Having worked in other industries in NZ, and having been head hunted for a senior role, only to be rejected - against the recruitment consultants advice, my experience is that in NZ it is not what you know, or what your experience is that counts in job selection. It is who you know, or more importantly how much they like you.
On arrival in NZ I was told 'remember it is a small country' - I was told by someone on Dunedin that I was being head hunted for a post in Wellington two hours before I received a phone call about this - and the person in Dunedin had NO connection with the Wellington role. What you say/do travels fast and they have long memories. They also do not like criticism, particularly of the 'Kiwi Way' of doing things.