New Zeland is known by the world for its snow-capped mountains and its greenery not to mention hot springs and more. However, it is at the end of the world, and quite off the beaten track. But now, imagine what if the Kiwis try to build themselves up into a tech hub. To achieve that it surely needs a workforce specialized in the field. But they lack that. Still, Wellington, the capital city of New Zeland has started working on this goal and has found an ingenious new way to get the tech talent. And that is by offering 100 tech workers a free week-long trip to the city, under the LookSee Wellington programme. This unusual marketing plan will get you there if you agree to pre-arranged job interviews with companies in the area, reported Mashable. Well, to the surprise of many, the programme seems to be actually working. LookSee Wellington said that it has received 48,000 applications and due to which even the website crashed once. Till now 93 people have made the trip out of which 63 have accepted the job offers.
The 31-year-old Darren Kidd is one of those 63 people to have accepted the offer. He hails from Perth, Australia and will be moving to the city with his wife Alyssa and daughter Isobel. He had been to New Zeland only for vacations and he liked the country so much that he signed up to a mailing list for jobs a year ago. Kidd then ended up accepting the role of a developer with accounting software firm Xero. As an Australian, Kidd is in the minority of people who came on the junket. The majority, to little surprise, are from the US (29 people), followed by Canada (9), UK (8), and India (7).
Notably, The Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA) spent NZ$300,000 (US$224,000) on the campaign. It’s not a cheap exercise, but it said the investment would boost the region’s economy and Wellington’s profile as a tech hub.
