The Work Permit is normally given to you when you find a company that agrees to offer you the contract and sponsor you.
This is something quite difficult to achieve from outside and even from within the country if your idea is to distribute CVs out there.
In many places they do not want to hire people who do not already have a valid permit or visa, so in all those places where they warn that they only hire people with permission, better than even try.
In tourist areas it is always easier to get it, they are more used to hiring foreigners since in New Zealand there is not enough labor, especially for the service sector, which is the one that more people demand.
Thus, you will always end up finding work washing dishes or making beds, as a waiter if your level of English is acceptable and you have experience, or in information offices if the language is not a problem.
The subject of previous experience is important, and if you are applying for a job as a waiter, do not forget to put on the resume that you have already worked on previously, because it is one of the tests (the CV) that you must send with the application of the Work permit and that qualifies you before a New Zealander who has no experience.
The ideal is to meet people who are already working there and recommend you to their bosses.
If you find work there in New Zealand while you are on a Tourist Visa, you should leave the country (go to Australia, for example) and re-enter with the work permit, since the Tourist Visa does not allow you to search work.
What’s more, if you go with the Tourist Visa, at customs don’t think of saying that you’re going to work. There you must also present the return ticket or proof that you have sufficient funds for your stay and to return. It is worth with a receipt of the bank, which also will not examine exhaustively to see that it is real.
Once you find the employer that agrees to process the papers, you have to fill out a form, which can be printed from the internet , (and pay 200 New Zealand dollars giving a credit card number; in addition, the company has to fill out another small form and provide Evidence (such as a photocopy of a job advertisement) that they have been unable to hire a New Zealander before you.
Surely, you will ask for the work permit for several months, so you have to have a chest x-ray (to see that you do not have tuberculosis) and if it is for more than a year, you must also have a complete medical examination.
Once you have everything, you send it along with the passport and a photograph, and in about two weeks it should be ready and approved, it is very strange that they deny it to someone.
As its name suggests, the work permit they will give you is not a visa, and it will be canceled once you leave the country, even if it is on vacation.
In addition, it is only valid while you work for the same company. If you decide to change jobs you need to get a new permit with your new company, although it is easier than getting it from scratch. You have a deadline to request a new one or leave the country.