Upon her move to London, Kiwi marketer Amelia Murray was determined to immerse herself in the new city and all it had to offer - from career development to weeknight pints in the pub.

Despite having moved with a couple of friends and having a Kiwi contingent in London, she launched herself into the hunt for a job and worked on securing herself a spot in a flat with a group of new British friends.

Two and a half years later, Amelia, a 28-year-old seasoned Londoner, speaks of having embraced the challenges that came with these experiences and thriving in the change. She’s now somewhat come back to her roots, working for New Zealand-based company Xero In their customer and partner marketing team, and living in north London with Kiwi friends.

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.