Date:  03 November 2022

Applications closed Tuesday. The deadline had been extended from the initial closing date of 13 October as only three people had applied by then and none had the required qualifications.

However, when Stuff ran a story about the job describing what it entailed - such as kiwi management - and made much of the spectacular scenery around Haast, it grabbed global media attention.

“By close of business Tuesday 1383 people from 24 countries had applied for the job. We’ve been totally blown away by the interest shown,” says South Westland Operations Manager Wayne Costello.

Following Stuff’s story The Guardian UK, Taipei Times, Al-Arabiya News and New York Post newspapers all ran variations of it, as did New Zealand news media.

Agence France-Presse did a follow up interview with Wayne Costello and their story was translated into Arabic, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.

Versions of that have run in online and print news outlets in countries such as Austria, Germany, Romania, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and India.

Applicants for the job include people from Finland, the UK, Colombia, Brazil, India, Ireland, the USA, Dominican Republic, South Africa and Paraguay as well as New Zealanders and Australians.

The job advertisement stipulated that eligibility to work in New Zealand was mandatory including holding a valid work visa that covers the whole period of employment.

Of those who applied over 40 meet those criteria.

Some overseas publications use online translation tools so their articles can also be read in English. Artificial intelligence translation has meant a few changes in meaning.

For example, the translation of the story in Badischer Zeitung, a regional newspaper in Southern Germany, said the job was for a “future Haast Kiwi Commissioner of the National Park.”

"The main focus at this site is on saving New Zealand's rarest kiwifruit species, the Haast's kiwi," it proclaimed.

DOC recruitment staff are now short-listing for the position.

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