Information for these FAQs has been sourced from: Kiwi Health Jobs and ACE New Zealand.
If you have any further questions, please email us.
ACE stands for Advanced Choice of Employment, and is a collaborative recruitment scheme through which all the District Health Boards (DHBs) in New Zealand employ first-year House Officers.
The ACE scheme was introduced in 2003 after lobbying by the NZMA and NZMSA for a simpler, more streamlined process for medical students to secure their first House Officer position, as well as simplifying the process for DHBs.
The ACE scheme uses a computerised, centralised match process that simultaneously considers an applicant’s work place (DHB) preference as well as the DHB’s preference of applicants within quota (number of available first-year House Officer positions at that DHB). This results in job offers for applicants from one of their preferred DHBs IF that DHB is prepared offer them an available position (ie, if you are on their preferred candidate list, within their quota).
For example: Applicant A ranks Canterbury DHB as their first preference. Canterbury has 34 first-year House Officer positions available and, after viewing Applicant A's application, ranks them as 12th on its list of preferred applicants. As the applicant falls inside their quota of 34 positions, Applicant A will be matched to the Canterbury DHB and receive a job offer.
Short answer: No. Every year there are a finite number of first-year House Officer positions. Although you apply through the ACE scheme, it is just like any other job search: keep in mind that DHBs – your ultimate employer – will be looking at your application, so it pays to make it stand out from the crowd!
At the end of the process, DHBs are sent a spreadsheet of all of the unmatched participants. If there are vacancies, the DHBs will contact the unmatched participants directly.
You are eligible for ACE if you fit into one of the following categories:
Visit www.acenz.net.nz and register for an account. You will be able to log in and amend details of your ACE application until the closing date.