Hiring in New Zealand presents a specific set of constraints. The talent pool is comparatively small—roughly 5 million people—which means competition for skilled roles is direct and salary expectations tend toward the high end of regional benchmarks. Work visa sponsorship is a recurring requirement, especially in tech, engineering, and healthcare, where local supply lags demand. Many hiring managers face extended time-to-fill for specialist roles and navigate a labor market that runs on different seasonal cycles than Northern Hemisphere counterparts. Raffi operates as an agentic AI recruiter in New Zealand, handling candidate screening and scheduling for roles posted on your own job listings. We support English-language interviews and screen candidates against your role requirements in real time. Our integration with Workable ensures your existing ATS workflow remains unchanged. We operate in NZD and understand local compliance frameworks around employment agreements and work-right verification. You post a role, candidates apply directly, and Raffi conducts initial interviews via Google Calendar—no sourcing, no outbound prospecting. This keeps hiring velocity high while maintaining your hiring standards. For roles where you need to move quickly in a constrained market, this structure reduces admin overhead and accelerates the time between application and first-round decision. Get started by connecting your Workable instance and scheduling your first intake call.
3
Cities supported
30+
Candidate interview languages
<24 hrs
Application to first contact
Raffi calls every applicant for a 10-15 min structured interview. Not just the top 5 résumés — every one. Result: nobody good slips through.
Conversational AI interview, rubric-anchored scoring, transcripts you can read. You get a top 3-5 shortlist while competitors are still scheduling first-rounds.
SaaS pricing from $199/mo. No 15-25% of first-year salary, no per-hire kickback. Cancel anytime.
New Zealand's labor market remains competitive despite modest overall growth. Tech roles, particularly in software development and cloud infrastructure, continue to draw both local talent and work-visa applicants. Healthcare and skilled trades face persistent shortages. Government and professional services remain stable sources of hiring activity. Migration policy remains in flux; recent shifts toward skilled migrant visas mean employers increasingly screen for work-right status earlier in the process. Construction and property remain active but wage-sensitive. Remote work norms post-pandemic have stabilized, broadening the effective talent pool beyond Auckland and Wellington, though senior-level hiring still clusters in major centers. Salary expectations in tech and professional roles have plateaued rather than contracted, reflecting ongoing undersupply relative to demand.
New Zealand hiring requires early confirmation of work rights or visa sponsorship willingness—visa sponsorship is common but not automatic. English proficiency is assumed for most roles, though cultural fit and communication style matter in a relationship-driven market. Job boards like Trade Me Jobs and Seek dominate organic traffic; LinkedIn recruitment is widespread for senior hires. Salary norms in NZD are notably higher than cost-of-living comparisons with Australia suggest, particularly in tech and management. Hiring cadences tend to slow December through February (summer holidays) and pick up sharply in March. Employment agreements are more formal than in some regions; employment law compliance is strict. Local referral networks remain powerful, especially outside Auckland.
Raffi's structured interview format and rubric-based scoring is designed to meet anti-discrimination standards in New Zealand. AI use is disclosed to every candidate, and human review of every hire decision is built in.
Candidate transcripts and recordings are stored with consent, candidate-accessible, and removable on request. Per-country data residency available on Growth plan.
Yes. Raffi operates in 30+ languages and supports candidate calls in any timezone via self-booking — there's no per-country integration. If you can post a role from New Zealand, you can run Raffi from New Zealand.
Raffi is calibrated against the major AI-in-hiring frameworks (EU AI Act + NYC Local Law 144) and discloses AI use to every candidate before the call. For New Zealand-specific work permits and right-to-work checks, those happen outside Raffi — we screen, you verify eligibility before extending an offer.
Not always, but you should clarify work-right status early. Many roles attract both citizens/permanent residents and work-visa applicants. Sponsorship is common in tech, healthcare, and trades but less so in oversupplied fields. Raffi's screening interviews can include work-right confirmation questions to filter before you invest time in first-round calls.
Trade Me Jobs and Seek capture the majority of active job seekers. LinkedIn is essential for senior and professional roles. Specialized boards exist for trades, healthcare, and tech. Most hiring managers post to 2–3 channels simultaneously. Raffi integrates with Workable, so candidates from any channel flow into the same screening workflow.
NZD salaries for equivalent roles are typically 15–25% lower in nominal terms but closer when adjusted for cost of living. Tech, management, and professional services command premium rates. Salary expectations have been sticky in recent years, so budgeting realistically for NZD is essential. Market benchmarking before posting will help you attract the right caliber.
Agentic recruiting is recruiting done by an AI agent that takes action on your behalf — not a chatbot or résumé summarizer. Raffi calls every applicant for a structured 10-15 minute interview, scores them against your rubric, and hands you a ranked top 3-5. The work happens autonomously.
Most agencies charge 15-25% of first-year salary as a placement fee — a $90k hire runs $13-22k. Raffi is SaaS at $199-599/mo plus per-action credits, typically landing under $10k/year for a team hiring 12 people. Same shortlist quality, no placement contract.
About 25 minutes to onboard, post your first role, and have Raffi ready to interview applicants. No engineering work, no integration project. Connect your work email, paste a JD, you're live.
Free $25 starter credit. No credit card. Screening live by tonight.