Hello PIA! A few questions....

[Guest lisa&russ]

Hello to everyone - just registered on Poms in Adelaide and wanted to introduce ourselves!

I am Lisa and my husband is Russ - he is a mechanic and has just accepted a job in North Adelaide and we are just commencing the RSMS visa process now.

 

I’m sure all the questions I’m about to ask have been asked a million times before but any advice or info people have on the following would be great - whilst we are excited about the move we’re also getting scared at the same time!

 

We have just started researching Adelaide and surrounding suburbs - can anyone give any advice on anywhere west of Adelaide? We are looking for somewhere for around 250-280 a week with a bit of life near by, friendly neighbourhood and not too far from the city?

 

Also could anyone give me a ball park figure for weekly/monthly living costs? We know we will have to economise for the first year or so but I just wanted to try to put together a rough estimate of bills - two people in a two bed house/flat, one car to run and an estimate of a food bill - we are not extravagant eaters!

 

My next question…..jobs…..I have read mixed reviews about how easy it is to get a job in Adelaide and some of them to be honest, have scared me quite a lot. I am currently an office manager but have experience in accounts and tax as well. I have a couple of L3 NVQs in business admin and customer service (not sure if they count for anything in oz?) I would be looking for a supervisory admin role or alike? Having said that a jobs a job and I will take whatever comes along to pay the bills……can anyone share there job hunting experiences? Good or bad?

 

Well I think that’s enough to be going on with! Apologies for the long post of questions! Thank you for taking the time to read it!

 

Lisa & Russ

[Guest garlic--bread]

Hi, think this post may help you initially...

 

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/news-gossip/17754-what-cheaper-adelaide-then-uk.html

 

Russ

[Guest WhatNow?]

With respect to your own job finding prospects, I would say that if you sign on with a good agency, such as Julia Ross or Talent2, you will get some local contract experience that will help you to get started. If you do a MYOB (equivalent of SAGE in the UK) conversion course, this and your accounts experience will help you to get some initial placements. Here they certainly like to 'try before they buy' and the temping rates are higher than in the UK ($22-$25 an hour for really basic assignments) so it's not a bad way of getting used to working here and building up some local experience and contacts - all important in this networking city!

 

Since there are just the two of you, you should be able to get a unit or small apartment in that price range, but don't expect luxury for under $300 a week. Go on to www.realestate.com.au and have a look at what you might get for that amount. West of the city is a bit of a mixture of industrial suburbs, older established housing and then the beachside areas, so how easy it will be to find somewhere will depend on what you want and how much you are prepared to pay for it. You shouldn't decide on a suburb until you are here and have had chance to have a proper look around at different times of the day (many places to the 'West' are near to busy main commuter roads, for example). Our clients and many folk on this site will tell you to budget for a few weeks in fully furnished accommodation in a fairly central location so you can get around to see lots of properties in different areas and get used to the traffic and public transport situation before you get into a long term lease or purchase.

 

I know there are quite a few folk on PIA who live in the western suburbs who will give you good advice about those areas, but if your OH is working in North Adelaide, many places will be in easy reach of his work and you might want to look in other areas too. My experience of temping/office work is that there will be placements available all over Adelaide, and those in the metropolitan area are easily accessible if you have use of a car - so as long as you don't go too far south (sorry Aldinga/Hallett Cove residents!).

 

Good Luck - BTW our website will give you approximate travelling times for the journey into the city (CBD) and you can add on a few minutes for the bit to N. Adelaide, but bear in mind these are only estimates. You may find my book useful, as it has a chapter on choosing where to live (shameless self-promotion!) among other advice garnered from years of assisting migrants from the UK.

[Sue29]

Hi Lisa

I also have a NVQ Level 3 in business admin & when we arrived a couple of years ago I went to the Skills Recognition in the city for a skills assessment. Your NVQ is comparable to a Australian AQF Certificate IV. Its a free service & they ask you to bring in all your certiifcates & do it all for you.

I think it did make a difference having it & got me the job I still doing today! I did a couple of temp jobs through Hays Recruitment (which i arranged while still in the UK via my local Hays branch they set up interviews in Adelaide) which were fine but I actually got my job by sending my CV into my employer on the off chance of it being looked at & it worked. You just have to be a bit more active in your approach, I made a short list of compainies that interested me & one afternoon just went on there websites & fired off CV's & covering letters. Its not my ideal job but it pays the bills, staff are good to work with really thats all I'm after.

We live in the hills & its a 25 min run into work but as said above realestate.com is really good for advice on prices to pay for what areas.

There is just me & my partner & like you just normal food! Say we spend $100 a week sometimes more sometimes less but food I find tends to be more expensive but with everything if you shop around it will come down. Central markets in the city is brilliant & cheap but also eating out is reasonable.

Hope this helps & good luck with the journey ahead:cute:

Sue

[Guest lisa&russ]

Thanks everyone - great info & really useful - put some of those little niggling worries to bed!