NZ job hunt and career guides Get better at the hunt, and at the job you land
Thirty-eight plain-English guides for every part of your working life in New Zealand, from the job hunt to the job you land and the years in it, with the real numbers at every step. Free for everyone, no sign-up, forever. Because the tool works better when you do, and because someone should be telling you this stuff straight. Three free job hunting tools need no account either.
How to get a job in New Zealand
From first search to signed offer: the numbers that keep you sane, the setup, where the jobs really are, follow-ups, interviews, the money conversation, the traps, and your head. Everything else in the library hangs off this one. Read the playbook → The one press captureSave jobs in one press
Add our Chrome extension, or drag one button to your bookmarks bar, and every job ad you open comes across with the whole description kept against it, for you to check before anything is saved. See how it works →Applications
How to write a CV in New Zealand
NZ conventions, tailoring that beats the screening software, and the quiet mistakes that cost interviews.Writing a cover letter in New Zealand
When letters get read, NZ conventions, a one-page structure, public-sector letters, and openings that work.References and referees in New Zealand
Choosing and briefing referees, backdoor references and the Privacy Act, Clean Slate, and Police vetting for work with children.Following up on a job application
The three follow-ups that matter, when to stop, honest closure at day 21, and the escape hatch from the front door.Interviews and offers
NZ job interview questions and preparation
Five prepared STAR stories, the NZ research twist, questions that make them sit up, and the two-hour thank-you rule.Salary negotiation in New Zealand
Finding the range when the ad hides it, thinking in take-home, and the exact words for the ask.NZ job offers and employment agreements
What the agreement must include, trial periods, availability clauses, restraints, and KiwiSaver on top or inside.Rejection, ghosting and your wellbeing
Why silence is so common, asking for feedback, knowing when to move on, and where to get support.Where the jobs are
Working with recruitment agencies
Who pays the agency, the fee you should never pay, temping rights, and keeping control of your CV.The public-sector application, decoded
Position descriptions as marking sheets, panel interviews, Te Tiriti at your real level, neutrality, the OIA and vetting.Job scams in New Zealand
The eight red flags, the two-minute listing check, and exactly what to do if you've been caught.The NZ job market right now
How the odds change by region, what pay is doing, and the months people most often move into work. From Stats NZ and MSD, updated every quarter.Your situation
Getting your first job in NZ after study
Where entry-level roles are listed, a CV with little experience, the starting-out wage, tax codes, student loan and KiwiSaver.Changing careers in New Zealand
Working out what transfers, testing a field first, retraining support in 2026, apprenticeships, and checking take-home pay.Returning to work after a break
Explaining the gap plainly, asking for flexible work, parental leave protections, and the childcare and Work and Income help.Getting a job in NZ as a migrant
The two-degrees rule, CV dialect, hiring seasons, the NZ experience catch-22, and how the AEWV really works.Study and work
For the stages either side of a full-time job: study, internships, the graduate round, and working on past 65.
Summer internships in New Zealand
When the big programmes open (March, not November), who they are for, each step from application to offer, and your pay and rights.Graduate programmes in New Zealand
The two application waves, online tests, video interviews and assessment centres, accepting an offer, and final-year Fees Free.Part-time work while you study in NZ
Where student jobs are listed, how pay affects your Student Allowance, second-job tax codes, and student visa hours.Working past 65 in New Zealand
NZ Super is not income tested, so you can work and keep it: the tax code that sets your take-home, KiwiSaver after 65 and phased retirement.Money, rights and support
Employment rights in New Zealand
The 90-day trial in 2026, minimum wage, leave, KiwiSaver structures, contractor traps and wage theft, in plain English.Redundancy in New Zealand
No automatic right to redundancy pay, what fair consultation looks like, the 90-day grievance limit, and your first week.KiwiSaver and money between jobs
Final pay, lump-sum tax, KiwiSaver options, the student loan, when Jobseeker Support starts, and a simple runway.Job hunting on Jobseeker Support
What you actually have to show, what counts, the numbers that matter, and how the log writes itself.Hours and contracting
For the hours you work and how you are paid for them: your own record of hours, casual pay on a benefit, and the tax and invoicing side of contracting.
Keeping your own timesheet in New Zealand
What to write down each day, the wages and time record your employer must keep, why a record made on the day matters, and how to ask for your records.Casual hours and Work and Income
Declaring casual or part-time pay on a benefit: the week you earn it, Friday 6pm, how earnings reduce Jobseeker Support, and the records to keep.Contractor tax in NZ: how much to set aside
Schedular tax and the IR330C, provisional tax, ACC levies, your student loan and GST, with Inland Revenue's rates and thresholds.Invoicing as a contractor in NZ
What an invoice must show under the GST rules since April 2023, numbering and corrections, payment terms, chasing a late payer, and the records to keep.Your Career
For the job you have, not the one you are looking for: your first ninety days, your leave, your 1:1s and your review, asking to work flexibly, and your pay.
90-day trials and your first six months
What makes a 90-day trial valid, what an employer can and cannot do, and what the law gives you at six and twelve months.Leave entitlements in New Zealand
Annual holidays, sick, bereavement, family violence and parental leave, public holidays, and unused leave in your final pay.Prepare for your performance review
A wins journal and 1:1 notes all year, a self-review in five headings, handling feedback, and a promotion case.Asking for a pay rise in New Zealand
When to ask, a case built from your wins, what prices have done to your pay, the range, and what to do if they say not now.Your first 90 days in a new job
Week one, your first month and the 90-day mark: the tax and KiwiSaver paperwork, learning the place, agreeing what good looks like, and a wins journal.How to write a self-review
Gather the evidence, structure it, write about what changed rather than what kept you busy, cover work that failed, and turn a weak line into a strong one.1:1 meetings with your manager
What a 1:1 is for, how to ask for one, the agenda to bring, the questions worth asking, and why the notes matter at review time and in a pay case.Asking to work flexibly in NZ
Your right to ask to change when, where or how you work: what the written request must say, the one month deadline, and the only grounds for a refusal.Parental leave in New Zealand
Who qualifies, the six and twelve month tests, IRD payments, the notice you must give, keeping in touch hours, and why holiday pay afterwards is lower.Professional development and CPD
Why a CPD record matters, what counts beyond courses, how to ask your employer to pay, and what a training bond can and cannot do in New Zealand.How-to guides
Instructions rather than advice: numbered steps with a picture of the screen for each one.
Put these guides to work
The routines these guides teach are built into jobtracker.co.nz as nudges and one-tap actions, so you don't have to remember any of it: follow-up windows, the salary story, the Work and Income record and the debriefs in Your Job Hunt, then the wins journal, 1:1 notes and a pay review planned six weeks ahead in Your Career. The figures the guides quote are listed with their sources on New Zealand job, pay and tax figures.
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