Over 100 applicants for 1 Microsoft Admin Job.

[Guest cloudnine]

Having one major rethink about Adelaide now. I applied for a job as a MS Admin job. On not getting a look in I asked how many people had applied. Over 100 came the reply and the competition was though.

 

Don't get me wrong, I knew that the State list wouldn't reflect the actual job market- but it appears my job is in saturation!

 

I am not brave enough to come over without a job secured, I've though long and hard about it and I am just too frightened. I've never ever not had a job.

 

Any tips - any at all would be much appreciated.

 

 

Sorry about the typo's my iPad won't let me go back and change them

[guspjmh]

There seem to be lots of threads about a lack of jobs in IT, perhaps the government see this area booming over the next few years, but the jobs just are not there right now?

[Ktee]

Don't lose all hope. They may have 100 applicants but I bet well over 50% have no experience etc.

Good luck and I hope you find something soon

[Guest cloudnine]

Thanks Guys. My company sells next week and I'm jobless here in blighty. Jump or stick ?

[Guest ColinOz]

I totally understand you, and it is a tough one, mine situation is similar to yours and I decided to jump, hopefully I will be able to find a job why don't you try sending a message to

Shanners http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/jobs-careers/37148-what-about-jobs-2.html

[Guest cloudnine]

I've spoken the International Recruitment Agents at Hays in London over the last few days and she seems to think I need to be there in Adelaide to stand any chance of getting a look in. 100 applications though. Here in the UK I've just advertised for roles and the most applicants I had was 30. I thought that was a lot!

[aliogilvie]

In my experience (project management/project support) you will not even be taken seriously until you are on the ground in Australia or at least arriving imminently. I was applying and getting not a sausage until we were a week from arriving, then had a couple of Skype interviews in the week we travelled, once I was here it was FAR easier and through seek and via Talent International I had a lot of interest. Was able to find a job within a few weeks.

 

Don't lose heart, it's very easy to dismiss an application from someone who is still 10,000 miles away. I would also suggest "Australianising" your CV - it felt weird to me to structure it differently but I certainly got interest from it once I was here. I will dig up the link for where the thread was to doing this when I get into work later.

[Toni]

We had an office manager job advertised a few years ago now and had over 120 applicants but most of them were from people all over the world who applied. They didn't follow the guidelines on how to apply and who weren't qualified in that area at all. So even though it may sound like a lot there were really only 20 applicants who had the skills and from those only 4 got interviewed. People will apply for any job sometimes for a number of reasons. Centrelink guidelines here are also very tough, people who receive an "unemployment" benefit "have to" apply for a certain number of jobs and we saw people apply who clearly weren't qualified in that area. As with all data it needs to stand on it's merits.

[Jessica Berry]

My first reaction is only 100 applications! I know of other jobs but in different fields in Adelaide that are receiving 300-400 applications.

 

I am hearing similar stories from friends and family though of how tough the job market is in some areas of the UK. In my 'home' town in the UK a Costa Coffee opened in a small suburb and advertised 6 jobs and had over 1.000 applications, my mum and dad were on a cruise ship in Antarctica and the news sheet they produce on board the ship even reported it! A friend is being made redundant in a weeks time and she works in finance/admin in the UK and she went to the recruitment agencies and asked how long it is taking them to find people jobs and their response was between 3-6 months.

 

I am a member of the Career Development Association of Australia, the professional organisation for Career Advisors and they recently held their annual conference in Sydney. I asked an Aussie friend who went what were the highlights and the one thing that stood out in her memory was a guest speaker from the UK who said that in the UK they could fill every football stadium with unemployed youth. My Aussie friend was astounded at that figure/visualisation.

 

I have worked in HR/recruitment roles in Adelaide and as said previously a lot of resumes/applications are very poor and there is an element of people just applying for anything.

 

People need to understand how their resume is perceived by a recruiter/employer, the jobs to apply for where they will be in the running and how to market themselves. You need to capture the attention of the recruiter quickly and understand what the recruiter is looking for.

 

My partner works in IT and did not have a job to come to. He has forged a successful career over here. We work as a team, he has the technical skills and abilities and I have the job advice/guidance background to guide him in the right direction and understand what employers are looking for.

 

Job hunting is not an exact science and especially in Adelaide where so many other factors can come into the mix. There are still jobs here for people, like there will be jobs available in the UK. There are just far more people an employer can choose from. It can also be very disheartening and take perseverance to start again from scratch, some people rise to that challenge and others don't. You are in the same boat as many other people who come here without a job to come to. It is up to you whether you take a leap of faith.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Jessica Berry

[Guest BurgessFamily]

Having been involved in the recruiting process in IT here, I'd say you get a lot of applicants (100s and 100s!), but as my company found out, it's hard to get what you want for the money you are willing to pay (probably hence the reason for the 'in demand').

 

For instance, we were looking for a junior .Net developer with 2 years experience for around $45k (mid $55k / Snr $65k). As I said, lots of applicants, but basically all just web developers and not heavy coders really. My company is now seriously considering offshore (as they couldn't fill their vacancy), as each developer is less than $15k (and no super).

 

I would add though, that you only need one job as after that you stop looking.

Edited June 20, 2013 by BurgessFamily
more comments

[Tarek]

Sorry to say so, but 100 MS admin job applicants is not as specialized as project manager applicants, I have been told by my agent recruiting for a Griffith university project manager role that 128 qualified PMs applied for this position, but what they expected is something near 16.

 

This can tell you that we are in recession already

Edited June 20, 2013 by Tarek

[Guest LittleMissWildChild]

I've been looking for admin/customer service work, both management and admin positions, and all the ones I have asked for the number of applications, I am being told between 300-400. It's HARD! I have been looking for 4 months, I am Australian by birth, I have excellent references and a great work history, and out of the 100 or so jobs I have applied for, I have had 5 interviews, and no job offers!

[srg73]

Ok, to turn the tables, I have just received a very promising email this morning from a potential employer who wants to speak to me when next over completely independent of agents and hopefully with a position available straight away. I'm a chartered pm/cm in construction.

 

I agree with the offshore comments but would also suggest that some occupations have been saturated by the promise of milk and honey. Certain trades have been hijacked to make them sound important best examples engineer and project manager, nearly every job has these attached to them even though they have nothing to do with it. Engineers calculate and run/make things and pm's manage people in making things.

 

In conclusion us poms are used to competing against each other for new jobs in the uk. In Australia things are more global and guess what, some of those candidates globally are pretty clever people and are better suited to the jobs than ourselves.

 

S

Edited June 20, 2013 by srg73

[adelaidenow]

As others have said, the number of applicants does not mean they are all suitable. But it is 'easier' to find employment when here.

 

I will add, don't rely on agencies to find you a job, even when registered with them, you still have to tell them to put you forward for each and every role you are interested in.

 

Good luck.

Edited June 20, 2013 by adelaidenow

[wubbledoos]

Having been involved in the recruiting process in IT here, I'd say you get a lot of applicants (100s and 100s!), but as my company found out, it's hard to get what you want for the money you are willing to pay (probably hence the reason for the 'in demand').

 

For instance, we were looking for a junior .Net developer with 2 years experience for around $45k (mid $55k / Snr $65k). As I said, lots of applicants, but basically all just web developers and not heavy coders really. My company is now seriously considering offshore (as they couldn't fill their vacancy), as each developer is less than $15k (and no super).

 

I would add though, that you only need one job as after that you stop looking.

 

This is slightly reassuring for me as a developer who would have applied for this job. Shame we are only just starting the process of applying!

 

The job market is my major concern about Adelaide and I do worry about not finding work.