Working in WHV

The goal of a working holiday visa is also to be able to work while traveling, a good compromise to continue to discover the country when you have no economy. It is also a good way to have new professional experiences and, why not, present yourself for a fixed-term contract that can lead to a permanent contract involving a work visa. Enough to dream about a new career plan for the most motivated, and a possible residence visa for those who wish to stay in the country.

Provide for savings

We arrived with a nest-egg of 5000 € in pocket, which is a quite reasonable sum. However we knew from the beginning that we would work, the goal being to not finishing as « broke » at the end of the trip. The purchase of the van and its fitting out made a dent in our purse, we looked quickly after a small job to bail out our funds. Once the IRD number and the bank account were operationals, it was enough to look for a job.

Seasonal work

Honestly, it was not complicated. Indeed, New Zealand has this peculiarity of being always, according to the season, in an agricultural production. We were lucky enough to arrive in the Bay of Plenty during the kiwi fruit season, but no matter, you can also find other products to be harvested throughout the year. Avocats, grapes, cherries, feijoas … There is only the embarrassment of the choice, just take the precaution to be in the right time at the right place.

Some useful links, from our french website pvtistes.net, could help you to orient your moves during the trip:

• Find work all year round 
• The seasons on the North Island / the south island

Our first experience

In our case, we showed up at the first “packhouse” that google maps offered us to know TREVELYAN’S. Located in Te Puke, we presented ourselves, on Saturday 29/04/17 and asked for a job. They just repondered to come to sign the contract in the office the next morning, that’s what we done. We came on the indicated time, signed our job contract and started the work just after the signature. For a first experiment in research, the task was not complicated. The season has last a month and a half for us. We worked in a rather erratic way, depending on the harvests of the pickeurs influenced by the climatic conditions. We had three good weeks, the others were not very glorious with quite a few days of work or not worked. Anyway, we were able to take advantage of these days to visit the surroundings but were sometimes clearly frustrated by being stuck on the spot for a job that did not pay enough, despite the economy of housing since we lived in the van. So stay on guard.
Regarding pay, we were always paid in due course, at the minimum wage. We had good days around the 10 hours of work, the worst stopped at 5 hours of work. In other words, some weeks were difficults for those who had to pay for an accomodation.
However, it was by working in this kind of context that we were able to make new beautiful encounters with many other backpackers from all over the world.

The others jobs

As in France, if you want to find other kinds of jobs, there are temporary employment agencies where you just have to present yourself with an English CV.
It is also possible to find through ads in the newspapers, scorboard of supermarkets and backpackers.
You can also visit some websites such as backpackerboard, or the facebook page of français en Nouvelle-Zélande, trademejobs etc. …

For the rest, it will be necessary to rely on your full chat during the interview or your skills and experiences for the most serious jobs.

Now just get a start, with an elephant bravery !