New Pinnacle practice membership benefit: Immigration and recruitment support for our network

NZ Shores will support practices with both recruitment and immigration processes, ensuring a smooth transition for internationally trained professionals.

We have secured a significantly discounted recruitment rate for our network.  These are commercially sensitive and will be available to your practice on initial enquiry.

• End-to-end recruitment support – NZ Shores manages the entire recruitment process, reducing the administrative burden on practices, and will accommodate the level to which the practice wants to be involved in the process.
  
• Interview and reference check flexibility – While NZ Shores handles the recruitment, freeing up practice time, practices do still have the opportunity to be involved in interviews and/or reference checks if they wish.
• Relocation and contract arrangements – Practices will need to arrange relocation details and any contribution you wish to make to these costs, and establish their own employment contracts with successful candidates.

When a practice successfully recruits a role

• 50% of the fee is invoiced when the job offer is accepted
• The remaining 50% is invoiced when the professional starts work.

To simplify transactions for practices, Pinnacle will cover the initial costs and then invoice practices accordingly, eliminating the need for direct payments to NZ Shores.

The benefits of this approach

• Simplified financial process – Practices only need to engage with Pinnacle for payments, reducing administrative tasks.
• Predictable costs – Clear invoicing structure with no unexpected charges, giving practices greater certainty for budgeting purposes.
• Guaranteed service delivery – Pinnacle ensures that NZ Shores meets the agreed service standards before practices make payments.

Employers need to be accredited with Immigration New Zealand to hire internationally trained staff. To support this process, Pinnacle is providing a $400 contribution toward the cost of employer accreditation.  We acknowledge some practices may already be an Accredited Employer; unfortunately, we cannot reimburse historic accreditations.

Pinnacle is also providing a $400 contribution toward the cost of Employer Job Checks, where relevant.  A contribution towards the successful candidate’s Accredited Employer Work Visa is at the practice’s discretion.

A full breakdown of the preferential immigration support rates we have negotiated for Pinnacle network members will be available to your practice on initial enquiry.

NZ Shores also provides:

• immigration advice for practices and candidates
• a portal with a step-by-step guide to the recruitment and immigration process
• job check assistance (only required for work visas, not straight-to-residency applicants).
  

We acknowledge concerns about international recruitment, particularly in nursing. However, this programme’s recruitment focus will be on experienced staff to ensure practices have the skilled, experienced workforce needed to meet patient needs effectively. This initiative is about providing choice for practices in response to workforce shortages they have identified. The reality is that while pay disparity exists between Te Whatu Ora and primary care, attracting and retaining experienced nurses in general practice in New Zealand remains a challenge.

At the same time, Pinnacle remains committed to supporting the development of our domestic primary care workforce through:

• advocacy for system-wide changes to improve workforce retention and funding in primary care
• our nursing director’s involvement in establishing the nursing programme at the University of Waikato
• education and training initiatives, such as our involvement in establishing the University of Waikato’s medical school
• workforce development opportunities, including the Pinnacle Graduate Nurse Programme, a 12-month programme that partners with the regional Te Whatu Ora Nurse Entry to Practice Programme (NETP) to provide training, education, and support for nurses wanting to develop a career in a primary health setting.

As part of our ongoing partnership with NZS, we’re working to streamline the process of connecting practices with potential candidates who are exploring opportunities in Aotearoa. To support this, we’re compiling a list of practices that are happy to be contacted when a relevant CV comes through from NZS. If your practice would like to be included on this list and contacted when suitable candidates are available, please email Sarah Wotherspoon, Pinnacle senior administrator.

For more information or to express interest, please contact 
recruitmentandimmigration@pinnacle.health.nz. We will work with you to understand your needs and interest and then pass this information to NZ Shores. If you happen to contact NZ Shores directly, they will share your information with us and we’ll get in touch.

A video recording of the information webinar is available in the “Files and Links” section below.