With New Zealanders now freely able to move home we’ve seen an increasing interest in those planning to make the move back from the UK either this year or longer term.

Along with our NZ community last month we hosted a webinar on returning home, which included everything from finding jobs, to pension transfers, opening bank accounts, transferring money and buying a home. It’s something we’ll definitely be running again in the near future

In the meantime we’ll be sharing bite size pieces from those who can help you, including Home Recruitment, who specialise in helping Kiwis coming home to find roles, mostly focused on corporate support – so anything spanning HR, Recruitment, Marketing / Brand / Comms, Account Management and Sales, Projects or Office Support. And they also partner with a tech agency – where there is currently a good demand for experienced hires.

We spoke to Minta Holton, Manager at Home Recruitment, who shared her top tips when it comes to thinking about making the move home.

As a kaiāwhina (leader) at the Ngāti Rānana Māori club in London, Claire has honed her leadership skills at events on the world stage, performing here in the UK and most recently at Expo 2020 in Dubai. Combined with a career as a programme consultant, it's all part of how she lives her life: “Put in the effort, make friends and do things you enjoy,” she says.

Claire is Ngāti Porou and grew up in Lower Hutt with her parents and three sisters. After finishing school, she moved to Perth in Australia, along with her family, where she studied biological science at Murdoch University.

After going on to do a post-graduate diploma and a masters degree in Marine Science at Otago University, Claire started her career in Wellington. Her first job was at Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Māori Development, as a policy analyst, focusing on marine resources and aquaculture reforms and was involved in the historic foreshore and seabed consultations. She also worked on international indigenous issues and participated in the development of the Government’s policy in relation to the Convention of Biological Diversity and the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

It was an evening to celebrate progress, as well as discuss what’s yet to be achieved, as 120 Kiwi women gathered at New Zealand House for our International Women’s Day event.

Run by the New Zealand Business Women’s Network and KEA, this year’s event shone a spotlight on Kiwi in sport, featuring a formidable panel of sportswomen to explore the IWD theme for 2022; #BreaktheBias.

With views of the London skyline as a backdrop, the audience was kept refreshed as they mingled, with beers from Wellington brewery Yeastie Boys and gin and tonics from Cardrona distillery. Kiwi themed nibbles prepared by Rhonda Scott of Escence catering were handed around before the panel discussion got underway.

Leadership coach and writer Mary Fenwick was our MC for the evening, steering the conversation between our panelists; Katie Sadleir, Rebecca Smith, Sene Naoupu and Jonelle Price, and facilitating questions from our audience.