WHO ARE WE?

Meridian Business Support Ltd is the UK's 10th largest privately owned employment organization (80 offices in the UK and turnover exceeding NZ$300 million - (see www.meridianbs.co.uk).

New Zealand operations are under the control of the writer, a former NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs Consular official with some 30 years experience in International Recruitment and Immigration (now a NZ Government Licensed Immigration Advisor No.200800148 - please see www.iaa.govt.nz/register.htm)

Meridian's NZ market business structure means we are able to make professional International Recruitment assistance economic for small and medium sized NZ companies while making professional (now subject to NZ Government regulated licensing) immigration assistance available to successful applicants at nominal cost.

WHAT VALUE DO WE ADD?

Background

Our research found that NZ companies are often reluctant to recruit internationally (and to use professional recruitment organisations) for various reasons:

• Overseas applicants "never seem to arrive" making planning impossible.
  
• Recruitment Agency Fee levels make it uneconomic.
  
• Overseas applicants are often given misleading picture of what NZ offers new migrants causing settlement problems.
  
• Immigration procedures are complex and time consuming for employers.
  
• Business models based on candidate payment of recruitment fees were not acceptable to reputable employers as they did not want to be party to any form of exploitation of candidates by often unscrupulous Immigration Consultants.

What does this mean - specifics please?

Overseas Applicants are screened not just for professional skills but for Immigration eligibility and the ability to meet employer start date deadlines (e.g. no house to sell)

In most cases, our British candidates can arrive with permanent residence status in three to four months.

Employer Recruitment Fees are limited to one month's salary (8% approx).

Employer involvement in the Immigration process is limited to providing employment documentation.

To ensure applicants are genuinely committed and will not be delayed by the immigration process successful applicants are required to commit to use professional immigration assistance (should they be offered employment) but with transparent fees (vetted by employers) and limited to a fraction of those currently charged by unlicensed UK Immigration Consultants.

Interviews with overseas applicants are video taped and made available to employers to assist in the screening process.

N.B. Many employers are not aware that giving Immigration advice without a license (even as part of recruitment process) becomes illegal from May 2009