The Wellington-based initiative sought to attract the most promising tech employees from around the world – now, the final candidates are set to travel to NZ.
.jpg)
A Wellington recruitment program which sought to attract the best tech talent from around the world has seen far more success than it expected with more than 48,000 applications received.
“The scale of the project was huge, with global media driving an unprecedented volume of applications from candidates all over the world,” said Damian Sainsbury, a director of Workhere NZ.
Now, the team behind the LookSee Wellington tech talent attraction program have confirmed the final shortlist and each of the 97 candidates will travel to New Zealand later this month for interview with employers as well as immigration seminars.
“I was excited by the shortlist we put in front of our employers, and even more excited by the calibre of the people they selected,” said Sainsbury.
David Jones, GM of business growth and innovation at the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency, says the LookSee Team will be giving candidates a guided tour of the city.
“Just as these people will do their best to impress Wellington employers, the team aims to give them an impressive taste of our world-leading quality of life,” he said.
“We’ll also provide them with the practical information they’ll need before relocating, especially those with partners and children, who will have plenty of questions.”
The candidates represent 28 nationalities, with the US, Canada and UK the top countries of origin. They will interview with a range of Wellington businesses for mid-to-senior-level roles such as software engineer, systems analyst, ICT project manager and chief information officer.
Greg Forsythe, from Immigration New Zealand, said successful candidates would bring valuable skills to New Zealand.
“The skills being sought by the Looksee Wellington employers are in high demand in New Zealand and globally, so it's really gratifying to see such a highly skilled group so enthusiastic about the possibility of coming to Wellington.”
Top 10 nationalities of invited candidates
United States (29)
Canada (9)
UK (8)
India (7)
Argentina (6)
Brazil (4)
Philippines (3)
Australia (2)
France (2)
Israel (2)
