If your application is short-listed, you’ll be invited to attend a panel interview with a minimum of two senior staff. Or if you’re based overseas or living outside of New Zealand, not to worry we’re still keen to speak with you and regularly conduct video interviews via various technologies such as Skype, Zoom or Face Time.

Well done for getting to this stage. An interview is a chance for us to learn more about you as well as you to learn about us. Everyone gets nervous, it’s natural. Some of our managers are also anxious, and we’ll do our best to put you at ease.

Our interviews are behavioural and competency based, asking you to call on relevant examples of your prior experience in line with the competencies we’re recruiting for the role. Take some time to prepare some specific work examples to discuss.

Here are some tips to help you prepare and put your best forward in the interview:

• Research the industry and organisation – Learning as much as you can about the organisation you want to work for is very important. Take the time to research the employer's vision, values, culture, strategic objectives, and the area of the organisation you are
  meeting with from as many sources as you can. 
• Get ready for the panel interview questions:
  • Re-read your CV and Cover Letter – Think about the skills and experiences that you can bring to the role, why you want the job and why you are the best person for the role.
  • Read the job advert and position description - Think of questions the employer may ask related to the competencies and requirements of the position.
  • Do an online search for common interview questions - Prepare answers to possible questions. Even if you aren’t asked them, it will help you plan what skills and experiences to highlight. For clinical positions, in particular, there will likely be a range of technical questions as well.
  • Behavioural-based questions – One of the most common interview styles today is to ask people to describe experiences they have had that demonstrate behaviours that the company thinks are important for a particular position. The panel will ask questions about previous experiences to find out on how you have handled various work/personal situations in the past. Your responses will reveal your skills, abilities, and personality to the panel. (More information about behavioural based interviewing and STAR technique have been described further below)
• Think about questions for the panel - it’s usual to have questions to ask the employer at the end of the interview. This will also show that you're interested in the organisation and the job.
• Practice your answers - Practicing your answers with family/friends will help you deliver your answers more easily. However, it’s the genuine content of your answers that is the most important aspect rather than an overly polished performance.
• Know who you are meeting – Our interview panel range in size from 2 to 5 people. You will be advised in your interview invitation of the exact number and who they are.
• Stay attentive, be positive, exhibit enthusiasm - It’s natural to feel anxious before an interview. By preparing well and adopting a positive mind-set you can learn to control your pre-interview nerves and channel them into something constructive. Much of the anxiety surrounding interviews is based on not knowing what to expect. If you know you’re well prepared, you’ll feel a lot more confident.

Behavioural Interviewing:

Behavioural interviewing is an increasingly popular type of job interview, where an interviewee is asked to draw on lived experience and provide real life examples from their past employment of specific situations relating to the relevant job competencies. The rationale is that past performance is predictive of future performance i.e. if they know how you performed in the past it will help give a sense of how you might do in the future and also gives you an opportunity to talk about your learnings from the past.

Examples of Behavioural questions:

• Tell me about your greatest career achievement to date. Can you describe what steps led to the outcome?
• Tell me about a time when you had to analyse information to solve a problem. How did you go about doing it, and what was the result?
• Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it.
• Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about? How did you do it?
• Tell me about a time when you haven’t achieved what you set out to do. How did you deal with it?
• Give me an example where you’ve had to work with someone who you didn’t get along with.
• How did you approach and resolve the situation?
• Can you give me an example of a time when the demands of your job were constantly changing? How did you manage the situation?

The best behavioural interview strategy includes listening carefully, being clear and detailed when you respond and, most importantly, being honest. It is absolutely fine to ask the interviewer if your response answered the question adequately or if they need more detail or another example.

Star Technique:

The STAR method is a simple yet powerful technique for answering behavioural interview questions in a structured manner by providing a real example of a specific situation, the task, actions taken, and result or outcome relating to that example.

• The STAR format stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result:
  • Situation: An event, project, or challenge faced
  • Task: Your responsibilities and assignments for the situation
  • Action: Steps or procedure taken to relieve or rectify situation
  • Result: Results of actions taken

When answering the questions using the STAR approach, use the first person singular - “I did such-and-such” rather than “we did such-and-such” - it will keep the focus on you

If your partners or children want to look for roles, the Careers.govt.nz Job Vacancy and Recruitment Websites page has an list of hundreds of job sites in the geographical and work areas available.

For teaching roles:

Teachers from overseas looking to move to New Zealand, can now get help with the recruitment process by contacting the Ministry of Education’s new Navigator service.
 
The service is designed to support overseas teachers, along with principals and early learning centre managers, navigate the steps needed to be completed in the overseas teacher recruitment process.   
 
Navigators are available Monday – Friday, 9am – 4.30pm by phone on 0800 165 225 or +64 4 463 8466 or via email at teacher.supply@education.govt.nz.  

Find out more information about teaching in New Zealand by visiting the Teach in Aotearoa New Zealand website.

For Rail and Maritime roles:

KiwiRail moves freight and people by rail and sea, and are stewards of New Zealand’s rail network. As a state-owned enterprise, we operate a rail, ferry, property and tourism business and look for talent in Freight and Rail Operations, Engineering, Construction Project Management, Maritime, Electrical and hospitality.

Find out more information, visit careers.kiwirail.co.nz

For other roles and industries:

Immigration NZ has a great page that helps you find work using services designed to connect offshore workers with employers, and job sites to you can apply to directly.

For more information, visit the Immigration NZ Website

Job hunting can be difficult if your role is called something different over here, which is why we've pulled together a glossary of names for certain types of roles, and their ANZCO codes to more easily identify them. 

New Zealand CV/Resume Tips

For non-clinical roles, try to keep the CV length to 1-2 pages

For clinical/medical roles, 6-8 pages is OK (or it can be longer if technical medical aspects need explanation)

Some other advice is:

• Tailor your CV to different jobs - the key is making sure your experience and qualifications are easily seen as matching the job
• Use bullet points rather than wordy text
• Use key words from the job description
• Use correct grammar
• Use action words and highlight any achievements or positive changes you made in your workplace
• Use a consistent layout with the same fonts and font sizes
• List non-clinical skills such as management/leadership abilities as they are still important
• List any academic publications related to the position you’re applying to

Resources

Medical CV tips (including templates):

https://resume.io/resume-examples/healthcare

General CV tips & examples:

https://www.careers.govt.nz/job-hunting/new-to-new-zealand/tips-for-creating-a-nz-style-cv/

https://www.seek.co.nz/career-advice/article/this-is-what-a-great-resume-looks-like

Cover letter tips

Do:

• Tailor your cover letter for the different roles you apply to
• Do some research about the role - be seen as having made the effort that shows genuine interest!
• Use an attention-grabbing intro & convey a values alignment (if there is one)
• Provide evidence of your success & achievements
• Spell check and use correct grammar

Don't:

• Address the cover letter to the wrong person/company by copy and pasting your cover letters
• Repeat your CV
• Give excessive detail (keep it short!)
• Use a generic cover letter for all your applications

All health professionals are in high demand and there are several visa pathways available.  For an overview of the visa options available to you, visit Immigration NZ’s Visa options page

If you want to find out if the role you want to work in is on the Green List, use Immigration NZ’s Green List tool for more information

To learn more about what other visa options are available to you, visit Immigration NZ's Visa Options page.

We also offer free immigration advice for health professionals who have been offered employment with Health NZ - feel free to talk to our team directly, and we can help.