Working in Australia

One of the first questions i am asked is often related to working in Australia,"How easy is it to find work in Australia, whats the rate of pay" etc

Its obvious that work will be a major part of your life and will be a major decision maker when it comes to your move to Australia. Using myself as an example of how i started working in Australia and how easy i found my first job in Australia, keeping in mind that i arrived in Australia in Jan 2009(in the middle of a so called "world wide reccession") and although Australia had not yet reached the peak of it's economic slowdown, it is fair to say that Australia was feeling it, And there were far fewer people working in Australia than in the 12 months prior.

I had allowed myself myself 4 WEEKS to find a job in Australia, by that time my money would be running low (i know i travel light dont i) and i would have to start looking for a job with more urgency.

We arrived in Sydney on the 9th of jan and headed to a hotel in Sydney cbd where we stayed for 4 nights, we were lucky enough to have some friends who lived south of sydney in a very beautifull but very remote area called coolangatta, so we headed there to set up our base and be with people we know, whilst we were here i applied to a few of the main recruitment agencies sending my cv off to them all, i stupidly sent them off expecting to hear from them the next day or at the very latest the next couple of days.

4 days went by without a single reply to any of my applications,And i was getting worried that i might struggle to even start working in Australia. Not wanting to let this get me down, we decided to take a 2 hour train ride into the city for a change of scenery and some retail therapy for the wife. we took lunch at a sushi train restaurant to try it out(never tried sushi before) and it was here i met Brendon, saying hello to him as i was to be sat next to him whilst having lunch.After talking to Brendon for a while, the topic became work related,I told him i had been unable to find work in Australia and he said he would be able to give me a job working for him. I gave him my contact details, and eventually i headed back to coolengatta that night forgetting all about it.

On the 27th of jan we decided to head up to brisbane to check it out, again staying with friends we made the last time we were travelling in Australia.

The next morning i recieved a phone call from Brendon to see how i was & how things were going with work. I told him that I had moved to Brisbane to which he replied 'would you like a job yet?'. Brendan & his business partner Mick had contracts throughout Australia and the majority of them were on the Gold Coast in Queensland. We arranged for a meet up that week to discuss pay etc

I met Mick on Friday in Surfers Paradise and he gave me a job start for the Monday, organising & supervising most of his work on the Gold Coast. He gave me a van to use to get to & from work and also a mobile phone, we negotiated my rate at $35 per hour, which is pretty good especially to say I didnt even hold an Australian Electrical License at that point. So within 23 days I had finally started working in Australia and was earning more than enough to cover food & rent etc.

My advice to everyone would be to get in & mix with the locals, it worked out for me, just a friendly hello how are you works, once they pick up on your accent you will find they have loads to talk to you about and somehow feel obliged to help you any way they can.

After finishing work on the Monday feeling very positive i had made the right chice to emmigrate, I drove home to Brisbane, opened my laptop and found 6 new messages from the recruitment agencies I had contacted offering vacant positions for work in the Sydney area, granted some of them were labouring jobs, but who cares? Its about starting work to take the pressure off the finances right? Once you start your first job in Australia you can keep looking for a job that suits you better.

Try out the Recruitment Agencies but be aware that they may only help you once you actually arrive in Australia. Good luck!

jack.