Fluid managing director Nathan Pattison told the Otago Daily Times that in the first week after the February 22 earthquake, calls received by the agency increased by 25% on the inquiries the agency received in a normal week.
The number of CVs received did not increase on the 200 or so received a week, but the number of phone inquiries about jobs did, he said.
"We got people out of those calls and engaged with them. But once we got them out to clients for an interview, some withdrew."
However, people phoning now were more committed about shifting from Christchurch, although Dunedin was now competing with Auckland and Wellington to offer positions.
Larger agencies in the North Island were using databases to call prospective employees and offer them jobs, which was working against Dunedin, Mr Pattison said. Wellington still had the highest salary levels, although Dunedin could offer national salaries for some specialist positions.
Fluid specialised in placing highly-qualified "white collar" employees into new positions.
Asked if there were jobs available in Dunedin for Christchurch jobseekers, Mr Pattison said that he could guarantee that 20% of his 100 clients would have continuously open jobs as workers moved on.
In the past 18 months, Fluid had brought 20 new families to Dunedin through work opportunities. Those professionals were the next tier down from the top positions in a company, such as chief executives, chief financial officers or chief IT officers.
In five to 10 years, the new recruits were likely to takeover the "hot seat".
Fluid was expecting two families a month to relocate south to Dunedin from Christchurch and two families a month to relocate from further north.
"Uprooting your family is a hard thing to do."
The usual trend was for the person to spend three to six months negotiating for the job and eight to 12 weeks to shift. Some Dunedin companies offered help with relocation expense, and that was something for others to consider in trying to attract Christchurch people, he said.
Mr Pattison specialised in IT and high-technology recruitment. He understood that Christchurch IT companies were having a "bumper month" as businesses sought IT expertise to restart their operations.
Dunedin would continue to struggle to compete with Wellington and Auckland to attract highly-qualified staff.
"New Zealand as a whole is still short in areas we work in - IT, finance, accountancy and high-end engineering. To attract staff we need to offer them Wellington or Auckland rates," Mr Pattison said.
