Why does Christchurch have a massive recruitment advantage at the moment?

With the whole world being run on software & a global skill shortage of software engineering skills COVID was the catalyst to make the industry explode. Any service or product that wasn’t online was swiftly moved online or saw a quick death. Government services, eCommerce companies, councils & governments were scrambling to get their WFH set up and their services online fast.

In New Zealand the borders have been shut for a long time so it’s a simple supply & demand issue. At Sunstone we would normally place about 20% of candidates needing visas - these were often people in country, planning to move or on their way.

The major economic changes we’ve seen are the Auckland housing crisis which started over 10 years ago and Wellington’s house prices absolutely explode in the last 3 years…Christchurch house prices are still half the price and rents are thus cheaper.  Land was released as part of the rebuild after the Earthquakes 11 years ago and a lot of work was put into rebuilding the city and housing, so in effect, Canterbury had a bit of a head start. Along with the fact that we have short commute times, plenty of spaced out roading, bike lanes and you can get a decent house with a large back garden (if you want ) close or in the city where you can bike & walk around close to good schools.

The lifestyle is simply superb, close to beaches & mountains, and the port hills with walking, running, road biking & mountain biking reaching over to gorgeous Banks Peninsula to Akaroa.

We’ve placed a lot of candidates from Auckland & Wellington and returning Kiwis from the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Europe and the US into jobs based in Christchurch or WFH across New Zealand.

We’re also seeing many candidates buying houses in Christchurch transferring down still working in their current jobs for their Auckland or Wellington companies WFH. They can then get settled, get the kids into schools and set up their life before then looking at the local market. Although WFH has been attractive it still comes down to ‘flexibility’ as everyone is a bit different. Much of the feedback is that people like a hybrid approach 2/3/4 days WFH and a day or two in the office and again flexibility being the key thing.

So if you’re recruiting in Christchurch there’s a lot to be positive about. But salaries are rising I hear you say? Yes that is a challenge but again it’s about the whole package - good company, office culture, pay market rate, offer good benefits & flexibility. If you value your people, you will always be able to hire great staff.

If you’d like some advice on current market rates in the IT / software market in Christchurch or WFH across New Zealand feel free to email me paul@sunstonetalent.com

I'm Paul, I’m a Dad who loves coffee, dogs, biking, surfing & skiing. Founder & Principal Consultant of Sunstone, an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in recruiting IT roles within software, web, mobile, blockchain, big data, cloud infrastructure, security & networks in Christchurch & South Island of New Zealand.