IT jobs? Also help with CV please

[jo_marnes]

Hi all,

 

Well with (just) less than 2 months before we leave the UK, it has suddenly hit me that we are going to have no income if we don't get a job sorted! I'm not working anyway what with the 3 kids but I need to send my husband out to earn some money

 

My husband works in IT support. We have looked at Seek.com.au etc and there are loads of agency jobs, mostly crap pay (they are more junior positions) and most say about having to have 'residency'. Do they mean permanent residency or temporary? We are temporary you see. So many people have said that he'll be fine and get something when he gets here, but I am concerned how long that will take. We are not going to have much money as it is what with all the expenses involved in setting up a new home etc.

 

We have e-mailed a few people, but don't hear anything back. It's not giving us much hope. I don't expect my husband to have a job to go to, but at least a few interviews lined up would be a great start.

 

Also, I have heard a lot about Aussie CV's being different to ours... how? Should we change his? What are they looking for?

 

Thanks

 

Jo xx

[Guest HelenAndSiggi]

Hi,

 

send a pm to Suzer. I am sure that she can help you with your c.v.

[Guest ReadyPenny]

Yes definately. Suzer is the cv doctor and has helped loads of members on here to update their CV aussie style. The employers in Oz are renowned for not really being very helpful until you get there.

 

Try not to worry, I know that's nearly impossible, but your situation is common and if it makes you feel any better, although we both have jobs to go to, the money we are taking with us will fit into our pockets!

 

Mandy

[Jessica Berry]

Hi Jo

 

We have been in Adelaide for nearly 2 years now. My partner works in IT (Senior Network Officer) and we got in on a Skilled Independent Visa (136) under his skills and we came straight in as permanent residents. Why are you coming in on a temp visa, is your husband too old to get the points for a PR? Ironically my partner, now he is 30, would not get the points because he is too old ha ha!!!

 

I have definitely noticed a shift in the adverts and more companies on their job adverts are adding at the bottom 'must be a permanent resident or Australian citizen to apply for this job', I have even seen it on admin jobs. It implies you can not apply if you are on a temp visa but I suppose it depends how strict they are about it, but there must be a reason they are now putting it on adverts.

 

We have noticed a big drop in the amount of permanent IT jobs advertised and a huge amount of the jobs are on contract.

 

My partner was very lucky and got a permanent job which he loves within approx 3 weeks of arriving in Adelaide and a contract job within a week of arriving (but this was nearly 2 years ago), but he prefers the stability of having a permanent job rather than contracting, so obviously went for the permanent job even though it was on less money than the contract job.

 

I often look in the job paper and on the internet and if he was looking to move to another permanent job doing similar to what he does we do not think it would be easy. In the job paper today (Saturday) there are only 3 IT jobs advertised out of 44 pages and one of the jobs is specifically advertising the position for a recent IT Graduate.

 

The last person that left my partners IT Department was to go to an IT job in Canberra with the Government and the process took 12 months and he would have had to be an Australian citizen to apply.

[Guest cornish Busdriver]

G'day Jo.

Just to say i agree with jessica.

I have a 1st class honours degree in digital arts and technologies / communications specializing in software programming, virtule imersive systems / simulation software programming and web design. How ever the pay is pretty crap so decided to stick with bus driving at the moment till i get fit enough to become a copper.

To get a decent IT job without permenent resident visa is pretty hard but they are there.

All i can sugest is wait till you get here and then apply for them.

This will probally mean hubby will have to start on a starter baby wages till he works his way up.

Register with Maxima http://www.maxima.com.au , they are like a job center and very helpfull.

Hope you get sorted soon.

[Jessica Berry]

Jo

 

Just to add, so it does not all seem doom and gloom (sorry!), my partner has been involved in the recruitment/interview process for a couple of positions within his team last year. He would be happy to look at your husbands CV and give him some pointers if it would help.

 

These IT people seem to speak a different language don't they when they start talking jargon !!!

[delbart]

Hi Jo - I am business anayalst so have been actively looking at jobs, there are a few but do seem to be contracts. I did notice the other week that EDS were advertissing for IT support staff maybe worth checking their web page if you search for EDS Australia. They have an office in Adelaide.Your hubby could also lodge his CV with them, might be worth a try.

Jan

[jo_marnes]

Thanks for the replies. This is news to us - we've always been told that there are plenty of IT jobs and he'd have no problems.

 

We cant afford to have him being paid less than $40k - and thats taking a big pay cut and we won't be getting any of the child benefit/ tax credits we do here.

 

He doesn't mind doing contract work - its not ideal but its better than nothing!

[Guest Jo&Phil]

Good luck with the job hunting. I've done some recruitment assessing for Manpower here and generally concern was that your visa allowed you to work, not whether you had PR or not.

 

Sometimes the online job adverts only allow the recruiter to tick 'Citizen or PR' rather than all options that may apply --- so don't panic on that one. There are some exceptions obviously, for example - for Commonwealth govt jobs (eg: work for the tax office etc) you need to have Australian citizenship but for State govt jobs in SA you don't (but do in WA) ...... I work for state govt and have done so for years, first on a temp visa with work status and then on PR.

 

I noticed that Hudsons (agency) had some IT contract jobs advertised in this week's Advertiser (local paper). While they may be filled by the time you get here it may be worth a phone call to the person handling them to make contact and give you a name to follow up when you arrive. See http://jobs.au.hudson.com

 

Jo

[jo_marnes]

Good luck with the job hunting. I've done some recruitment assessing for Manpower here and generally concern was that your visa allowed you to work, not whether you had PR or not.

 

Sometimes the online job adverts only allow the recruiter to tick 'Citizen or PR' rather than all options that may apply --- so don't panic on that one. There are some exceptions obviously, for example - for Commonwealth govt jobs (eg: work for the tax office etc) you need to have Australian citizenship but for State govt jobs in SA you don't (but do in WA) ...... I work for state govt and have done so for years, first on a temp visa with work status and then on PR.

 

I noticed that Hudsons (agency) had some IT contract jobs advertised in this week's Advertiser (local paper). While they may be filled by the time you get here it may be worth a phone call to the person handling them to make contact and give you a name to follow up when you arrive. See http://jobs.au.hudson.com

 

Jo

 

Thanks for that - we have been applying for a few jobs that state 'residency' rather than PR. Will check out Hudson also. Thanks very much,

 

Jo xx

[Jessica Berry]

"Thanks for the replies. This is news to us - we've always been told that there are plenty of IT jobs and he'd have no problems. :shocked:"

 

Jo

 

Out of interest, who has been telling you that there are plenty of IT jobs in Adelaide?

 

There always seems plenty of contract work with agencies coming up daily on seek.com.au, but I often wonder how many of these jobs are 'real' and how many are just an exercise to get people on their books.

 

When we first came over, my partner applied for quite a few jobs through agencies and never heard a thing, then they suddenly email him 6 months later, like they are his best friend wanting to offer him work. He had an email 1 year later from an agency offering him a job in Canberra!

 

Having said that I worked for a University in Adelaide and was told by someone we know who is working there on a contract that 50% of their IT staff were on contract through agencies. We were told they were moving away from giving IT people permanent jobs because once they started working there, they never moved on, probably because there isn't the jobs to move onto offering the salaries and terms and conditions that the Universities offer.

[Anne B]

Contracting may not be a bad idea.

 

I lived in Adelaide in the mid 1990s, so my information may be out of date, but I used to be an IT contractor, had contracted in the UK before moving to Aus, and the agency (Paxus) told me it would be much easier to get a contract job there rather than permie. I got a job within a couple of weeks, and it lasted almost 3 years !!

 

I found the whole experience of contracting in Australia so much easier and simpler than in the UK, as the agency gave me the option of being paid as an employee instead of having to form my own company (like I had in the UK). OK I may have lost out on a few dollars but I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of running a company. The agency were excellent. If you can only get a contract job at first, well at least it is something, will get you Australian work experience and the extra money will come in useful when you have all the initial costs of setting up home.

 

However in my experience Adelaide isn't exactly a mecca for IT jobs, the place to be used to be Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne or Perth .... err.. :err:anywhere but Adelaide......!!!!

[Guest Lulujim]

Hi Jo - Just had to quickly read this as am off out, (so hope i'm not repeating info) buy Hays have a specialist IT agency I believe.. could be worth a try??

[Shanners1]

Hi Jo - Just had to quickly read this as am off out, (so hope i'm not repeating info) buy Hays have a specialist IT agency I believe.. could be worth a try??

Hays and Hudsons seem to have their claws into most IT contract Jobs and I registered with both of them. It's best to see a recruitment agent face to face once you get here and build a relationship with them. By doing this I found that I would get shortlisted for jobs before they got advertised and also got offered jobs that were never formally advertised.

 

I can give you the names of the agents I used if you drop me a PM

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[suzer]

There are plenty of agencies that do IT recruitment; Hays and Hudson are just a couple. Like I've said before my hubs had 3 job offers within 2 weeks of arriving. The economic situation would make things worse but if you have good skills, experience and a proper resume you should do fine. Of those 3 jobs, by the way, 2 were perm and 1 was contract.

[suzer]

Hi,

 

send a pm to Suzer. I am sure that she can help you with your c.v.

 

Happy to by the way...

[Guest Jamesv]

Happy to help !

[suzer]

Just make sure that when you register, you stick with the recruiters who specialise in IT. Some companies which are worth registering with are Talent2 (although I shudder to suggest them) and Icon, as well as Hudson, Hays and Robert Walters.

[jo_marnes]

Registered with Hays and Hudson - waiting to hear back from Hays.

 

Will register with those others too. Can someone clear things up - I have heard that the Aussies like CV's to be long, and then I have heard they are meant to be short! Which is it? My husbands is 2 pages long. Wanted it smart and snappy

[suzer]

Registered with Hays and Hudson - waiting to hear back from Hays.

 

Will register with those others too. Can someone clear things up - I have heard that the Aussies like CV's to be long, and then I have heard they are meant to be short! Which is it? My husbands is 2 pages long. Wanted it smart and snappy

 

Length is not as important as content, and the cover letter is also very important; to be changed for each individual position applied for, although that is not so important with agencies if you are registering in general.

 

Did I read right that you are not here yet? As long as you have an arrival date, you should be ok to be contacting agencies now, but if you don't have a date, the most you can expect for is them to tell you to contact them when you arrive.

[jo_marnes]

Yes we have an arrival date - 16th March :-)

[Guest Jamesv]

Hi Jo,

 

Hope you are well.

 

My best advise in this market, is to just arrive in Adelaide and seek jobs when you are here.

 

This will give you the flexibility to attend interviews at the drop of a hat !

 

You are right, this is a market like no other, a very different culture to the UK !!

 

Please call me when you arrive I would be happy to help and give you a run down of the current job market 08 84688045

[suzer]

I wouldn't wait until you get here. If you have an arrival date, a few weeks before you are set to arrive, start sending your CV to agencies and get a contact name. Some of them will be willing to set up a time and date with you ahead of time.

[orrelljet]

Just leaving work but...

 

Have a look at:

Hudson

Icon

Hays

The Tennyson Group

Paxus

Peoplebank

etc. etc.

 

Been in IT Support for 10 years-ish now and haven't found it any harder to find work here but timing is evereything. We came end of November and work pretty much dries up at the end of October-ish. EDS have just had their hiring freeze lifted (after the HP takeover) so they're starting to get the ball rolling right now - Sys Admin, Exchange etc - and are fairly major in Adelaide.

 

We're on a temp visa too )soon as you hit 30 the points just disappear) but I've been contracting since end Jan (off work for 9 weeks) and have been there (Telstra) since ;-) Let me know if you need any help.

 

Justin.

[Guest seank]

Susan helped me with my resume, so I can recommend her service

 

regards

 

Sean