2degrees says it advertised the call centre jobs locally.

Telecommunications company 2degrees is seeking approval to recruit up to 40 overseas workers for its Auckland call centre.

Immigration New Zealand said 2degrees made an Approval in Principle (AIP) request on November 30 seeking permission to recruit candidates from overseas to fill 40 "contact centre operator" positions.

The application was either being assessed or was waiting to be allocated.

Companies must make an AIP to Immigration New Zealand in order to place overseas workers into jobs that are not on the Government's skills shortage list.

"Contact centre operator" is not on the shortage list.

2degrees spokesman Paul Brislen said the positions had been advertised locally but there was a shortage of candidates.

"A lot of people aren't too keen on the idea of sitting in a call centre," Brislen said.

2degrees wanted to employ New Zealanders "first and foremost", he said. He would not say what the starting pay rate for the workers would be.

The shortage of call centre workers was the result of high staff turnover, workers being promoted internally and the company expanding, he said.

2degrees employed about 350 call centre workers in Auckland and Christchurch, he said.

E Tu union national industry organiser for telecommunications Joe Gallagher described 2degrees' request to import call centre workers as "ridiculous".

"I don't think there's any justification in this current environment to be going overseas to bring in call centre workers," Gallagher said.

It was not uncommon for unemployed people to get off a benefit by landing a job in a call centre, he said.

"I'm sure that a low skilled worker could get into that job and be trained up and deal with the challenges of the call centre environment.

2degrees had never had an overseas call centre since the company first launched in August 2009, Brislen said.

Earlier this week it was revealed that national bus company Ritchies had requested to fill 110 bus driver jobs with migrant workers because it could not find talent locally.

First Union disputed claims there was a driver shortage and said if anything there was an oversupply of bus drivers in New Zealand.

(Source: Stuff, John Anthony)

Comments TNC: It appears that the difficulties to satisfy changes in the various immigration instructions covering a variety of categories, and the apparent mis-match of required skills and education are starting to show up. It will be necessary to address these issues sooner than later to prevent New Zealand's economy to spiral downwards due to a shortage of skilled labour.