Over 40 Families In Wellington Thanks To Expo

Over 40 Families Settle In Wellington Thanks To Kiwi Job Expo

Auckland, 7 April 2006: Over 40 families from Britain have settled in the Wellington region since October last year thanks to the success of a job expo designed to attract migrants and expatriates to our shores.

Opportunities New Zealand Expo, an event held in the UK three times a year, gives New Zealand employers the chance to court skilled British and expatriate workers. Last weekend’s Expo attracted over 5,000 visitors.

Shawn Gilhooley, from Positively Wellington Business, says she is thrilled with the result, particularly given this figure of more than 40 families only includes people who have contacted her after the Expo.

“This number accounts for the families that have needed further assistance with migrating since visiting our stands in London and Manchester, on top of this many people have managed their own transition to Wellington,” says Gilhooley.

Hayley Roberts, a director of Opportunities New Zealand Expo, says Positively Wellington Business first attended the event in 2003 and has assisted 199 families from the Expo into the Wellington region to date.

“This event is a targeted way for cities to attract quality residents and for organisations and businesses to find top candidates,” says Roberts.

Also at the Opportunities New Zealand Expo this year was Tonix New Zealand Health Recruitment, whose director Virginia Rhodes says 65 percent of the people who visited their stand were quality candidates, 10 percent were outstanding.

“We were looking to recruit registered medical practitioners and by the afternoon of the first day we had interviewed 80 candidates,” says Rhodes.

Yen Yap, Head of Migration Banking, Westpac Banking Corporation says on the first day they had talked to hundreds of potential clients for Westpac.

“It was exciting to have the chance to talk face to face to potential
migrants and how we as a bank can meet their needs and requirements and
help them to settle into a new country,” says Yap.

Opportunities New Zealand Expo is held in March and twice in October in London and Manchester. Attendance by New Zealand employers has increased five fold in the last five years with 120 exhibitors showing in the UK last year.

ENDS

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