When to start applying for jobs

[Mezzi]

I'm in the same boat - rough plan at the moment is to arrive September and no later, and have been a bit concerned about how long it might take to get a job especially after a couple of things I have read. I figured that September gave me a couple of months before everything start shutting down for Christmas? I'm a PA so also hoping that because I can work across any sector and am not going to be too picky initially that I should find something fairly soon.... fingers crossed anyway!

Emigration show might be the one by Australia & New Zealand magazine at the Business Design Centre, Islington, 11-12 Feb. I think the tickets are 10 pounds if you book in advance.

[Growler]

Hi i dont know if your husbands occupation would be on here but after me trying to get a sponsor from oz and im in the UK I contacted over 500 companies and then came across seek.com.au I found an employer on this site have a look...good luck

[Jessica Berry]

Unless you have an occupation that is in demand eg nursing, very few people seem to secure work before they arrive.

When you arrive and are looking for work you need to come with the right attitude and the right approach.

For example, I work in HR and deal with recruitment and training at my organisation. We deal with a couple of recruitment agencies. We have been looking for casual staff in a certain field. This area of work is hard to get into simply because the people that have the permanent jobs very rarely leave so few opportunities come up. One agency said to me they had 124 people on their books for this line of work that were registered and ready to work. Another agency we deal with knew we were dealing with another agency so they advertised for people and got 92 responses (remember this is for casual positions). So with well over 200 people to choose from how do we go about selecting people. I will give you an example of one I chose and one I didn't.

One person looked on our company website and read the agencies we used. He then contacted the agency (this was before any adverts were placed) and was very keen. He registered with the agency straight away and provided copies of his certificate, referees and generally displayed a real interest in the work (he has been working voluntarily at the weekends to gain some work experience). My contact at the agency spoke to me about him and I was impressed with his initiative and pushed for the managers at work to meet with him. They did, he came dressed to the interview in a shirt and tie, had researched all about our company and showed he wanted the work. He is starting work with us next week.

On the other hand another person (with a lot more experience that the person above) contacted the same agency and when they asked her to come in to register she said it was too far to come to that office but she would be happy to go to their branch in the city and register. Considering our office is 10 minutes from the agency that was too far away to travel to, straight away I am thinking well if she is not prepared to travel to the agency then is she going to travel to our workplace. I said I was not interested to the agency and took her application no further.

When I have 200+ people to choose from I am looking for people that will cause me the least problems and show me that they have used their initiative and stand out from the other 200+ applicants.

[catherine.c]

Personally if I recieved an enquiry from you now and then saw you were not coming until September I would discard your application unless desperate for your particular skill!
I was interviewed by telephone in feb 08 and they wanted me here by April (nurse). My husband was very proactive and searched on line for companies in his line of work, emailed for names and then rang them in the couple of months leading up to getting here. He managed to get 2 companies to agree to see him for when he arrived, consequently we both started work 2 weeks after arriving.
I know that things have changed on the job front (yes, including nursing jobs) but I do feel that telephone contact from the UK is the way to go - it is very easy to ignore emails, especially if sent 6 months prior to arriving!
I wish you luck and all the best
Catherine

[Paula H]

So enquiring with companies now is not advised? and the same for agencies?

[catherine.c]

I would start gathering information in May / June if you can wait that long - finding out who potential employers are and getting contact details then contact them personally the end of June / July - then a September start is a reasonable time scale. They are more likely to agree a meet up or ask you to ring them when you arrive than offer an actual job as they will not know for certain that you will come over, however they will remember you and appreciate the effort you have made.
As for agencies, unfortunately I have never had any good experiences and avoid them like the plague!! As to whether they are any good for your line of work though I do not know.
Good luck
Catherine

[Lenore]

We are now applying for jobs because we want to go as soon as one of us gets a job. Job agencies express interest, they ask about type of visa, but they also ask WHEN we are coming to Australia... One recruitment agent said that for IT jobs they find 99% specialists in Adelaide so it's not very likely that potential employer will do an interview via phone/Internet and that we should come first. Actually I thought even recruitment agent wouldn't bother interviewing via Skype - too much 'effort' if they have enough candidates locally.
So far our plan is to look for jobs for another month, then we'll know our chances better.
Sometimes I think maybe it's not good to send all those CVs from the UK, because they will go to the almost unused pile 'overseas candidate'. Then, after arrival to Adelaide. we would have to send CVs again or ask for updates and I bet half of the agencies/companies won't update that we're in SA already... Or they'll check - ok we've got this guy's docs, so we won't overwrite them :/

[Markrw]

Hi Paula
If your OH is a civil supervisor there is a lot of new work starting in Adelaide, so if he works for a firm he won't need the building supervisors licence. It dose take time for some people to find work but some people just land on the ground running. It took me 2.5 months to start work my advise enjoy the time off because when you start work you will wish you did, I have only had 4 weeks of in the last 2 years knackard...lol

Mark

[Paula H]

Thanks Mark
He doesnt want to be a supervisor straight away, doesnt want to be seen as the POM telling the aussies what to do if you know what we mean so just being a civil engineer really will siut him.

[Markrw]

I know what you mean but dont worry to much about that as there are a lot of UK supervisor within the trades, but seriously stay on the tools so to say less stress while you are settling onto the oz way of life. I am a supervisor for a local building com and there are a few UK lads here but as I have just stared with them still to meet people yet.