New Zealand fears brain drain to Australia

New Zealand’s recruitment experts are warning that if job opportunities are not improved, the country could see its brightest graduates being lured abroad, especially across the Tasman to Australia.

Careers director at the University of Auckland, James Hairsine, said that just half-a-decade ago the institution had sent four of its best students over to Sydney for interviews and all had returned unsuccessful. Today, however, he estimates that as many as 80 per cent of the university’s 150 best students are being aggressively hunted by firms based in Australia.

He added that it was vital New Zealand companies started coming up with more graduate programmes and incentives for the best young minds in order to prevent a brain drain to other countries. He conceded that some big firms like Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers were providing graduate programmes and internships but that many others were not.

Jason Clayton, organiser or Oz Jobs Expo, said he was not surprised that many graduates from New Zealand’s universities were looking to Australia for jobs. He explained that the economic gap was widening across the Tasman and there were more career opportunities for graduates in Australia.

A recent survey of graduates from New Zealand’s universities found that most wanted to stay in their home country for work. However, 40 per cent are considering working overseas because of the better opportunities available.