Leaving Australia because you cant find a job?

[monsta]

Hey Guys,

I heard a story of a friend who is seriously considering leaving Australia. She (from UK) and her husband (from USA) have been living here for over a year. The problem is she came to a good job here, but her husband has had 3 interviews in 1.5 years. If he can't get a job soon, they will have to leave Aussie.

From what I understand, he is highly qualified but has no Aussie experience. He has an MBA and works in the finance industry. It sounds like the usual story of being highly qualified and thus looking for a sort after job, but those jobs are reserved for people with local experience and local references.

I was told before I moved here (by Aussies) that I could only get a non-management job. The moment I hit management level, they would always take someone with local experience over me.

Does anyone else have similar stories to share? I wonder how common this is.

[SurferMan]

I arrived in Aus with a job, but no client contract. (body shopping) I got in at a utility, no problem. I guess after a year there, I ticked the "local experience" box. I have heard of this experience thing being an issue, but do not know of anyone personally affected by it.

[Donovan83]

Local experience is critical. These horror stories used to make my blood go cold, but then I learned to probe deeper.

Often, the job seeker is unwilling to settle for a job that they perceive to be "below" their level. Sometimes, the people are applying for jobs that they're even overqualified for. There's usually some underlying reason, it's probably not just a simple case of them not being able to find anything at all.

[zamunda]

Couple of our friends had the same problem. But they, took any offer that came their way. After gaining the required local experience, they quickly got to the deserved positions.

[Nev]

Yep, i know of a lot of people, including in finance, who took a step back job and worked their way back up,

Only 3 interviews in a year and a half while in the country, there is definitely more to the problem

[monsta]

Yeah, you guys may have a point. At work we have interviewed many people who absolutely blew their interviews. The classic one being a guy who had a bad memory and needed time to think about it... about 45 seconds later he gave us the answer from the 1st Google search result.

But it just seems strange, the guy from my original post had a good job back in the USA. He never struggled to find work there.

The guy even applied for unpaid internships, but he was told that he was far to over qualified.

He puts it down to his age and how qualified he is.

[Mara]

Age could have a great deal to do with it. If he is over 50, then honestly he will have a hard time securing a management position, or any position for that matter, unless he is in a extremely scarce field. Companies tend to want someone, almost for a lifetime, which is strange, as I have not really come across people in Australia that stay too long at a job. The reason, increases can be limited, so in order to gain a higher salary, people change employers. I was in my last job, as a Finance Manager, for 13 years, and had many comments about how I must love my job because I had been there so long....

[miran]

If you're "overqualified" , can't you leave out your highest qualification just to get a job, eat humble pie to get experience and then bring out all your cards for promotion or another job, higher up. That's what I would've done........... I'm willing to start as teacher's assistant just to get my foot in the door, even help in the cafeteria......

Going back to USA or UK for better or more jobs, could be an option, but there's no way in hell that us boertjies will get that great job in South Africa if we can't cope in Australia or find a job.

[Donovan83]

I think there's nothing wrong with leaving off something if it's making you overqualified. You can always added it back later when you apply for job #2.

Something I've not really adjusted to here is the job hopping mentality here. I'm really old school with these things... stick with a company for the long term. I'm abandoning that mentality now, though.

[Jacques Voogt]

From my experience...

Middle to senior management positions ALWAYS go to someone known to, and "highly recommended" by, top management.

The majority of the real work is done by the resources.

Resources are added, removed and shifted around at will by middle to top management.

That is after all their job. To ensure that they have the right resources allocated to the right projects to get the job done.

So you have 2 choices, be a resource and have lots of opportunities or play the political games and rely on your networking skills to get the management jobs.

It is possible to start as a resource and build a new reputation and network and eventually you will get to the management position again, but it means starting over. That is why I personally think the older you are when you make the move, the harder it will be.