Staying to work after study

Staying to work in New Zealand after study - Monica's story

Hello. My name's Monica and I come from China. I came to New Zealand in 2002 as an international student. I did my study in language school. I did a foundation course as well. After that I went to university, I studied psychology. After a struggle of not knowing what degree I wanted to do and I I graduated with a psychology degree.

Then I worked as a community mental health worker for three and a half years. it was very difficult but I really enjoyed every second of it. And then I went back to Uni and I did my post grad in public health because I want to work with, you know people before they're getting sick. And so yeah, and I work for Auckland Council at the moment, I like my job.

All the part time jobs I got by basically being really brave. Walking into a restaurant saying, do you need a waitress? You know, I'm here to study. I'm keen to find a job, part time job. I was lucky positions I was applying for. And I did some waitressing, I did some language teaching for senior Chinese citizens in New Zealand. I did some volunteering jobs, I pretty much did whatever I could get my hands on.

But then I guess after graduation, when I was seeking for a jobs. Obviously I'd go through the mainstream seek.co.nz, trademe.co.nz looking for jobs which is the same channel outside the mainstream. When I finished my university degree I was actually given half a year initially as the work visa to look for work.

Again, I was lucky just when the policy changed and they extended it to one year. And I was able to find work in the second half of that year and I basically just go around letter dropping, you know, cv dropping, cold calling. You have to be proactive. And take the initial step because once you overcome that. They meet you, they love you for your personality or the way how you interact with them.

They give you a lot of credit seeing a piece of paper your CV and your name written on it. So that's one valuable lesson I've learned. And I've been obviously trying to use it to my own message.

Applying for Residence

It wasn't that difficult cause once you get a job that's actually relates to your degree, the points will add up to, you know the requirement of the minimum point Immigration asks for.

I guess it was just the normal procedure you know, I put my application and supporting documents together I needed and it was very easy. There was no problem. Looking back, I couldn't recall anything that was a challenge or, you know, an obstacle. Just really read your immigration policy and read the forms carefully, so that you have all of the information.