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Getting a job from SA


BronE

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Ok so this week my husband sent out his very first resumes to various Aus agencies..we worked pretty hard on the layout and content and used lots of those example and advice sites. He is a CA who works in industry as a financial manager and we can see a LOT of jobs available over there. So far, he has received 3 very prompt rejection letters saying he must be in the country before they will look at him :P They also say he should apply for a visa first! They obviously didn;t even read the CV as it clearly shows that he has a visa. So what now?? Does anyone have advice or links to how to apply directly to jobs or what should be said in the covering letters etc.. we have PR but we also have 2 small children and we are praying God goes before us and gets that job...we're not taking the kids into this without stability. I see that some people..not a lot..have got jobs before they go over?? How do you do it?? Any tips or advice welcome :hug:

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Ok so this week my husband sent out his very first resumes to various Aus agencies..we worked pretty hard on the layout and content and used lots of those example and advice sites. He is a CA who works in industry as a financial manager and we can see a LOT of jobs available over there. So far, he has received 3 very prompt rejection letters saying he must be in the country before they will look at him :P They also say he should apply for a visa first! They obviously didn;t even read the CV as it clearly shows that he has a visa. So what now?? Does anyone have advice or links to how to apply directly to jobs or what should be said in the covering letters etc.. we have PR but we also have 2 small children and we are praying God goes before us and gets that job...we're not taking the kids into this without stability. I see that some people..not a lot..have got jobs before they go over?? How do you do it?? Any tips or advice welcome :hug:

I think you just need to persevere and follow up all leads. And very importantly, don't take rejection personally. Also a liberal dash of luck helps.

I was fortunate in that I was approached from Aus before I even thought of making the move. An important tip given to me by my employer is that most employers try and avoid employment agencies because of the huge fees that some of them charge. Thus make as many direct approaches as possible, although still send your CV to agencies as a backup. Make sure you cover all possible avenues. Your turn will come.............

G

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Hi,

My 5c worth,

Your resume and cover letter is very important. I used Aussie Resumes

http://www.aussieresumes.com/

Change your resume and cover letter to fit every application. I also looked in the South African newspapers for vacancies in Australia and found an agent. That was about two years ago and I am in a different field.

Hope this helps, good luck. :hug:

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My husband is a CA and tried for a very long time to get a job from outside of Aus, despite him having lots of international experience. We came to a place where we realised that the only way to get a job is to be here. We did all the necessary and got me settled here in Brisbane. Only then he landed a job, contract job for 6 months. (it might become permanent though and we are praying for it to be)

To be honest, emigration will bring about a lot of instability in your life

99% of CA's only get the job once they are here

There are just too many highly qualified people from all over the world applying for jobs in Australia

You will even have to take a knock in salary and in seniority

This is my opinion in the experiences we have had (and many others here in Australia) - if you up to this challenge - it is all worth it.

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Ok so this week my husband sent out his very first resumes to various Aus agencies..we worked pretty hard on the layout and content and used lots of those example and advice sites. He is a CA who works in industry as a financial manager and we can see a LOT of jobs available over there. So far, he has received 3 very prompt rejection letters saying he must be in the country before they will look at him :P They also say he should apply for a visa first! They obviously didn;t even read the CV as it clearly shows that he has a visa. So what now?? Does anyone have advice or links to how to apply directly to jobs or what should be said in the covering letters etc.. we have PR but we also have 2 small children and we are praying God goes before us and gets that job...we're not taking the kids into this without stability. I see that some people..not a lot..have got jobs before they go over?? How do you do it?? Any tips or advice welcome :hug:

Hi BronE,

I started looking for work in September 2009, 4 months before we planned to arrive in January 2010. We were in Houston Texas. Best advice I can give is: ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING. There may be MANY rejections, but remember - you only need ONE acceptance. To start with, don't restrict yourself too much to one specific job or position. Be willing to consider alternative positions to make your job hunting as successful as possible. Look at a less-than-ideal position as an opportunity to get a toe in the door, and as a stepping stone to something better. Be very clear on how much money you will require to live on, so that you dont accept a job that ends up costing you money every month.

Two job websites that come to mind are "seek.com.au" and "nabthatjob.com.au". I used seek.com.au and set up an account for myself. Also set up job "profiles" with key words that flagged prospective jobs which seek emails to you. That way you get them fresh off the press before the rest of the crowd wake up in the morning & log on. The early bird catches the worm!

I used the CV tools on seek to help restructure my cv. Sent out cv's for prospective jobs, and kept a log of cv's sent out. Must have sent off 20-odd in the 4 months. Australian job agencies do not generally respond to receiving unsolicited CV's. That just how they are. Its foreign to me too, but there you go.

In the end, I got a lead in early December. Spoke with the agent who told me what they wanted to see in a CV format. Restructured it and sent it to them a few days later. I had a telephonic interview with the company in mid December, and they scheduled the final interview a few days after we were planning to arrive. We eventually arrived on Jan 4, and had the interview 2 days later. The rest, as they say, is history.

On a related topic, one of the things that employment agents like to see on a resume is "Australian experience". New immigrants are therefore at a disadvantage in this regard, and pay for it by sometimes having to take a step back or down - for a while anyway. Is the Australian work culture really so different to that of South Africans, Arabs or Americans? Having spent a few years working with all three, I can say yes, there are differences. From my perspective, Aussies seem to be rather more adversarial in the office, and a little less....refined, to boot. In my job I come into contact with folks from across the spectrum, from the polished professional to the .... er .... diamond in the rough :P So far my experience seems to indicate that, in Australia, there are more of the latter than the former. I'm guessing that the "Australian experience" that everyone here seems to place such a high priority on is a measure of how well you have been able to adapt to the culture and work with the people.

All the best with your job-seeking!

Tex

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Thanks everyone for the really helpful advice. We are discussing maybe booking tickets for March as then we would be able to tell agencies when we would be in the country.. a couple of them have said that we should let them know 2 months before we enter the country but we have said we are happy to come in when/if they have interviews?! It's all very strange :P

But...we are going to take all the advice given and PRAY that something comes up. I don't know if when it comes down to it we are sure enough of ourselves to sell up and quit everything and go over with no prospects!!!! We have until April to get our visas stamped and we don't really have the money to do a LSD :ilikeit:

Here's hoping and praying that doing the Auz thing is doing the right thing!

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Incidently I'm Bri, and my wife is BronE, but she never checks who is logged in at the computer :ilikeit:. (ie. the above) Thanks from me as well though.

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Hi guys,

Unfortunately I don't have much advise as I am in the same situation as you. We have to activate before end of March 2011, so we booked plane tickets for end of Feb 2011 and will try our best to get a job/ line up interviews for the 2 weeks that we are there.

I've just had my CV australianised by NabThatJob, will start sending it out soon...

Keep me updated on ur progress plz. i'll do the same

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All I can say is try, try, try KEEP TRYING !

And im also all for cold calling. Google Accounting companies/firms, and send your resumes to them. They all have an admin@- or info@- email address, and you might just get that person that sends the resume to the recruitment officer, and whallah ! I know this is crazy, been told that thousands of times, but crazy might just do it to get the 5minutes of atention you need. There is an Ernest & Young in Adelaide ...

Good luck !!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I too stressed when we got out visa and never got a job interview, about 20 rejection letters! .. and eventually I got a job interview, 2 telephonically and then got the job at a major bank in Perth, 1 month before arriving. Then my husband got a job there too...

A week later my cousin living in Brisbane said not to go to Perth, with a whole lot of stories and that we should stay with them.. So we decided to move to Brisbane, declined the jobs in Perth, moved to Brisbane with a 1 year old, no jobs, just a room to stay in, we had to get our own food, transport, etc..

My cousin then provided us no help, even on how to get to city to open our bank accounts, get us registered on Centrelink, Tax, organise our drivers licence, etc.. Also our money was tied up in South Africa??? What the hell, my husband just wanted to go back to South Africa, but we had no return ticket (Good thing tho! )

But we just walked and walked with a child on our arm.. no pram, left all that in SA!

Armed with whatever we still had in our savings account about R32 500 at the time, which was $3840, I still remember, we moved to the Gold Coast within 4 weeks by train, found a cheap place to rent ($290 p.w.), a bed, 2 camping chairs, a kettle.. On applying the same day my husband an IT guy, got a shelf packing job for the evenings, we could buy groceries, nappies, etc... , He did not have Australian 'work experience' and we came on my skills. a week later (we got a cheap car $2500).

I was looking after our daughter setting up home and could not find day care places, another story. In this time we received Centrelink Rent Assistance, Family Benefits Tax of about $350 p/f as we had a child.. By the time we both worked we lost all these benefits, but they were welcome when starting out..

Two months later when I began looking for work, I was working full-time within a week !

I worked during the day and hubby in the evenings while still looking for suitable day care with full-time everyday care, which took almost 8 months!

It's two and half years later, we both in good income earning jobs here over, with flexi-time. We purchased and moved into ou own house, we have been back to South Africa on holiday, the parents are having their second 6 week trip over, so eventually all works out.. Not always as you planned but somehow it does.

Oh and our money in South Africa was eventually released but could then use within our new house !

So when you are here, it falls into place.. Just take the chance come over and look for work if that is very important to be the first thing to have.. Even if the 'breadwinner' is the first to come over to set up house, as a few other friends of mine did, it all works out.

Also immigration is not for the faint hearted ...

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I would try to create a virtual presence in Australia.

Don't use a .co.za email address, rather a .com, or even better .com.au email address.

Try to get an Australian pre paid phone, with message bank. Make sure you can top it up online and find out how to clear messages from a fixed phone. Then just turn it off, all messages will go to the message bank. Get into the habit of checking messages in the morning. You will still have time to get back to people before Australian COB.

Try to use a friend/family physical or Postal address. Give them permission to open any mail for you and scan and send it.

This will make it look as if you are in Australia, even if you're not and may well get past the first hurdle.

In your covering letter state some thing like "I have the right to live and work in Australia" rather than hide the fact you have a visa hidden in your CV.

There is nothing you can do about your positions and experience. Get the Australian conversion to a ACA in progress. if you haven't done it.

You may well have to accept that you will have to bite the bullet and come to Australia to get a role. I know that is risky, but think about it from a recruiters point of view. Would you rather go for someone in Australia, or out? Someone qulaified as an Australian CA or someone not? Would you hire someone from Australia in those circumstances?You are going to have ahell of a premium on experince or skills to get over those barriers.

Good luck

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  • 1 month later...

you said you got a work in the bank and they sponsored you guys to come over. i have 3-4 years’ experience in banking can you give me details of banks i can apply to please. i would be appreciated :whome:

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