Tradie opportunities without TRA assessment

[Vanbros]

Hi.  My wife is the primary applicant for our recently granted 190 visa to TAS.  I have a trade as an AC Technician done in 1999 at Olifantsfontein via a section 28 time served.  Since 2011 I have been in Management and currently a Facilities Manager(FM).   As I’m now 47 I wasn’t in the running as the Primary applicant also my current occupation wasn’t in the MTSOL. 

Vetasses does practical assessment for the AC Technician, but the conditions is that this is primarily for immigration/visa  points purposes and not for employment.  Also I must prove that I physically worked on the tools for the last three years. 

My trade has certainly polished my skill to be in the FM environment.  

So my question is has anyone been in a similar dilemma as I want to broaden my opportunities to get employment in these areas. 

Other parts like VIC and NSW seem to have quite a few entry level opportunities in FM however TAS has very little.  So the AC Technician is a option that I want to consider 

Any advice is welcomed 

TIA. 

[monsta]

Hey Vanbros,

 

With tradies in Australia its all about insurance. Any employer will want to make sure you are not a liability on their insurance which will bump up their premiums. From what I understand, they have to be insured and the insurance is quite high here.

 

I would get in contact with your local tafe -> https://www.tastafe.tas.edu.au/courses/course/certificate-ii-split-air-conditioning-heat-pump-systems-short-course/

 

The course is expensive, so  the trick is to ask them to recognize any prior learning or study. That might (or might not) lead to quite a nice reduction in the cost of your study.

 

Its not so much about whether you can do it, but whether a "paper pusher" at an insurance company would consider you "low risk". 

 

In Australia there is a thing called a "white card" which certifies that you are safe to work on construction sites. They check very basic things like can you take instruction in English and know things like not to wear your thongs (slops) on construction sites. Yet, here in NSW you can take a 3 day course to get your white card. A colleague of mine (who was a born and bread Aussie) did his online in 30 minutes with no studying. He said the course seemed like it was more for migrants who come from parts of the world where health and safety is not a concern.

 

The same applies to tradies... they have tradies migrating here from all over the world... they need to set some kind of standards... especially on health and safety.

 

[Vanbros]

Hi @monsta

 

Thanks for your detailed response. This is certainly very interesting and an option I would like to consider. 

I am also reconsidering If I should apply to vetassess.  I will send you more details for your valuable input next week. Thanks again 👍🏻