LOL Posted July 23, 2017 Report Share Posted July 23, 2017 G'day Mates! I have already posted on this forum but have not yet introduced myself. My name is Lawrence, I am married with twin girls. Once I was bitten by the emigration bug, it didn't take me long before I started with the process, after the twins were born in April I knew it was time to start making plans for their futures. With the bounds of knowledge available here the whole process has been simplified quite drastically, The agent I am using also came highly recommended by fellow forumites and I will admit that Stephen Dickson from migration outcomes Australia has been nothing but superb in his work etiquette, the speed at which he nswers emails and the speed at which he processes each step of the visa application. I am finding that I am actually holding him up most of the time. I am almost ready to supply him with my references and qualifications etc. for submission to vetassess and then I will hear if I am eligible to do the electrician trade test practical in September, I am quite confident I will get a postive result on the first phase of my skills assessment. I will most likely be booking the pearson pte in August so that we can submit the EOI as soon as my Trade assessment has been granted a positive outcome I am hoping the Visas will be granted before we are even ready to move which I think is a good thing. So, my question relates to my wife finding a job... We know what she has to do to convert her law degree so that is not our concern, I was worried if any lawyers here managed to find work while they were working towards converting their degrees to an Australian equivalent? More specifically relating to paralegal work, would a law firm hire a South African qualified lawyer as a paralegal specialising in one of the subjects she does not have to convert like family or tax law etc? It occurred to me last night that someone with her qualification but not yet qualified as a solicitor might be quite valuable to a law firm down under working as a paralegal or do paralegals need a degree in Australia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneAndMel Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 Welcome to the forums @LOL. I'm not able to answer your question about your wife's qualification and work but hopefully either others will or maybe an answer exists in one of the other boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOL Posted July 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 Thanks for the welcome @WayneAndMel, it was starting to feel lonely out here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 People only say G'Day when they are on an advert posing as a farmer. Nǐ hǎo or xin chào would be more Australian in the 21st century. In my team of 15 at work... we have two guys who were born in Australia. That's due to years of "skilled migration" VISAS where the migrants end up in skilled jobs. Hopefully a skilled migration VISA will lead you to a good paying, highly skilled job here in Aussie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOL Posted July 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 Haha thanks Monsta I've heard how diverse Aussie has become, my cousin moved there about 15 years ago and the gift she brought back to me was a fridge magnet say G'day from Aus... Lol. It has always stuck in my head. I am an electrician and have seen that they have the largest numbers of visa allocations each year besides from IT in its multiple forms but singularly electrician general has the most so I am hopeful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted July 31, 2017 Report Share Posted July 31, 2017 You can make good money working as a tradie. Especially if you are willing to do those weekend call-outs. But, tradies also do well because they can earn a good income sooner than a university graduate as they don't have the massive student loans. Until recently you could go to TAFE, study to be a sparky and it was mostly free. Now, bear in mind that property prices over the last 30 years have gone up 7.5% per year! Compare that to 3-4% return on a bank account. So, getting in early after school and buying a property would really set you up for life. The downside to being a sparky is that the work can be quite dull.. for example you might spend the day testing and tagging electrical cables. That's good money, but boring. You can earn $15-$25 for testing and tagging a single cable. If you work long hours and do 50 in a day that's $750 per day. That's the same pay as a senior software developer on contract to a big international bank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOL Posted July 31, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2017 Thanks for the insight Monsta. I think I will look for a job testing and tagging cables for the first few months. $750 a day sounds pretty good,I was expecting $1400 a week, hopefully I can find one of those boring jobs to start out with. I'm sure it would take a while to get a good job, I will just be happy getting over there and seeing what life can/supposed to be like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFreshStart Posted July 31, 2017 Report Share Posted July 31, 2017 @LOL, While there is some truth in what @monstahas shared please bear in mind that your DO NOT need to be a sparkie (electrician) to "Test & Tag", the law states being a "Competent Person", you can do this course in a day and we employ someone who does this as part of his role in an unrelated field. This market is pretty saturated. The figures quoted are a little pie in the sky, maybe in time if you build up your own business as a sparkie, but we employ a contracted electrician on a fortnightly basis and they earn less than that a day. While a good living can be made, the figures quoted are for a very small percentage of workers and I have couple sparkie mates that have struggled finding consistent work on their own and so have lowered their rates to find permanent employment as a subbie. All the best Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOL Posted July 31, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2017 @AFreshStart Thanks for the feedback! I was not under any illusions that I would walk into a high paying job once I had landed... It would however be really nice. I've been searching seek.com.au for 'overseas electricians wanted jobs' and there seems to be quite a few in NSW which is where I will be headed and all paying around 30-35 per hour which I would be happy with while getting the gap and supervised time under my belt. I am applying for a 189 so it may turn out that I don't even end up working as a sparkie although, I think I should as it would most likely mean a more stable future. We have quite a few family members living in Sydney with some Construction and Electrician contacts and they have offered to help out if needed but nothing set in stone yet. My first part of the skills assessment was submitted Yesterday morning and the payment already taken off, the next practical dates for the Cape Town trade test are 12th -15th September so I am hoping it is given a positive result before the end of August so I have some time to prep for the prac. The next dates are only beginning of December which I don't really want to wait for. Anyway, thank you @monsta and @Afreshstart for your inputs, it has been helpful. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted August 1, 2017 Report Share Posted August 1, 2017 A colleague of mine used to tag cables. He had a boss who would find the customers and he would go into the big offices in the city and tag cables over night. And yes, if you work as an IT contractor for a big bank, you can earn $750 per day on a 12 month contract. But a big job to tag dozens cables at an office is a really good gig to get. My colleague was just pointing out that if you are willing to do the work nobody else wants to do, you can earn quite well... as well as his management job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOL Posted August 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2017 @monsta I would do the refuse collection for that money. Dont get me wrong, I would love to get a job doing that but also realise a lot of other people would also be looking to do it. I would also think that a job like that wouldn't help with getting my A grade license. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.