SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT

Recruitment for the roles other recruiters can't fill

Targeted headhunting when the role is genuinely hard to fill, plus structured bulk recruitment from the Philippines.

You’re not coming to us because you can’t write a job ad. You’re coming to us because the role is hard — the skills are rare, the candidate pool is small, the previous recruiter you tried sent you graduates when you needed industry veterans.

Targeted headhunting in New Zealand and overseas

For specialist and hard-to-fill roles, we look in New Zealand first. That's not a marketing line, it's a practical reality. A New Zealand-based candidate without visa, settlement, or relocation risks is almost always the lower-risk hire, even if the search takes longer. We'll only widen the search offshore when we've genuinely exhausted the New Zealand market for the right candidate.

What makes our headhunting different

If you give us a brief, we’ll come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates who can actually do the role. Your decision becomes “which one fits best with our team,” not “which one’s least bad.”

How we know:

A specialist science recruiter spent months presenting candidates to one of our clients — all overseas-trained, all with about a year of New Zealand experience, none with the industry depth the role needed. We found three New Zealand-based candidates with the right experience within four weeks. The client hired one. He’s still in role.

If we do need to search offshore, the immigration assessment happens before the offer, not after. Your candidate’s family situation, their partner’s work history, the age of their dependent children, any health conditions that might trigger a medical decline — all of this is assessed by Licensed Immigration Advisers as part of the recruitment process. You won’t get to offer stage and discover the candidate can’t actually move.

We’ll also handle the full immigration process for your overseas hire and provide settlement support to help them get established quickly.

Talk to us about headhunting →

Bulk recruitment from the Philippines

For New Zealand employers in manufacturing, primary industries, and infrastructure who need to recruit five or more staff in the same type of role, we offer a structured Philippines recruitment service.

Job candidates waiting to be interviewed

The Philippines is one of the world's most-experienced workforce-exporting nations, with well-developed government processes for ethical and orderly migration. But it's also one of the more complicated places to recruit from, because the moving parts include:

A recruitment agent Accredited by the Philippines government
DMW (Department of Migrant Workers) registration by the New Zealand employer
New Zealand AEWV applications
Philippines exit certificates and pre-departure orientation
Post arrival orientation
Coordination between three or four different agencies on two sides of the world

We coordinate all of it. You get a workforce. They get a clear, ethical, well-supported path to New Zealand. And nothing falls between the cracks.

Talk to us about Philippines recruitment →

Important

We only offer Philippines recruitment for bulk hires (5+ staff in the same role type). One-off or small-batch Philippines recruitment isn't something we can do efficiently or affordably.

RECRUITMENT

Frequently asked questions

Why do you look in New Zealand first?

Because a New Zealand-based hire with no visa, relocation, or settlement risk is almost always the lower-risk appointment, even if the search takes a little longer. It’s also what Immigration New Zealand expects to see before approving an offshore hire. We only widen the search overseas once we’ve genuinely exhausted the local market for the right person.

How long does a specialist search take?

It depends on how rare the skills are and how deep the candidate pool is. Rather than flood you with near-misses, we aim to come back with a short list of people who can actually do the role, so your decision is about fit rather than compromise. Due to this, we only accept search assignments on an exclusive basis where we are the only people working to fill the role. We’ll give you a realistic timeframe once we understand the brief.

What happens if a candidate fails the immigration assessment?

With us, that assessment happens before the offer, not after. A Licensed Immigration Adviser checks the candidate’s situation — and their family’s — as part of the recruitment process, so you don’t get to offer stage and discover they can’t actually move. If there’s a problem, you’ll know early and we’ll look at other options.

What’s the minimum number for Philippines recruitment?

Our structured Philippines recruitment service is designed for bulk hires — five or more staff in the same type of role — because the process involves coordinating several agencies on both sides of the world, and that only works efficiently at volume.

Who pays the recruitment fees — and can the worker be charged?

You do. Migrant workers must never be charged recruitment fees or premiums to get a job — that’s both unlawful and a serious red flag Immigration New Zealand actively investigates. We run an ethical process where the costs sit where they legally belong: with the employer.