My people, I am back with articles about Australia. I have received a couple of messages theses past weeks about my experience in Aussie land. I decided to write about how I found a job in Sydney. 😀 I believe this question is the most common among the all I have got.
As so, I wrote 2 articles (this one) and another one will be out next week. I will be talking how everything happened: the interviews I did; the phone calls I had to make; the yes’s and no’s I got! It was hard, my friends… Believe me! Moving to a new place is like re-borning again and someone who has never done it, will never understand what I am talking about.
Hope this article gives you an idea about the job market in Australia. 😀
Did you move to Australia with a company?
No, my people! As I told you HERE I went to Australia with the Working Holidays Visa (462). This visa allows Portugueses to go without a fixed work contract and it is valid for 1 year.
But did you work or you just travel?
My friends, in life, money does not fall from the sky and although I wanted to explore all the country’s nooks, YES: I worked in Australia!
What did you do?
I worked as a researcher in technology and financial markets for TAFE NSW (it is more or less like a university). TAFE is a public institution focuses on vocational education and there are schools in almost every state of the country. I worked in Sydney, near the central station.
BUT did you find a job easily?
Yes and No! Today, when I look back and think it only took me 1 month and a half to find a job in a country I did not know at all, I would say it was easy. At the time, living a 1 and a half on savings (in Sydney), it was HARD.
Before telling you my story, a brief description of my work experiencie:
I have a degree in Communication Science from the University of Lisbon and Digital Marketing from EIMP in Paris. I worked mostly as a digital project manager. I speak 4 languages and have experience in several sectors: Health and Lifestyle, Civil Construction and Education.
How everything happened…
First
I was traveling in Morocco when I started submitting applications via LinkedIn (YES, this social network works quite well in Australia). I did an interview while traveling and the week I arrived in Melbourne (the first week of September 2017) I did 4 phone interviews.
Outcome: Nothing! Bla bla bla and no job for me. WHY?
- I did not have the profile
- Or I was not confortante enough in English
- Or visa issues.
P.S.: Do not forget that the 462 visa does not allow you to work more than 6 months for the same company so that was the main problem. The only way to get around this situation is to get a sponsorship (but this is another subject… a long one that deserves at least 5 articles in the blog haha)..
It’s hard to hear NOT all the time! And I remember being pretty depressed that week. It was cold in Melbourne, I was staying in a house away from the city and I had no social life.
Second
I reworked my CV with Australian friends and people, who are living in Australia for a long time. I talked to several people about the job market and I began to understand a bit better…
That is:
- I did a 2 pages CV unlike my French Mini CV with 1 page
- I contacted companies in a much more relaxed way: Hello Anna, instead of Dear Miss Anna
- I used LinkedIn extensively for networking
Outcome:
Nothing! Many interviews but nothing concrete.
As I am a stressed person, I started looking for any kind of job and I got a trail for a cafe of a hotel in Melbourne to make coffee.
I really have to tell you this…
The girl on the phone asked me to be at the cafe at 6 o’clock in the morning! I got up at 4.30 in the morning, had breakfast, and went.
The girl explained what I had to do and then asked me to make coffee. I knew to take coffee (YES) but not capuchino, latte, flat white, macchiato… Let’s be honest, that is a bit too much!
It was my second week and at this point I still did not know how important coffee was for Australians.
Later on, I asked:
– Can I talk to the manager? I just wanted to know if your trails are paid…
– Well, you can talk to the manager when she arrives…
That answer did not reassure me but I kept on working!
(No one had talked about money and I had heard stories that in Australia, sometimes, cafes would make you work like crazy and then, send you home without paying you a penny!).
1 hour later…
The manager arrived and she said:
- You do not know how to make coffee
- Your English is really poor to make coffee (“my English was too poor to make coffee?, wtf”… but I have to admite it takes time to understand the Australian accent)
- NEVER ever again talk about money before starting your shift if you want a job in Australia
Outcome:
She sent me home and did not payed me a penny!
If there was a day I felt miserable, that was one of them! I do not remember a person speaking to me as badly as that manager did. I cried and cried. I hate myself and I wondered what the hell I was doing on the other side of the world: Plus being mistreated.
I did not catch a flight back to Europe but I decided to catch a flight to Sydney, the city I had always dreamed to live in. Two days later, I landed in Sydney!
Stay around, next week will tell you how I found a job in Sydney 😀
Beijinho,
Daniela