When to arrive in Australia - Best time of year

[DavePE]

Hi All,

 

I'm busy developing a timeline for my arrival in Australia. Putting everything down on paper that needs to be done and when it needs to be done by in order for me to make the big move. Ideally I'd like to make the move on 1 September, give or take a few days. My concern is that it will be too late in the year to find work. I know Australia closes down over December and January very much like South Africa. This will leave me with only 2.5 months to find a job. My worry is company's won't be wanting to hire someone so late in the year and would rather just wait until the new year. Am I over thinking this and worrying too much?

[Mara]

@DavePE 1st of September is not as ideal as 1st February, but it can work, I would just not leave it later than that. Not sure what job field you are in, just be aware that if you work in a field where the company has a Christmas shutdown annually, then will be taking unpaid leave over that period. Also remember, depending on the level of "need" for the job you do, it could take 2 - 3 months to find that first elusive job.

[Guest]

Hi Dave, we also came over at the end of September just after the tax year and my husband was granted unpaid leave so we just decided to give it a shot. At that stage there didn't seem to be any lack of interest in hiring my husband and he got a job pretty quick. Ideally though we were planning on coming over in Feb for the very reasons you mentioned. We didn't want to come in Sept and then only have a short time to apply for work before everyone decided to leave hiring anyone until the new year. In our case it worked out ok. I guess it would also depend on what field of work you are in and how quickly you can get work.

[Jacques Voogt]

I can only speak for a small sub field in IT called Payments (Credit card payment systems)

 

I've set up a couple of filters on seek to notify me of any new postings relative to my field and salary expectations.

Note these are the number of new postings per month and it has only been running since July last year.

 

Jan 6

Feb 10

Mar 25

Apr 6

May no data

Jun no data

Jul 9

Aug 4

Sep 18

Oct 8

Nov 5

Dec 12

 

From my experience there are a couple of driving factors.

1. End of Financial Year being end of June. People usually hold on to their job from May as they might have bonuses or other incentives at EOFY reducing staff movement a bit.

2. Companies then typically hand out salary review letters during July.

3. Employees are not satisfied with only 2% increase and start looking for another job. Experienced job hunters start earlier so they have something lined up for when they get the salary review letter to compare against and negotiate.
4. Employees then resign during August prompting a surge in staff movement and new job postings in late August  to September leveling off in October.
5. Companies then also reconsider the role as staff move on and the work is absorbed by the remaining staff and sometimes only post 6 month contract jobs, especially if some work is drawing to a close or if they want to restrain the costs a bit.

6. This then has a knock on effect 6 months later in late Feb to March when we see another surge in staff movement and job postings.

 

This may be different per industry or sub field, but is certainly true in my experience.

As a side note, there is also a surge in rental postings and competition or demand for rentals during September October and again around Feb March every year.

Study the job trends on seek.com.au and domain.com.au or realestate.com.au and draw your own conclusions.

 

The long and short of it. Arrive as soon as you can, find a job, any job. Meet new people, build your network and move on when the market throws itself at you.
You also pick up the buzz words used here with some experience and you can find out from others how different recruiters treat their candidates, especially those on contract that work for the recruiter and adds 30% to the employer.

[RedPanda]

That's a good alert/data to watch... wish I'd thought of it sooner. But with two weeks to go, it's a bit pointless for me to start collecting now. Hmm... I'm sure seek.com must keep track it themselves too...I wonder if they complie it into reports and if those would be available to the public, and what they would cost.

[CyberJoe]

Nice way to view the stats, thank you for that!

[DavePE]

Thanks all for the advice. I need to activate my visa before 11 December so need to make the move before then. I want to do it all in one shot, not activate and then move a few months later. I feel like I'm just in limbo at the moment here in SA. The country is circling the drain so the sooner I get out the better.

[RedPanda]

Go for it!!! move in 7 months is totally doable! 

[Jacques Voogt]

My advice, move asap. 7 months is a long time to be in limbo.

 

We got our visa end of May and decided we'd stop working end of August, spend some time with family during September and arrive in last week of September to be ready for prospective employers by 1 October.

 

We updated our resumes and started actively looking for work during July.

We both got jobs within 2 weeks via Skype interviews but both employers wanted us to start begining September already, so we had to change our flights to the first week in September.

 

The last 2 weeks of August was a mad rush to pack while we were still working and get the container shipped, sell everything else or give it away but I'm glad we got it over and done with in the timeframe we did.

 

I would not want to sit around waiting for months.

 

Perhaps see if you can find a job from RSA, and be prepared for a sudden move if you do find something.

[Erik]

We did the same as what Jacques did. We set a date of October to come to Australia . Started actively looking for a job. Amazingly was offered a job 30 Jul, resigned the next day and was on an airplane 4 September. My advice is set a date, but start to actively look for a job and if you find something, change your plans and make it happen. Good luck. 

[DavePE]

Hi Jacques,

 

I would be moving 2nd of September, so four more months to get everything in order. I've got exams to write and also getting some dental work done while I still have medical aid that will cover it. It seems from the replies on this thread that September can work. Maybe it's just December that would be a bad month. But I'll make September work for me.

 

I've got an excel spreadsheet with a calendar and to-do list that I'm working with daily. Just trying to get my timelines in order, it's easier when everything is on paper instead of in your head. The big outstanding milestones will be resigning and selling the car and then obviously finding work when I land. Hopefully I can secure something before then.

[TinaB]

We're STILL waiting for that flippen visa, but we are really hoping it will come this month. If it does, I'd be happy to move in June, but realistically, we'd then be able to look at September/October. For my husband (being in the air conditioning industry) it makes sense for us to make the move when the summer is starting.  We're hoping to get to Brisbane, purely because of the heat and the job prospects, but once we get the visa, we'll apply for jobs everywhere and if he can get a job beforehand, then that's where we'll go.

Best of luck!!

[RedPanda]

We used the app Trello for organising our timeline and To Do lists, it worked really well with sharing, and we liked the clear visual layout. But in the end, anything that plots it out clearly so you can keep track.  

[RYLC]

So @RedPanda: Your profile says May 2016.  Are you here yet?

[RedPanda]

On 5/6/2016 at 10:24 AM, RYLC said:

So @RedPanda: Your profile says May 2016.  Are you here yet?

We fly on the 14-15th May, so no, we are not 'there yet', Hahahaha!!! We are entering our last week in RSA, tomorrow we pack our bags with everything that's flying with us, cleaning and sorting the very last items in the house (it already looks like we are moving, with washing machine and dishwasher drying out and shelves empty of their usual Lego displays) and then we are staying with my in-laws for the last few days while Crown packs up our house.

And Saturday...we fly!  finally!!!

[DXB2OZ]

Safe travels

[Guest]

@Dave good idea to get all your dental work done in SA. Dental costs here are astronomical! A root canal is around 1600 Dollars!! So I would get all the family to the dentist and get a check up prior to leaving?

 

@Redpanda YYippee1 more week. Enjoy the time with family. ?

[Mel-B]

Close now Good luck!! And keep us updated