Overseas Kiwi Expats Lured Back Home

The Kiwi Expat Association (Kea) of New Zealand has launched a new online job resource that is aimed at providing New Zealand employees with a means of reaching skilled New Zealanders who are currently living overseas.

The number of Kiwis who leave New Zealand to pursue lives and careers overseas has been a long-standing concern for the OCED country. In response to this Sir Stephen Tindall launched, with an express aim of encouraging their highly skilled expatriate population to return to New Zealand. Since its launch in 2001, the group has attracted over 30,000 members and it now aims to leverage this membership through its new Kea Job Community (www.keajobs.com).

Discussing the numbers of New Zealanders working overseas, Kea CEO Ross McConnell said: “With a depth of international experience and access to the world’s top business leaders, Kiwi expats are some of our most highly skilled, well connected, and therefore highly sought after, employees.

“Attracting some of this talent back home is a necessity for New Zealand to achieve its economic growth targets and giving Kiwi employers access to our network is a first step. It is then up to New Zealand employers to retain this talent so we can benefit from their international experience and networks which will ultimately help our businesses grow on a global scale.”