Is a promotion or new job on your radar for 2025? Skills shortages in certain areas in New Zealand continue to offer opportunities for career progression, but make sure you’re progressing in a way that will help you achieve your long-term career goals.

 

So, how do you advance your career in 2025?

 

Here are our top tips to help your career progression in 2025.

With New Zealand's unemployment remaining at low levels, and wide-spread skills shortages in certain areas that aren’t expected to ease, now is a great time to take that next step on your career journey.

 

Before starting your next job search journey, start by considering where you’d like your career to be in five years. Once you’ve identified your goal, you can focus on the steps you need to take to get there and what skills you might need to gain on the way.

As the jobs landscape in New Zealand changes faster than ever before, there’s been a huge focus on hiring for skills, rather than focusing solely on experience or accreditations. NZ employers are more open to transferrable skills and re-establishing what capabilities are essential in a role and what are desirable. In return, they want to know you can be trusted to produce results. So, in addition to adding your key skills to your resume, ensure that you also include success metrics and examples to your resume and online professional profile as proof that you can deliver against the skills. When preparing for an interview, practice articulating your skills set as well as quantifiable results in your answers to common interview questions.

It’s exciting to start mapping out your career progression, but it is also important to critically consider your value and in turn, the value you offer any organisation you might work for. Take notes of any gaps you might leave at an organisation if you were to leave and use that to detail your skills and achievements. Knowing your value in the New Zealand market means you’ll have a better idea if you’re ready to take the next step in your career.

Networking remains one of the most important levers you can pull when seeking a new role. Start (or continue) seeking out networking opportunities, reconnect with NZ recruiters, join a professional association and update your LinkedIn profile.

Skilled professionals are aware of the demand for their skills and are subsequently changing jobs to secure a higher salary. We’re seeing this trend play out in New Zealand with job tenures dropping over the past few years.

 

But making major life changes, such as getting a new job, purely for the money can led to unsatisfying outcomes. Also be wary of mentioning salary too soon in any job consideration process. It can make employers concerned about their long-term retention potential if salary is their primary motivator. Instead, wait for an offer to be made, which puts you in a stronger negotiating position than the topic is raised too early in the process.

 

When it does come time to negotiate, don’t price yourself out of consideration. Consult our Salary Guide or Salary Checker to ensure your expectations are aligned with current market rates in New Zealand rather than the figure you believe your skills warrant. This also allows you to be confident if you need to negotiate a salary offer. Carefully consider career progression opportunities and learning and development on offer in the context of your long-term career goals, too. If a job comes with regular upskilling, for instance, it can future-proof your employability and may be of greater financial benefit long-term.

Your skills are your most valuable commodity in the jobs market so constantly look to learn and upskill to stay ahead of the competition. Focus on acquiring new technical skills, but don’t neglect your soft skills. Soft skills are becoming almost as sought-after as technical skills in the current world of work. Conduct a skills self-audit to identify any gaps. Add any new skills you acquire to your CV and professional profiles.

 

If you are looking to improve your skills, Hays Learning NZ, our online learning platform, allows you to upskill anytime and anywhere. With Hays Learning NZ, you can access thousands of free courses just by signing up.

Most organisations in New Zealand are now expected to be able to demonstrate their ESG strategies to not only keep pace, but also attract and retain talent who want to work for businesses that take their responsibility to the wider community seriously. This means that not only has there been an increased demand for green jobs, but it has also added a sustainable lens to all jobs. Think about how you can prepare by proactively acquiring, then applying, knowledge of sustainable workplace best practices to your current role and making conscious changes to your workplace behaviour, such as water conservation, recycling, food waste and energy efficiency. Learn to perform your job in a sustainable way and you’ll be ready when employers make it a base line expectation.

In today’s business landscape, it’s become even more important for organisations to be able to pivot quickly and remain agile, and employees need to be ready to adapt with changes. Change readiness is a valuable skill, so learn to adapt to change, drive innovation, adopt new technology and implement best practice. By building on your ability to respond quickly and positively to change, you’ll help your career success.

By taking charge of your career and dedicating the time, hard work and interest in career planning, you'll have the advantage in finding a role that will allow you to achieve your career goals and advance your professional development in the new year and into the future.

 

Remember to search our available jobs or explore our career advice hub for more tips. Good luck.