Looking For Work In Australia : Important Considerations
This part of our emigrating to Australia guide looks at finding work in Australia…
How easy it’ll be to get a job in Australia depends primarily on your qualifications, work experience and flexibility, with your nationality (i.e. not being an Australian citizen) not being a barrier to your success.
Different parts of Australia offer better job prospects in certain industries than other, so you’ll need to research where your particular qualifications and experience are in demand. Broadly speaking, Sydney is best for finance, Melbourne and Adelaide for manufacturing, and Perth for resources. The big cities tend to have very competitive employment markets though, and you may find that you initially have to take work in one of the provinces.
How much value Australian employers place on your qualifications, certificates and references varies from one to another, but you should expect them to not regard them as highly as an employer in your home country would as they’ll probably be unfamiliar with the institutes that issued them. Ones acquired from Australian institutes are generally given preference so be prepared to convert or top-up what you already have if you’re planning on a long-term career in an industry in which they’re particularly valued.
As for work experience, the same applies as with qualifications. The fact that you may have worked for the best company in your field in your home country may not make much impression on an Australian employer who has never heard of it. You can promote your case by including information on your former employer with any job application (a link to its website may be useful) but in many cases this wont be of great benefit.
Therefore, you should be prepared to have to accept lesser jobs (in terms of skills required and pay) until you build up some local experience.
