Hi guys and girls,
I was lucky enough to get here last sept and get a job after about a month, but it took a lot of work.
The opportunities are still there as long as you accept some simple facts. Itys not all pretty but very true.

I hope this helps.....

Face facts..Australians would rather give a job to fellow Aussies than us immigrants ! As for what you did at home, it means nothing out here. It may be the first time some of you have tollerated "racism / predjudice" but Australians like to look after thier own. DO NOT GIVE UP ! THE JOBS ARE THERE

You will apply jos for and get knocked back many times - yes, just because we are English, Welsh etc. DO NOT GIVE UP ! THE JOBS ARE THERE

I applied for 23 diffrent jobs and fnally got work as an engineering manager, I employ 2 english fitters and all my contractors are from the UK. There are a lot of people like me around. - DON'T GIVE UP

Accept that you will have to do "crap work" for a while to get your "foot in the door". If you've got this far with emigratting then this will be no problem. I started by working at a cement works on night shift - HORRIBLE!- DON'T GIVE UP

Queensland folk are about 10 years behind the uk with regards to political corr, driving ability, savvy, politeness and general outlook - DONT GIVE UP

Aussies are trying desperately to be Yanks. You will notice thiss in thier termnoligy about everything from road signs to Sport. Forgive them this and DONT GIVE UP

Once you get your head round all of this and can accept it, there is a lot of opportunity here for those who want it. The guys that work for me are second to none and i'm happy to have them, but i have also worked with some very good Aussie guys.

As Immigrants ( yes thats what we are - face it). We have to prove ourselves over and over again to be twice as good as our Aussie counterparts. Thats life.

Bottom line is:

If you show thtat you're prepared to work, and are capable then someone here will give you a fair chance.......And that my friends is all you can ask in life. It then comes down to YOU!

So good luck to you all and i'm always available to answer q's; but i would say that CAL is the goddess of knowledge !

PS Golden rule no:1 - SEEK or Saturdays Courier Mail (newspaper) is the guide to all your Jobs

Happy travel guys and girls

Steve :biggrin: - Hi CAL !:wink:

 

Hi Steve,

Some good advice there, NEVER GIVE UP, there is work out there, and once you get your foot in the door, it is easier to force it open.

My wife took a job in a call centre to start with. its a job and it brings money in. We are now waiting to hear about an interview for a job that we really want. :biggrin:

 

I was always brought up with my dad saying:

"DO WHAT YOU CAN DO UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT !"

Works for me

S

 

PS - good luck with the new job news !

 

hI My husband is a Dr of Enineering currently working for Jacobs International out in Morocco...we are from the Uk and want to relocate to Australia any ideas for the best places to look in terms of senior engineering positions? thankx

 

Hi this thread is from 2010 ,so your probably better starting a new one..

Have you looked at job sites such as Seek, Careerone, Alljobs etc etc ,, they should give you a guide as to whats about in hubbys trade.
Good Luck with everything
Cal x

 

Very good thread! This will help a lot of people which are searching for job. Good tips.

 

Some pretty silly generalisations in that lot.

 

I am a "yank" - does that mean that I may or may not have a harder time looking for work? Will I be discriminated against by aussies or even other immigrants who think everything they see on TV is how we really are? Tell me the truth....
Or do I have to pretend to be from Canada? :skeptical: Oh never mind, that won't work cause my resume won't reflect that... am I thinking out loud here?
Oh the questions, the questions! :unsure:

Oh never mind - people will always find a reason to dislike you or to love you and the truth is that one cannot generalize too much lest one go crazy! Honestly, I don't think that I am important enough to think that people think about me as much as I'd like them to. Simply put, we're here in one moment and out the door the next ... what's different today, becomes the "same ol thing'" tomorrow.

 

Like everywhere, some will, most won't. There are idiots everywhere. The biggest issue is often giving the impression that you are here for the long haul so employers don't think you will go home just after they have trained you in their business or whatever. Australia is an immigrant nation...25% born overseas, 45% with one parent born overseas, so many employers have seen immigrants come and go. Many offices are full of immigrants who have all obviously secured a job.

Being an American you will probably get asked about tea parties, George bush, why baseball final is called world series etc until you develop standard answer cards to hand out . We don't meet anywhere near as many Americans as we do other nationalities so everyone will probably take their chance to discuss it without necessarily blaming you personally. They will all think it is the first time you have been asked

 

Really ?

I what sense?

Have you never encountered anything like this ?

 

It works both ways! I am an Australian with lots of admin experience and lived in the UK for 15 years and found the jobs I was interviewed for were always given to a 'local' (English) person. I was offered several permanent positions only after 'temping' for a few months once they realized I had a strong work ethic and in many instances was more efficient than my 'local' colleagues. The English work ethic is completely different to the Australian one and I totally understand why Aussies employ 'their own'. That isn't to say there are no hard working English folk, but in my experience their attitude to work is completely different.

BUT I do agree that Australians do discriminate as I emigrated to Australia 25 years ago (not from the UK ) before moving to the UK for my spouse's work, and didn't even get to an interview because I didn't have an Australian education or previous employment history, even though I had excellent references and had worked for international corporations in my country of origin. It was only when I temped and was able to show my skills and efficiency did I get offered several jobs. So, my advice is to try and get temping work which will give feedback to the agency and once you get some 'Australian experience on your CV, you are more likely to get to interview later on. It might take a while but don't give up. Funny story though, I went to a professional CV business, as wasn't having any luck with my job applications, and he offered me a job filling in for his secretary who was away for 6 months. Once I got a reference from him, never had a problem after that.

Another agency were up front at my interview and told me to remove all reference to my 'birth place' (which obviously wasn't Australia), and remove any reference that included the country of the company. Of course things have changed a lot since then from what I hear, and it is all done electronically where your CV is scanned by a computer and a real person doesn't even look at it. More reason not to put in any country names that will be flagged up otherwise your CV will just be dumped. Sad but true! If you can get some temping experience, even if it is doing rubbish work for a while at least you will start to build up 'Australian experience' which is what they are looking for.

Anyway, hope this helps. I am on my way back to Oz with tons of UK experience so I will probably have to go through all this again too.
By the way I was told by several agencies that Australians are highly regarded in the work force in the UK because of their 'strong worth ethic'.

 

i would back up everything in th e OP. They may sound "silly" to you but it can be quite distressing to experiance. I saw it first hand in qld but never in london (my experiance) . Being thick skinned i put up whith it but it wasn't pleasant watching new arrivals being put through it.

 

I regret putting it so bluntly, I had just reached my limit of people expressing everything as black and white, when the truth is far more shades of grey. Let me address the points then, which to be honest I have been avoiding in case I cause more issues rather than help people.

Some would, many wouldn't. The post implies all or almost all. If that was the case I wouldn't be surrounded by so many different nationalities in my office. I also would have heard my colleagues plotting this. I would have been directed who to employ. I would have heard "something" in my decades of employment.


That's what I mean by mass generalisation. Sure, some industries, some employers it might happen...I'm not denying the post has some value....I just think it also loses some by overstating almost everything to give a distorted overall impression even taking into account that posts can be over emphasised for effect.

People from all around the world need Australian licenses to work here. Some experienced people struggle with this. The impression though that what is on your CV generally "means nothing" is just totally untrue for my industry, IT, and I suspect most others.


It matters totally.


If we employ you we will be reading exactly who you have worked for, what your experience is, soft and hard skills, everything...yes, some experienced tradies might struggle with the licensing requirements etc but it is hardly a blanket ban on past experience like is made out. Immigrating is hard and some may take a backwards slide and feel their experience is not understood/respected and then work their way back up, others will be paid far more than back home and not skip a beat. There is no black and white formula.

In my normal Australian office I work with Russians, English, South Africans, Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh, French, Germans, Italians, Greeks, North and South Americans, South Asians, South East Asians, North Asians, Nigerians, Kiwis etc etc Most English fit in very well and have little issue. If your reflex is to think you are not getting the job because you are English you will normally be wrong. Some employers may prefer locals (like anywhere a minority will even be racist) but most employ people from all over. The impression your post leaves is overall an inaccurate one in my opinion, even if it is true for some.

Another generalisation which is not true.

24% of Australians are born overseas. 46% have one parent born overseas. All the immigrants in my office display the normal range of abilities. Some good, some bad, they are just normal people. That's real life.


I would like to close by saying I appreciate that you are trying to help others find a job and be helpful so I apologise if my comments are too harsh.

 

Your are right, so is the op. I just don't see why generalizations are so frowned upon on forums.
BTW you misquoted me:tongue:

 

I know everyone is different but in my opinion because they paint an inaccurate picture, scare people unnecessarily, offend or worst of all may affect major life changing decisions. I always try and remember some pretty brave people are making life changing decisions and I owe it to them to be somewhat accurate rather than indulge my own feelings...be different if we were talking Liverpool v United. If you start your thread name with "The real facts..."

Sorry about the misquote (fixed)...I'm not usually so blunt so the stress of it must be affecting my copy/paste skills.... :wubclub:

 

OK, fair enough regarding the title, but anyone reading the actual post will soon realise that its general (oh there's that word again) advice based on someones real experiences.

 

i've got a tattoo that i believe in very much, it says 'all it takes, is all you've got'
i think that its important to remember that as long as you give it your all, youll get somehwere in life

 

Yes, OK Fish, the Op is very generallised. (is that even a word)

I work in a very manual, male dominated area and all of the points i posted are very much correct.

Most guys i work with and around are not "highly" educated and some not very "racially tolerant". My boss has even stated to my face that he would not have given me an interview based on the fact that i had come from England, and "we" dont really get on with English workers - Quote.

This is coming from a state manager on $250k pa in charge of 100+ staff.

I accept that this may be the exception to the rule, but, its not in my industry or lower paid industries such as wharehoures. drivers manual labourers etc...

I would not expect the same attitudes in IT or white collar work, and in truth similar stuff happens back home in the UK.

Now assuming that most moving out here are not going to become the CEO of Quantas or Telstra, a lot of people moving are at some time going to have to do part-time, temp jobs until they get a job in thier respective proffession, if they have one.
I'd be willing to bet that most who do temp manual labour will, at some time, come across these instances.

Like i say, dont give up, there are jobs out there but sometimes you have to put up with a bit c**p until you get what you want.

As for the CV bit, i didnt necc mean that your exp counts for nothing, but the reputation you built up at home for being good at your job, polite etc..all has to be rebuilt from scratch. No-one is going to know anything about you & this can actually work to your advantage is used properly.

I hope i have not put anyone off coming over or searching for jobs, but just opened a few eyes to the fact that its not all milk and honey, and does require some hard work and determination.
I take the attitude that i have successfull moved my partner and children half way round the world, put the kids in school, got a decent job and can support my family well. after doing that there realy is nothing that fazes me anymore, and anyone else who can complete the move should be just as confident..In my humble opinion.

I hope that helps.after all, its not exactly easy to get a job in the UK now is it?..but thats another subject alltogether...!!

 

Yes, OK Fish, the Op is very generallised. (is that even a word)

I work in a very manual, male dominated area and all of the points i posted are very much correct.

Most guys i work with and around are not "highly" educated and some not very "racially tolerant".
My boss has even stated to my face that he would not have given me an interview based on the fact that i had come from England, and "we" dont really get on with English workers - Quote.
This is coming from a state manager on $250k pa in charge of 100+ staff.

I accept that this may be the exception to the rule, but, its not in my industry or lower paid industries such as wharehouses. drivers manual labourers etc...

I would not expect the same attitudes in IT or white collar work, and in truth similar stuff happens back home in the UK.

Now assuming that most moving out here are not going to become the CEO of Quantas or Telstra, a lot of people moving are at some time going to have to do part-time, temp jobs until they get a job in thier respective proffession, if they have one.
I'd be willing to bet that most who do temp manual labour will, at some time, come across these instances.

Like i say, dont give up, there are jobs out there but sometimes you have to put up with a bit c**p until you get what you want.
As for the CV bit, i didnt necc mean that your exp counts for nothing, but the reputation you built up at home for being good at your job, polite etc..all has to be rebuilt from scratch. No-one is going to know anything about you & this can actually work to your advantage is used properly.

I hope i have not put anyone off coming over or searching for jobs, but just opened a few eyes to the fact that its not all milk and honey, and does require some hard work and determination.

I take the attitude that i have successfull moved my partner and children half way round the world, put the kids in school, got a decent job and can support my family well. after doing that there realy is nothing that fazes me anymore, and anyone else who can complete the move should be just as confident..In my humble opinion.

I hope that helps.after all, its not exactly easy to get a job in the UK now is it?..but thats another subject alltogether...!!