Graham Conlon
UK Maths Teacher, Fielding High
School.
Graham Conlon is a
Maths teacher from the UK who contacted Education Personnel. After
finding out what he was looking for in his ideal teaching position,
Education Personnel placed Graham into a role at Fielding High School.
"I found out about
Education Personnel from the TeachNZ website and contacted them along
with a number of agencies. I was immediately impressed with their
prompt reply and helpful information about the initial steps I needed
to take in order to have my qualifications recognized.
I was contacted by telephone to discuss the sort of school I was
interested in and the areas that I would be looking to move to. This
was particularly helpful as I had little knowledge of the nature of
schools in NZ and I valued the opportunity to clarify what I was
looking for both in terms of type of school and location.
Having been offered a position following a telephone interview, which was set up by Education Personnel, they then guided me through the remaining steps needed to complete the immigration process; teacher registration, advice about visa application and arrangements for travel. I found this part of the service particularly helpful as I could be confident that any messages I sent were replied to promptly, usually by the next day. This gave us a lot of support especially during pressured times when trying to organise many different things.
I would recommend that UK colleagues thinking of moving to NZ give plenty of time for the move. We started the process in June to start teaching in Jan. This gave us plenty of time to sort out lots of other issues, selling houses etc. Using Education Personnel made the whole process a great deal easier as their helpful team guided us in many areas, from finding a post, sorting out visas and even setting up bank accounts."
Graham Conlon, Fielding High School, 2005