With the Immigration Act 2009 taking full effect on 29 November 2010, it's a good time to think about your skills needs and the path your company is going to take to fill those needs.

Whether one reads an article about the fashion industry today or from archives as far back as 2002, you can't help but hear a constant refrain - the industry is experiencing a technical skills shortage in such roles as CAD pattern makers, QA/Garment Tech's, off shore Production managers, and all levels of people with an off shore production background. With the very recent statistics about the wage differences between here and Australia, and their impact on workers migrating out of the country, the skills shortage is sure to worsen.

As part of your talent search process, don't overlook immigrants with New Zealand permanent residency who are already living here or those people who are working overseas and wanting to immigrate to New Zealand as a means to fill the skills gap. A lot of companies shy away from hiring immigrants, but they really should give it serious thought. Yes, there can be challenges - of language, culture and dealing with NZIS - but these can be overcome with thought and a bit of effort.

Perhaps the initial hurdle is working within the immigration laws. The team at Rag Trade Recruitment have years of experience expediting visas and work permits and have excellent working relationships with NZIS. As this is one area you don't want to get wrong, especially with the new Act taking effect at the end of November, it is wise to work with seasoned professionals who can expertly walk you through the process and documentation requirements.

Once you've hired your candidate, making him or her feel welcome and successful is mostly the responsibility of management. Imagine how you'd feel if you'd moved to a foreign country, got a job at an unfamiliar company and maybe lacked some confidence with the language. Chances are you'd be a bit nervous and feel lonely. How you treat and engage an immigrant employee will make all the difference to their successful performance and their impact on your organisation.

As one in four New Zealand residents were born overseas, it's likely that you already have ethnic and cultural diversity among your team members. Be sure to take great advantage of that. It seems to be human nature to congregate with "our own" and to put a negative spin on "difference." When, in fact, those companies who value that difference and find ways to learn from each other's cultures and experiences end up being the most successful.

When thinking about diversity, think outside of the usual Equal Employment Opportunity legal definitions of race, gender, religion and age diversity. Dimensions of diversity also include such things as education, work experience, relationship to time and comfort with asking questions or speaking to one's boss. Do yourself a favour and refrain from judging these differences, rather, explore them and find out how they can help you grow your business and your staff.

Rag Trade Recruitment is a specialist in overseas recruitment. We are aligned with recruitment resources in the UK and Australia and can source candidates from those countries as well as others. In most years, we make recruitment trips overseas to identify and place exceptional candidates. We can help you ensure that overseas hires start off on the right foot and integrate quickly and successfully into your operations.

Submitted by Managing Director, Gaye Harford in collaboration with Lorraine Warshaw