Enterprise Recruitment Auckland has made a major strategic addition to their I.T team.

The I.T industry in Auckland is booming but an industry wide talent shortage is proving to be a big handbrake on it’s continued growth. This shortage has caused local firms to pivot towards the international market in an effort to make up the gap between the huge local demand and limited local supply of I.T talent.

These circumstances meant Enterprise have sought to grow our presence in the international I.T recruitment space in order to better service the needs of our clients. We are very proud to announce the newest addition to our Auckland team, Benigna Mezofi.

Benigna is a senior I.T recruitment specialist who brings with her 8 years of experience and strong connections in the I.T industry in Belgium and Eastern Europe. Her previous role based in the Hungarian office of a Belgian based specialist I.T recruitment agency saw her sourcing talent from across Europe and placing them in roles in Belgium.

Since announcing her move to NZ she has reported strong interest from European candidates for opportunities here. Enterprise is excited about Benigna joining the team in Auckland. “We wanted to increase our capability in this area. Having people on the ground in NZ from the places we are sourcing talent from gives us an advantage in trust when approaching these highly sought after candidates”, says Steve Martin, Manager of Enterprise Recruitment Auckland. We interviewed her to find out more about her move to Enterprise Recruitment.

Where did you move to NZ from?

Hungary

What languages do you speak?

Hungarian, English and Intermediate level German

How and why did you decide to come to NZ?

Firstly, for the opportunity to progress my career further and secondly, it appears to be a beautiful country to live in.

The past 18 months my focus has been recruiting I.T talent from across Europe to Belgium for development roles across Java, .Net, C+ & Drupal as well as Test Automation Engineers, Project Managers & ‘Big Data’ Scientists.

I was really enjoying the International I.T recruitment field and had made the decision I wanted to specialise and progress in it as I believe it is a growth industry with much opportunity. But I was beginning to find candidates were not so interested in moving to Belgium. So when I saw an ad on Linkedin from Enterprise Recruitment looking for senior I.T Recruitment Specialists I was interested. I discussed that I may be moving to NZ to some of my candidate contacts in Europe and they were very interested in the possibilities that I could open up for them. NZ is a desirable location to many in Europe. So I decided the chance to progress my career and live in in a country like NZ was the right thing for me.

How easy was it for you to make the move?

I was able to have a number of meetings through Skype with the Enterprise Auckland Office to get to know the whole office and what my place in the team would be. After that I had discussions with candidates in Europe to make sure this was the right move in terms of potential candidate attraction. I then made the decision and it was actually very easy. Enterprise is a Government Accredited Employer in NZ so the visa process was very quick, I was approved within a week.

What are your first impressions of life at Enterprise?

Right from the first contact point Enterprise really impressed me. Their whole Auckland office was involved in the recruitment process, getting to know me and discussing what it was like to work for Enterprise and live in Auckland. They have a strong philosophy that I really like, trying to build long term relationships rather than just transactional recruitment. The office is very ambitious in it’s goals but also very supportive and focused on having fun while at work which I really like. They also have expertise and focus on international I.T recruitment which is very important to me.

What have been your first impressions of life in Auckland?

Positive, the city is beautiful and the air is clean! People seem much more relaxed, they seem more happy. People are very supportive, I have gotten lost a few times without my phone and people are very helpful with directions.

In terms of the industry and your role how do things compare to Belgium?

Regarding recruitment the biggest difference is the market seems much faster here. In Belgium there is much more bureaucracy. The market is a lot more dynamic here. Candidates are much more responsive than in Europe where they are spammed much more by recruiters. The candidates in NZ are much more open to contact. This all makes the pace of the recruitment cycle a lot faster.

For me personally, I now have a great point of difference when contacting European candidates. They are often much more open and interested in contact from me as I am in NZ and that really interests them. I can also offer them first hand experience on what making the move here is like which I think they value.