Today I'm seriously pissed off with NZ Immigration.

A couple of months ago I decided I needed some help, so I advertised a position on TradeMe .  I didn't advertise in the newspaper: I don't want dinosaurs. I didn't publish the vacancy with the unemployment deparment - I had enough applications of quality already.  In fact I got about 20 applicants - more than enough for an individual to find someone capable, I thought, after throwing away the people who can't spell, can't turn up for interviews, can't write covering letters, can't do basic internet research, etc.  In the end I interviewed seven people who applied through that particular advertising.

At the same time as advertising the position I did ask friends.  In particular I asked one friend who has done a great job at Catalyst IT, and who I felt would be just perfect and if only she knew someone like herself.  She told her friend, who "happened" to be over from Melbourne in the middle of my interview schedule and I was blown away.

So here I have someone who would be just perfect, who wants to work in New Zealand, but has qualifications and experience that mean I need to make an offer at the absolute top end of my planned range. Born in China, she spent some time at high school in Wellington before her first degree at Massey University (BBS in Finance).  Instead of quickly getting a job at the end of that degree (as my friend did) she goes to Melbourne to do a double-masters at Monash (Master of Professional Accounting and Master of Business Law), and is now working towards her Australian CPA.

All thoroughly reputable qualifications, she speaks fluent English, is obviously highly skilled and creative, is under 30 and I have made her a job offer.

So what is not to like, according to Immigration New Zealand?

Well, it seems she was refused a work permit because (a) I did not advertise the position in a newspaper, and/or (b) I did not list the position with the unemployment department, and/or (c) I did not list the position with a recruitment company.  So  apparently recruitment advertisements on TradeMe are not worth the paper they are printed on - I wonder how +Sam Morgan feels about that.

It has taken six weeks for us to discover these requirements, leaving me without any assistant for a critical period in a startup business, and now leaving me with a vacancy to be filled two weeks before christmas.

But for god's sake don't pity me!

The saddest thing in all this whole farce is that this young lady has resigned from her job in Melbourne with the expectation that this would not be the huge hurdle that it is.  So she now faces a christmas in Melbourne, looking for a new job, just while everyone else is heading off to the beach for a summer BBQ.

So if you live in Melbourne you're in luck!  There is an awesome young lady looking for accounting work there (feel free to contact me for more details).  If you're in New Zealand, just remember that your applicant may well be disadvantaged if she is more qualified, and speaks better English than her case officer.

And if you've read this far, and you're one of those other people who applied for the position with Morphoss?  Well it looks like it's still available.  You'll score points for discovering this post first, and we definitely don't care if you read the newspaper, though familiarity with the internet is critical.  While we still don't have a telephone in the new office (still in two minds about whether we should bother with that) I did manage to get the intarwebs connected in two days (mostly thanks to On Networks & Citylink for that).

Thanks for listening to me vent.  Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.