Qualifications

[Guest Jamie]

Question about qualifications. Both myself and my wife have City and Guild qualifications in our areas of expertise. I have a printing tech certificate and my wife has qualifications in Beauty Therapy and a Certificate in Education which enables her to teach within a Vocational College of Further Education, in which she also has her assessors and internal verifiers awards. Our biggest worry, as not having jobs secured before we arrive in Adelaide and reading others comments about quals on the forum is, are these qualifications recognised in Australia even though we have had our skills assessed and City and Guilds are supposed to be world wide recognised qualifications.

Any help or advice would be fantastic thankyou

Jamie and Denise

[Guest Jamie]

Any help or advice on our previous post about qualifications would be great

Thanks Jamie and Denise

[Jessica Berry]

Hi Jamie and Denise

 

To train and assess in the VET (Vocational Education and Training) sector over here you would need to gain the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

[Guest WhatNow?]

You are quite right to worry. You have obviously already spotted the flaw in the immigration system that leads people to believe that the granting of a visa implies that there will be a demand for your skills when you arrive. Employers here are very conservative and tend to rely on locally gained knowledge and expertise and personal introductions. Your UK experience and qualifications really count for very little if you don't also have these. With respect to the printing industry, there is not a great deal of that in Adelaide and you would be well advised to do lots of research and try to arrange to introduce yourself to potential employers before you arrive. With respect to teaching in further education Jessica is quite right in saying that you will need a Cert IV in Teaching and Assessment acquired here to even be interviewed for a role at a college. FE colleges (TAFEs) here are retrenching just as they have been for years in the UK and there are very few permanent jobs (I used to be a manager in an FE college in the UK and am seeing history repeating itself here) and those are jealously guarded by tutors who have been in the system for years. Sorry if this is sounding depressing but it's better to be realistically prepared than to come out expecting that it will be easy and then become one of those disillusioned people whose posts you read all too often here.

 

My advice (from years of dealing with new migrants) is to come with an open mind, be prepared to do any job you can get even if it isn't in your normal comfort zone, live within easy commute of the city to keep your options open, get out and meet real Australians to get a meaningful network going, then be prepared to step back a few notches to gain credibility by local experience. Oh and NEVER whinge! Always remember you are a guest in a foreign country - yes, the language is the same and they drive on the same side of the road but that is where the similarities end - and you are expected to do the hard yards and earn your stripes like everyone else.

 

Nevertheless - Good Luck - if you make it here it is a wonderful place to live!

[Guest Jamie]

Thanks for your reply. We definately are coming over with an open mind and are prepared to do anything. I just think this should be made a lot clearer when skills are assessed.

Thanks Jamie and Denise

[Jessica Berry]

You are quite right to worry. You have obviously already spotted the flaw in the immigration system that leads people to believe that the granting of a visa implies that there will be a demand for your skills when you arrive. Employers here are very conservative and tend to rely on locally gained knowledge and expertise and personal introductions. Your UK experience and qualifications really count for very little if you don't also have these. With respect to the printing industry, there is not a great deal of that in Adelaide and you would be well advised to do lots of research and try to arrange to introduce yourself to potential employers before you arrive. With respect to teaching in further education Jessica is quite right in saying that you will need a Cert IV in Teaching and Assessment acquired here to even be interviewed for a role at a college. FE colleges (TAFEs) here are retrenching just as they have been for years in the UK and there are very few permanent jobs (I used to be a manager in an FE college in the UK and am seeing history repeating itself here) and those are jealously guarded by tutors who have been in the system for years. Sorry if this is sounding depressing but it's better to be realistically prepared than to come out expecting that it will be easy and then become one of those disillusioned people whose posts you read all too often here.

 

My advice (from years of dealing with new migrants) is to come with an open mind, be prepared to do any job you can get even if it isn't in your normal comfort zone, live within easy commute of the city to keep your options open, get out and meet real Australians to get a meaningful network going, then be prepared to step back a few notches to gain credibility by local experience. Oh and NEVER whinge! Always remember you are a guest in a foreign country - yes, the language is the same and they drive on the same side of the road but that is where the similarities end - and you are expected to do the hard yards and earn your stripes like everyone else.

 

Nevertheless - Good Luck - if you make it here it is a wonderful place to live!

 

This is great advice and spot on.

[Jessica Berry]

I used to work as a Trainer and Assessor at an RTO (Registered Training Organisation), these are private businesses as opposed to TAFE which is run by the Government. Most Trainers and Assessors are paid on a casual basis which means you only get paid when you work (no holiday or sick pay). TAFE shut down for a lot of Dec and most of January. I have a friend that works on a casual basis for TAFE and has done so for 10+ years (permanent work is VERY hard to come by) and her classes ended mid Dec and she is back mid Feb, so for 2 months she will receive no income, so you would need to make provision for this. Private RTO's tend to only close for 2 weeks over the Christmas/NY period so less time without pay. If you look on http://www.seek.com.au under 'Education and Training' you will see examples of adverts and this will give you an idea of what employers are looking for when recruiting Trainers and Assessors.

[Jessica Berry]

We definately are coming over with an open mind and are prepared to do anything.

 

I have previously posted the response below on another post (you may have already seen it), but I feel it is relevant. People come with good intentions but can quickly get discouraged.

 

 

Times have changed, jobs in Australia are harder to come by and there is a lot of competition for work. I have read time and time again that people 'are prepared to do anything' jobwise but in reality this is often not true and then they moan about having to start at the bottom or doing lower level work.

 

I worked with a polish bloke who came to Adelaide as a student to learn English. In Poland he had his own successful IT business, his own house, decent car and had a successful and financially sound life by polish standards. As he could not speak a word of English when he came, the only job he could get was as a cleaner. He took this job, studied English and the rest they say is history. He now runs his own IT business in Adelaide, does not do any advertising as all of his customers come via word of mouth. He came with the attitude that he would succeed and was going to make a go of it. I have never heard him moan once, he is proud to tell his story of how he started out and what he has achieved so far.

 

At the end of the day life in Adelaide is not for everyone, some will flourish and some will flounder on the journey and starting a new life.

[Guest Jamie]

Thanks for the advice everyone.Definately food for thought and will help us prepare realistically to finance our move.