Sarel Roets: Hello Everyone

[Sarel Roets]

Hi All,

I have been waiting a couple of years to get a company sponsored Visa and it finally happened, they offered me a position. I now have the following predicaments:

• I need to choose between Sydney and Melbourne. Which one do I choose, how do I differentiate?

• I need to ask for a salary, how do I compare the salary that I am currently earning to one is Aus?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

S

[LucyG]

Hi All,

I have been waiting a couple of years to get a company sponsored Visa and it finally happened, they offered me a position. I now have the following predicaments:

• I need to choose between Sydney and Melbourne. Which one do I choose, how do I differentiate?

• I need to ask for a salary, how do I compare the salary that I am currently earning to one is Aus?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

S

Hi

I live on the Gold Coast, but from what I gather, the weather would be the deciding factor for me in choosing Sydney over Melbourne (too extreme, and nine months of fairly crappy weather is not that appealing). But many Saffers love Melbourne regardless. It would just deppend on how "weather affected" you are. (I get moody when I don't see blue skies and lots of sunshine). As to salaries, it is fairly useless to compare with your SA salary as the costs of living here are quite a bit higher, especially housing. The salaries when converted to rands sound very good, but when a very ordinary home costs around R3 600 000 (and thats on the Gold Coast which is cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne, as far as I am aware) you realise that you may have to trim your sails a bit. You can get a good idea of the going rate for different positions on the Job Seek website (www.seek.com.au). The salaries will be a lot higher in Sydney than here, but as I said, I think that the cost of housing is also correspondingly higher. Hope that helps a bit.

[Queensland Girl]

Hi There- Welcome

www.hays.com.au has a section on Salary Surveys. This should give you a better idea of what to ask for.

[zetman]

Hi Sarel,

As others have said already, don't even try to use your current SA salary as a baseline for negotiation of a salary in Aus because you'll end up under valuating yourself. Use the job search and hays salary survey to decide on what to ask for. Also use info from this forum to do a budget of what your costs of sustaining your current lifestyle (or similar) in Aus terms would be, and use the ATO (aus tax office) website to check what your after tax earnings will be (they have tax calculators on www.ato.gov.au). All this will enable you to really cross-reference what you should ask for to ensure you can make ends meet.

The Melbourne versus Sydney thing is a tough one, and (although I've only lived in Sydney and Perth, not in Melbourne) my view is it comes down to the type of lifestyle you prefer. Here is a few things to think about.

- Both Sydney and Melbourne are large economic 'hubs' with lots of work and opportunities.

- Both have lots of flights and easy access to South Africa, Asia and Europe.

- Housing in Sydney is more expensive than Melbourne - Sydney is the most expensive city in Aus in terms of housing affordability

- Sydney has a more moderate, and overall warmer climate than Melbourne

- Sydney has gorgeous beaches - if beaches and the ocean is your thing you'll love that

- Melbourne is colder on average, certainly very cold winters (although the summers still do get very warm). They have OK beaches but the ocean is colder. Melbourne does have a European-like 'cafe culture' though and if you're into food and culture is awesome for that.

So, if you and the family are into outdoor living, beaches and slightly warmer weather (and don't mind paying a bity more for housing / or settling for something more modest) Sydney will suite you well. However, if your not much of an outdoors type and like awesome restaurant, cafe culture, don't mind more seasonal weather (i.e. the occational 'four seasons in one day') and prefer more affordable average house prices Melbourne is not a bad shout.

Hope that helps with some food for thought. I'm sure some Mebourn-ians and Sydney-siders on this forum can add some more.

Regards,

z

[Serendipity]

Welcome to the forum, enjoy.

As for Sydney vs Melbourne - I say Melbourne, only because that's where we are heading

All the best

[Sarel Roets]

Thanks to everyone that replied. I have decided to move to Sydney, the reason for this is that I am from Gauteng and I think I would more easily become accustomed to the climate in Sydney than Melbourne and in my line of work I think there is more opportunities to learn and gain experience in Sydney.

Now, the next question is.....where do I live in Sydney?? I will be living on my own and will be working in North Ryde.

Thanks again for all the help!

[Badgeroo]

sarel, grab google maps and draw a circle around your work place with about 20/30 km radius.

Norht ryde is a nice place, with nice malls and good buses and trains.

there is a train route going though there so just try to live within a few clicks of the station. If you are planning on buying a car then your sorted.

I would say living North of north Ryde is better that South, but as you are Single it really does not matter.

Get a place on a 6 month rental, dont stress as you can then change yor spot later.

OR

you could get a room to rent in a house which will be the cheapest option. Do this for a month or three while you check it all out. Seriously, until you are here its all hearsay