Things I wish I knew about finding a job in Australia when I arrived

[ottg]

Many others also mentioned that you should not only rely on recruitment agents.

Have multiple strategies and do those simultaneously. The most important one is getting to meet your prospective employer face-to-face. That is where you can sell yourself.

[ChrisH]

2 hours ago, ottg said:

Many others also mentioned that you should not only rely on recruitment agents.

 

I'll go as far as saying don't even bother with recruitment agents.  

 

1. Activate LinkedIn Premium - you can get the first 30 days for free if you cancel before the 30 days are up.

2. Apply for jobs directly from LinkedIn.  Don't apply for just one and sit back, apply for any and all jobs that you think could work.

 

All you need is that first company to give you a shot.  Once you've posted an Aussie company on your LinkedIn, companies will start contacting you.

[Husky]

@Bela

Sorry to hear about your frustration looking for a job. I have found that Australians prefer speaking on the telephone, so perhaps call companies directly instead of emailing your cv. Agree with @ChrisH about LinkedIn. Connect with as many people in your field as you can. Both my husband and I landed jobs that way. Happy to chat through our experience if you want to pm me. 

[DXB2OZ]

My first job was through a recruitment agent. I don't think any new arrival can afford to not bother with any avenue that may lead to a job. I would say try all of the ideas given and don't disregard any of them.

 

My suggestion is along the same lines as many of the comments here - always follow up an application with a phone call. But get the application in there anyway.

 

Best of luck - it is incredibly tough in the beginning, but worth it.

[ottg]

1 hour ago, DXB2OZ said:

I don't think any new arrival can afford to not bother

1+

Don't exclude them as part of your strategy but note as I said you will need 9 other strategies to make it more effective.

[Sassyninja]

One tip from me: 

 

Verify your right to work and whatever else is available on Certsy e.g. Excel to stand out on Seek. 😉

[TeeTMI]

3 hours ago, Sassyninja said:

One tip from me: 

 

Verify your right to work and whatever else is available on Certsy e.g. Excel to stand out on Seek. 😉

 

You can also get an automated letter via VEVO confirming your work eligibility. 

[PieterleRoux]

Just want to add our experience... Hopefully this might be of help to someone

 

We arrived in March 2022... My wife started looking for work while we were still in RSA (I'm the main applicant), but companies weren't really interested in candidates not available for F2F interviews.

 

Seek is a great site to get an idea of the job market. But we've found that LinkedIn was by far the most successful platform. We spent quite a lot of time on my wife's LinkedIn profile. Making sure there is a lot of info for each position she held, her past experience is well documented (short but complete), education well listed and of course a professional profile pic. She managed to get a few interviews quite quickly after arrival and ended up being employed within 6 weeks.

 

We both keep our LinkedIn profiles up to date and ensure attention to detail. She has since been approached quite a lot by both recruiters and various companies HR departments on LinkedIn for other vacancies. Although this is still strange to us (you know still being fresh from South Africa where you just had to be grateful for whatever job you could get). 

 

In short... Good luck to those that are job hunting! Spent some time prepping your profiles (LinkedIn, or if you need to register on companies websites). If in doubt there are great companies out there that will assist with setting up your profiles online