Get found, without giving up your privacy

Join the CareersNZ talent pool and employers across New Zealand can find you, while your surname, email and phone number stay private until you decide to apply.

Why join a talent pool instead of applying to adverts

Applying to adverts means you only exist to an employer in the moment you apply, and only for that one role. A talent pool works the other way round. You are visible the whole time, to every verified employer hiring in your sector and region, without lifting a finger after the first minute. When someone needs a person like you, they find you already there.

What you get

• Free to join and free to stay in the pool
• Your surname, email and phone are never shown to employers
• You are only ever contacted about roles in the sectors and regions you chose
• You always make the first move by applying, so there are no cold calls
• Update your details or withdraw from the pool at any time
• No CV required to join, and no approval queue to wait in

How it works for you

You build a simple profile and pick your region and the sector or sectors you want to work in. Employers see you as a short card with a first name, your location, licences and a brief bio. When one likes your fit, they invite you to apply. Only then, and only if you choose to go ahead, does the employer receive your details. It is job seeking without the spam.

What is on your card

A first name. Your region, or flexible if you would relocate. The sectors you ticked. Any licences and endorsements you hold. And two or three sentences in your own words. That is the whole card. There is no photo, no surname, no contact detail and no employment history that a current employer could recognise.

Write the bio like a person, not a CV

The bio is the only free text an employer reads, and it decides most invitations. Be specific and be plain. Say what work you are after, what you can already do, and what you are happy to learn. "Reliable and punctual, after warehouse or driving work in Auckland, comfortable with early starts and physical work, keen to get my F endorsement" beats any amount of language about being passionate and dynamic, because an employer can picture the shift.

Tick every licence you actually hold

Licences and endorsements are the highest signal item on the card, because each one removes a cost and a delay for the employer. A class 2 licence, an F endorsement for forklifts, W, R or T endorsements, a Site Safe or construction card, a current first aid certificate: any of these can turn a maybe into an invitation. Only tick what you hold, since the employer will check.

Who it suits

CareersNZ works for school leavers taking a first step, career changers moving into a new sector, and experienced people who want to be found quietly without their current employer seeing them on a job board. Because the pool covers every major New Zealand sector, you can also mark yourself as open to more than one.

School leavers and first jobs

You do not need a CV to join, which matters when you do not have much to put on one yet. Say you are reliable, say what you are interested in, and tick the sectors you would try. Freight and logistics, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and cleaning and security all hire people with no experience and train them, and all four are in the pool.

Career changers

The usual problem is not ability, it is the filter. A screening process built on job titles throws out the person who could do the work but has not done that exact job. A card built on region, sector, licences and a human sentence gives an employer a reason to look at you anyway. Say plainly what you are moving from and what you are moving to.

Looking while employed

This is the case the pool was designed for. Putting your name and number on a public job board is a risk when your current employer, or their recruiter, is looking at the same board. In the pool there is no surname to search and no public profile to stumble across, so you can be visible to the right people and invisible to the wrong ones.

Which sectors can I join?

All of them. CareersNZ covers freight, logistics and supply chain; manufacturing and production; construction and trades; healthcare and community support; food and fibre, which takes in farming, horticulture, forestry and seafood; retail and customer service; hospitality and tourism; banking, finance and insurance; business, administration and office support; and cleaning, security and facilities. Each has a sector guide setting out the roles, how to get in, and where the work is.

Where in New Zealand

Every region, from Northland to Southland, including Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Whanganui, Wellington, Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough, the West Coast, Canterbury and Otago. If you would move for the right role, mark yourself flexible. Regional employers notice that, because relocation willingness is scarce and it often shortens their hiring by weeks.

Common questions