble in following the correct answer which is c.
4. b is true. You are entitled to be paid at or above the minimum wage and receive the appropriate holiday pay.
5. Correct answer is b.
6. Correct answer is c. 
7. The correct answer is d.