Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade Reviews

It is pretty cool to think that you can start at MFAT as a fresh grad and go on to be a high commissioner or ambassador in the future. For foreign policy staff you are assessed against a suite of foreign policy capabilities to determine if you will progress upward. Throughout the progressions you also go on postings overseas. Join one of the zoom/in person events MFAT holds in advance of the grad recruitment to learn more about the career progression opportunities.

Being a Ministry, MFAT adheres to a high moral and social code in it's work.

The Ministry's culture is based around doing good work well, without the corporate, money-making angle. Everyone is dedicated to their work and wants to do well while retaining a cooperative and social working environment.

Getting a lot better. Greater focus on matauranga Māori, empowering women, and encouraging employees to respect different personalities and working styles.

Great team, high empowerment and trust relationship with the manager. Managing large sums of money with the NZ aid program and working with local staff to ensure risks are managed.

My manager is approachable, even though they are very busy they make time to address any questions we have or provide help where needed. They took the time to work on my personal development plan with me and provide clearly feedback about how my work aligns with the wider businesses and where I should focus my development.

The Wellington offices are fabulous and the views are great. We are provided with everything that we need to work effectively. The Ministry was also great at providing us with what we needed to work from home during COVID.

1. Initial application - very standard, not unreasonable (esp. as very similar to anything else one might be applying for) 2. Testing - both the problem-solving and the language-based questions felt a lot less arbitrary than similar tests for other applications, like the law firm/other ministry ones my classmates were applying for, which I appreciated 3. Video interview - this was the worst part of the process for me; it's nerve-wracking without having someone to steer you in the right direction and there's more of an element of luck in how you prepare 4. Zoom interview - really nice for a zoom interview! The interviewers were lovely and empathetic to nerves.

The pay for a graduate is competitive but working public sector you will be out scaled by private sector counterparts in 4-6 years. Government pay freeze affects mobility through pay bands. Nill bonus opportunities.

The first year of the grad programme is spent doing Foundations. Foundations is a one-year development programme of courses, visits and learning. You spend around 10% of your first year doing the different courses/training that makeup Foundations. It is also a great way to get to know the other grads across the Ministry better.

My experience is that it varies across the Ministry depending on your team. My current team/role does not have major things pop up that require you to work late. We all work very consistent hours. My manager is flexible, if you have an appointment or need to leave early on day, you can make the hours up elsewhere. Other parts of the Ministry are more impacted by events so staff may need to work late or extra hours. Some teams work requires them to join meetings in the middle of the night to suit others time zones etc.

Same as other Government agencies with strength in international Climate obligations.