NZ WHV: shared house, bank account, job hunt

Read about why I decided to do a NZ WHV and what happened prior here.

Moving to a shared house in Christchurch

I had pre-booked my accommodation for only the first and second night, hoping to figure things out as I went along. Doing some quick math soon made me realise that costs will rise rapidly if I continued staying in a hostel whilst I took time to figure something out (~NZD$46/night).

The search

I searched Facebook groups for a room in a shared house available on a short-term rental. Finding a few advertisements on the Malaysia Working Holiday group didn’t take long, and I contacted two hosts. I was quickly turned down by the host for the room conveniently located in Sockburn since he was booked out for the month. The other host, located in Halswell, had beds available immediately at NZD$ 160/week (shared room with 2 beds). I contacted the host for the latter room, arranged to view the next day, and moved in the following day.

The house

The shared house was hosted by a Malaysian family and was new, clean, and had a well-equipped kitchen. My shared room was simple with a shared wardrobe (left side/right side), a bedside table, and our beds. An electric blanket was fitted underneath the sheets, which was amazing as winter nights were so chilly. The fridge also had demarcated slots for each rented room.

Moving in/out was quite informal with no signing of documents or agreements. I prepaid the rent for my intended stay (1 week) via cash during the move-in date and then transferred the balance for my extended stay (3 days) via bank transfer on my move-out date. The day rate charged was much more expensive than a simple pro-rate, at $38/night instead of $23/night, which didn’t quite make sense to me, but I paid anyway.

In hindsight, I would’ve chosen another location to stay in. I found Halswell pretty inconvenient to travel to/from without a car. The nearest bus stop was 15 minutes walk away, and it took 40 minutes to town with transfers required at times. The bus interval was around 30 minutes, which meant a potentially lengthy wait. Anyhow, I stayed there for 10 days and moved around by public transport.

After moving into the shared house, there were four items on my task list: (1) bank account activation, (2) getting an IRD number, (3) job hunt, and (4) driver’s licence conversion.

Getting an IRD number

Getting an IRD number was straightforward. I did it online after landing in NZ and received my IRD number within 2 days. Easy as.

Bank account activation

Before entering New Zealand, I had opened an account with ANZ online and arranged an account activation appointment at ANZ Riccarton. Unfortunately, I misread the appointment timing and missed it entirely!! Frantically, I tried calling the hotline but could not obtain any productive outcome. I decided to head down to ANZ Riccarton anyway to get a faster response.

At the branch, I waited outside the glass door uneasily. It was not the automatic sensor-operated door I was used to. Instead, someone had to manually operate a switch to let you in. I wonder if this was for security reasons, but it was a new experience I’ve never faced in Taiwan / Singapore. After what felt like 3 minutes outside the glass door, I was let in and communicated to the customer service staff about my situation. The staff was helpful and told me that a banker was taking walk-in customers, and she could slot an appointment in for me if I could wait an hour. That was fantastic news for me. Yes, of course I could!

An hour later, I sat at the banker’s desk as she led me through the procedures. The lady was patient and friendly; we chatted about her last trip to Singapore and how much she liked the country.

NZ address verification

For my NZ address verification, I had prepared a letter from my landlady, but unfortunately, I was told that it was not a valid proof. My heart skipped a beat hearing that from the banker. Luckily, by then I had already received my IRD number, and she suggested I could use my address on myIR as proof. That’s all good except I haven’t registered for myIR yet. I then spent the next 20 minutes sorting it out with the help of the myIR customer service. Then another 10 minutes wait whilst the banker finishes up with another customer, before I was finally all ready to successfully activate my bank account.

Debit card

After the account was activated, I received an ANZ debit card straightaway with “ANZ Cardholder” as the name on the card. The banker told me I could get a customised one delivered to me if I wished, which I declined. Having a New Zealand debit card was extremely handy since many places in NZ have a credit card surcharge if you pay via Visa/Master. The surcharge varies but typically hovers around 1.2%-2.5%. With a New Zealand debit card, you could pay by EFTPOS via the insert or swipe method and avoid the surcharge. No one likes surcharges.

With two administrative tasks done, I earnestly moved on to the next tasks. Most people coming to NZ as a tourist or on a WHV don’t need to go through the driver’s licence process since they can drive using their overseas licence/international driver’s permit for up to a year. Well, I could have done that too, but due to complicated reasons, I started the license conversion process, which I shall detail in another blog post.

Getting my first job in NZ

My unsuccessful attempts

The last important item on my list was getting a job. For 6 months before entering NZ, I had tried to apply for jobs online. I’ve used portals such as LinkedIn, Seek, picknz, as well as the backpackers board. Initially, I tried to get an office job as I wanted to experience working in NZ as a white collar employee and do a comparison with Singapore. Apple to apple comparison. My background was in business analysis/project management, so I applied for related roles on both contract and permanent terms. However, the rejections came fast, with not a single interview. Dejected, I brushed up my resume and created one specifically geared towards WHV jobs. By the time I started actively seeking WHV jobs in May, it was already too late for winter seasonal jobs in the ski fields. These typically start the hiring process in March. Bummer.

Knowing that the calf-rearing season starts in winter, I applied for postings on NZFarmsource and the backpackers board. I must have applied to over 25 listings. None got back. It could be because I was not intending on getting a car back then and had indicated that I would not have my own transport in the applications. Anyhow, it’s a dead end for me. I also applied for roles in a cafe and a fish & chips shop, but didn’t hear back either.

Why was it so difficult?

My difficulty in finding a job could also be related to my decision to land in Christchurch instead of Auckland, and more so during winter. There are just fewer jobs available around the South Island for WHV during the low season. I heard you might have better luck with packhouses in the North Island. I decided on Christchurch as my port of entry since I had heard that the South Island boasts more spectacular scenery than the North Island.

First interview

Through a Singaporean WHV community chat group, I heard about job opportunities at RealNZ and applied to multiple of their openings. Rejection for the Doubtful Sound crew role came fast, but fortunately, I got an interview opportunity for the Customer Sales Consultant role at Milford Sound! The interview was conducted via a WhatsApp call whilst I was still in Singapore. I didn’t hear back from them over the next few weeks, even though I tried to follow up via email.

Weighing my options and getting the offer

Sitting in the living room of my shared house in Christchurch, I was at wits’ end and started browsing through HelpX to find opportunities for work exchange over winter. The typical arrangement was 2 hours of work in exchange for accommodation, or 4 hours of work in exchange for food and accommodation. While these are not paid, it will at least reduce my expenditure while I find paid work. I found two hosts advertising their need for assistance — (1) a hostel in Greymouth and (2) an orchard in Motueka. The orchard in Motueka was seeking winter boysenberry pruning workers and had paid work for a week or two. Paid work sounded like what I needed, but I had to figure out how to get to Motueka. Weighing my options, I decided there was no harm in following up on the Milford Sound role one last time before heading to Motueka. This time, I texted my hiring interviewer on WhatsApp instead of relying on email communications. She replied positively and offered me the role! And with that, I finally landed my first job on WHV in New Zealand.

Pre-employment drug screening

RealNZ required a pre-employment drug screening to be done, and the screening company’s branch in Christchurch was all the way in Harewood. From my shared house, I had to take 3 buses and walk for an hour to get there, then make that same journey back. The total journey time one way was over 2 hours. Had to do what I had to do for the job. Except, in hindsight, I should’ve done the screening at their Queenstown branch, which was so much more accessible for carless people like me. Looking at Google Maps now, 11 months later and after owning a car here, I am in disbelief I was okay with getting my screening done in Harewood.