Getting a job in Canberra

[Guest panksy29]

Hi everyone

 

I currently live in Taunton, Somerset in the UK. My wife has applied for a Skilled Visa to live in the Canberra. We have got state sponsorship and have passed the health checks so we are expecting to get our Visa soon. We have applied for a Visa in Canberra because it was the only place we can get a Visa in Australia. It does look like a really nice place but I am finding the thought of moving very daunting as we have two children age two and four and I am worried about getting jobs, property, and finding decent schools for the kids. I am also amazed at how much some things cost in Australia. I looked at the eprice of cars and found that a car that would cost about £2000 in the UK costs about £3500 in Australia.

 

My main concern is that I am not sure if we will be able to get decent jobs. I was very hopeful of finding a job until I e mailed a job agency in Canberra. I work in IT and my wife works for local Government. I have been told that due to Federal Government being based in Canberra I would need to have security clearance to work in IT and for this I would need to be an Australian Citizen.

 

Does anyone have any experience of finding work in IT in Canberra? My wife will probably try to get an admin job to start of with but I am not sure if she will need security clearance to work in admin in Canberra.

 

I would also like to find out if there is allot of large employers in Canberra or is Local Government the main employer.

 

I am sorry to ask so many questions on my first visit.

 

Jeremy

[Quoll]

Biggest employer is the federal government and you will need to be a citizen in order to get permanency with federal government. ACT government is also quite large and you will need permanent residence for that.

 

This is very much a clerical town and there is always a lot of competition for any job - our organization just advertised a very lowly paid admin job ($42kpa) and we had almost 60 applications and interviewed 6 of them so competition is fierce.

 

This is also very much a town of not what you know but who you know and you may find your only way into something permanent is to go through serial contracts with agencies - you may be stymied for some contracts though because of your citizen status (or lack thereof).

 

Schools are fine and if you dont like the gov schools then the Catholic/independent system accommodates almost half the school age kids anyway

 

Housing is crazy expensive, rentals are hard to come by (dont come between November and February whatever you do) and you would need to be budgeting at least $500 per week for a reasonable place these days - or be prepared to pay a fortune in petrol and parking (swings and roundabouts really).

 

Cars in Canberra are even more expensive than if you buy in NSW or Vic - probably because it is a very "wealthy" place (or would like to think it is - average salary here would be around the $80k mark). However we have a good many people existing on benefits its just that we tend to keep them hidden!

 

It's as good a place as any to live in Australia, loads of good facilities, nice environment, the bush is visible from almost anywhere, not likely to be flooded (although bushfires are another kettle of fish)

[Jobo]

Hi everyone

 

I currently live in Taunton, Somerset in the UK. My wife has applied for a Skilled Visa to live in the Canberra. We have got state sponsorship and have passed the health checks so we are expecting to get our Visa soon. We have applied for a Visa in Canberra because it was the only place we can get a Visa in Australia. It does look like a really nice place but I am finding the thought of moving very daunting as we have two children age two and four and I am worried about getting jobs, property, and finding decent schools for the kids. I am also amazed at how much some things cost in Australia. I looked at the eprice of cars and found that a car that would cost about £2000 in the UK costs about £3500 in Australia.

 

My main concern is that I am not sure if we will be able to get decent jobs. I was very hopeful of finding a job until I e mailed a job agency in Canberra. I work in IT and my wife works for local Government. I have been told that due to Federal Government being based in Canberra I would need to have security clearance to work in IT and for this I would need to be an Australian Citizen.

 

Does anyone have any experience of finding work in IT in Canberra? My wife will probably try to get an admin job to start of with but I am not sure if she will need security clearance to work in admin in Canberra.

 

I would also like to find out if there is allot of large employers in Canberra or is Local Government the main employer.

 

I am sorry to ask so many questions on my first visit.

 

Jeremy

 

 

I'm surprised at your post...did you not have to research all this type if stuff to get the state sponsorship? seems a bit like shutting the door after the horse has bolted - no disrespect...when we did our SS application we had to submit pages of research to show we understood the job market, relocation costs, on-going living costs etc. when you first get there you cannot claim benefits so you need to know that you can get a job, afford to stay there while looking and have plenty of funds to support you and your family. That was with a different state but perhaps ACT should ask for that then the people they give visas to would have a much better idea of what they are in for.

 

My advice - keep searching on seek.com and e-mail as many agencies as possible as soon as you get the PR, be resilient and don't give up - keep badgering them. if you're worried about the whole family going without jobs then perhaps you go first and find a job/accommodation and then your family join you. I would also do general internet searches to find employers in the region and just send on spec enquiries with your CV - make sure you tell them you have your PR and when you intend to arrive.

 

It will probably seem like alot of hard work and you may get disheartened but i've seen posts on here where people have found employers to sponsor them by applying for hundreds of jobs and not giving up. at least you will have a visa soon so just keep trying and something should work out.

 

Just bear in mind that there will be a number of other IT applicants who will recently have got their visas granted under ACT SS because of the recent release of the SMP...obviously they won't all go at once but they could be competition for you so try and get in there first!!

 

good luck

 

Jo

[Peach]

I have been told that due to Federal Government being based in Canberra I would need to have security clearance to work in IT and for this I would need to be an Australian Citizen.

 

A lot of the Federal government IT work is now outsourced to the likes of IBM, CSC, HP etc - I think you'll find that working for these guys is less restrictive the for the goverment directly.

[Guest panksy29]

Hi

 

The main Visa applicant is my wife and when we applied for the Visa we did look at jobs availble and due to the fact she workes in local Goverment at home we thought she would have a good chance of getting a job. There were lots of well paid jobs that would suit my wifes skills.

 

The Visa we applied for is a 176 Skilled Visa for a Organisation and Methods Analyst. The government in Canberra failed to mention that she would need to be an Australia citizen in order to be able to get a job as a Methods Analyst. I cannot understand why they are sponsering people based on there skills when they do not have the security clearance required to carry out that sort of job role.

 

We are now thinking about going to Australia for a holiday because If we come to Canberra within the first year if recieving the Visa it gives us another 2 years to make up our minds. We will then have a chance to check the place out and find out more about jobs and housing ect.

 

Jeremy

[Quoll]

Hi

 

The main Visa applicant is my wife and when we applied for the Visa we did look at jobs availble and due to the fact she workes in local Goverment at home we thought she would have a good chance of getting a job. There were lots of well paid jobs that would suit my wifes skills.

 

The Visa we applied for is a 176 Skilled Visa for a Organisation and Methods Analyst. The government in Canberra failed to mention that she would need to be an Australia citizen in order to be able to get a job as a Methods Analyst. I cannot understand why they are sponsering people based on there skills when they do not have the security clearance required to carry out that sort of job role.

 

We are now thinking about going to Australia for a holiday because If we come to Canberra within the first year if recieving the Visa it gives us another 2 years to make up our minds. We will then have a chance to check the place out and find out more about jobs and housing ect.

 

Jeremy

 

I dont know either - the ACT skills list has some real puzzles on it - given the number of appplicants for most jobs these days especially admin and IT you do wonder which bozo drew up the list! Now I can understand GP, nurse, speech pathologist but some of the others are just plain crazy.

 

Getting into the sinecure of a government job here is very difficult - sure, they advertise jobs but there is usually someone sitting in the position and they have to advertise but you know that unless the occupant is a total no hoper they are going to win it with their relevant experience in the role. Unless you have a particularly unique and in demand set of skills it will be an uphill task for anything permanent.

 

ACT Government Jobs - Home this is the act gov jobs site so you can peruse that to see what is in demand

[Jobo]

Hi

 

The Visa we applied for is a 176 Skilled Visa for a Organisation and Methods Analyst. The government in Canberra failed to mention that she would need to be an Australia citizen in order to be able to get a job as a Methods Analyst. I cannot understand why they are sponsering people based on there skills when they do not have the security clearance required to carry out that sort of job role.

 

Jeremy

 

This is crazy...why would they sponsor for a PR visa when you can't apply for citizenship for a number of years? The whole point of SS is to bring skills and experience to the state that are in demand so the migrant can work and contribute to the local economy.

 

Mind you I guess you can't complain too much - you are benefiting from your wife's occupation being on the ACT SMP and if it wasn't you might not be able to migrate. I'm sure ACT cannot really expect sponsored migrants to stay for 2 years if they can't find work.

 

I hope things seem more positive when you visit the area...just remember that post about "its not what you know but who you know"...hopefully you can make some good contacts out there to open a few doors

 

Jo

[Guest 101126]

Hi

 

The main Visa applicant is my wife and when we applied for the Visa we did look at jobs availble and due to the fact she workes in local Goverment at home we thought she would have a good chance of getting a job. There were lots of well paid jobs that would suit my wifes skills.

 

The Visa we applied for is a 176 Skilled Visa for a Organisation and Methods Analyst. The government in Canberra failed to mention that she would need to be an Australia citizen in order to be able to get a job as a Methods Analyst. I cannot understand why they are sponsering people based on there skills when they do not have the security clearance required to carry out that sort of job role.

 

We are now thinking about going to Australia for a holiday because If we come to Canberra within the first year if recieving the Visa it gives us another 2 years to make up our minds. We will then have a chance to check the place out and find out more about jobs and housing ect.

 

Jeremy

 

Hi Jeremy

 

When it comes to working in IT in Canberra, it is not as gloomy as you might think, sure finding IT work in Federal government is practically impossible as they do require citizenship irrespective of whether you are employed directly or through SI's like IBM, Fujitsu or others. In practice a lot of the agencies and corporate clients are unlikely to recruit non citizens, trust me I have looked and havea reasonable cv to call upon.

 

However on the brighter side, I left the UK without work in Australia and only a hand full of agencies as contacts, a giant leap of faith but one based on the premise that employers are more likely to meet/discuss opportunities with you once you are here and fortunately I found work within four weeks and started on the fifth week as a Program Manager for InTACT; an organisation of some 600 people whose responsibility it is to look after whole of government agencies in Canberra, such as Health, Education, prisons etc. I have subsequently been working for them for more than a year and am enjoying my role with them. They are continually struggling to recruit and retain people with good skills as the federal market pays more, however salaries are reasonable. You will require security clearance for many roles within InTACT but they are prepared as an employer to process these, supported by a 'Non Citizen Waiver Form' which allows them to sponsor applications from non citizens. We look after the breadth of IT so are likely to have something in your space. I would be very happy to look over your CV and let you know of potential opportunities within InTACT.

 

InTACT is not the only employer within Canberra that will look at permanent residents, there are the universities, both Canberra and ANU and other employers but they are limitted as this is a public sector town, but its not impossible.

 

unfortunately i can not speak about your wifes work but if she has not looked at TAMS as an employer then I would suggest she does. Also Health are doing a lot of work on the CADP redevelopment program and they are looking at their models of care; which also looks at how they currently do things and how this might change as part of the program mention.

 

One piece of advice I would offer is to be prepared to compromise, Canberra is a lovely place to live and worth the compromise if one has to be made.

 

If you want to private message me with your CV I would be happy to take a look and offer other advice if needed.

 

good luck

Peter

[Guest destinationoz]

Hi Peter - hope you are well? sorry to butt in but what is TAMS?

Thanks

(cal - we met back in May on our validation trip!!)

[Quoll]

Hi Peter - hope you are well? sorry to butt in but what is TAMS?

Thanks

(cal - we met back in May on our validation trip!!)

 

Territory and Municipal Services - Homepage government department. Good luck with that one!

[Guest chasm]

Hi,

We're ( Surhythms06, the sprog and I) , due to arrive in Canberra in May/June.I'm a datacentre manager, ex unix admin etc and we asked this same question of the migration people in March of last year - they told us that people were finding skilled jobs within 4-6 weeks of arrival.

 

Posted a similar question on here at the same time as above and got a very negative reply from Roky, though I think he/she may have been through the mill a bit and fairly pessimistic becuase of it.

 

Just wondering does the sound accurate? It may have been the case a year ago but quite a bit has changed in the world since then and theres probably an influx of people recently?

[Quoll]

Hi,

We're ( Surhythms06, the sprog and I) , due to arrive in Canberra in May/June.I'm a datacentre manager, ex unix admin etc and we asked this same question of the migration people in March of last year - they told us that people were finding skilled jobs within 4-6 weeks of arrival.

 

Posted a similar question on here at the same time as above and got a very negative reply from Roky, though I think he/she may have been through the mill a bit and fairly pessimistic becuase of it.

 

Just wondering does the sound accurate? It may have been the case a year ago but quite a bit has changed in the world since then and theres probably an influx of people recently?

 

Ah, the Canberra Migration advice people - remember that they are there to sell you a product. All care and no responsibility!

 

I am not in IT but in my experience, finding a job in Canberra is not that easy at the moment. Our organization advertised recently for a very (and I mean VERY) lowly paid admin job and we got just under 60 applications for it. The lady who got it had a bit of an unfair advantage over most of the other applicants (nudge nudge wink wink) and was astonished to get it because she had been looking for something permanent for the 5 months that she had been in town (she is over 45 of course and that doesnt help). My very experienced and talented ex boss has been working short term and often part time contracts since she left our organization 12 months ago because she hasnt secured a full time permanent position at the level she aspired to even though she had had loads of promises and has a lot of contacts in town. In general though, this is very much a "who you know" kind of town.

 

You may have to adjust your expectations - if you are prepared to do anything then you should pick up something, even if it is making sandwiches for Subway, but you may have to work your way up to where you currently are unless you have a high demand skill set.

 

OTOH you could be one of the lucky ones and walk straight into something but it is always better to be prepared for the worst case scenario then anything else is a bonus!

[Guest 101126]

Hi,

We're ( Surhythms06, the sprog and I) , due to arrive in Canberra in May/June.I'm a datacentre manager, ex unix admin etc and we asked this same question of the migration people in March of last year - they told us that people were finding skilled jobs within 4-6 weeks of arrival.

 

Posted a similar question on here at the same time as above and got a very negative reply from Roky, though I think he/she may have been through the mill a bit and fairly pessimistic becuase of it.

 

Just wondering does the sound accurate? It may have been the case a year ago but quite a bit has changed in the world since then and theres probably an influx of people recently?

 

Hi

 

The migration people might well be right with their statistics and of course that was my experience also but of course there is some validity in what Quoll says to. I do know of people within the IT space that could not find work within IT and now do something else, but the skill sets that they had were more specialist.

 

As you would understand Data Centre Management is a relatively specialist skill with limitted numbers in any market place including Canberra and therefore opportunities do not arise every day but in my experience that was the same in the UK, add in the complexity of obtaining security clearance in Canberra and of course it does make it difficult and therefore you may need to compromise and look to do something else as a foot in the door; which is what i had to do.

 

There are a couple of organisations you can look at such as Canberra Data Centres at Canberra Data Centres - Clean & Green Data Hosting Centre, and possibly InTACT (where I do not believe we have any opportunities for a Data Centre Manager at the moment, but things change) or the universities or Telco's (but I am not sure where there DC's might be, I suspect Sydney or Melbourne), it might be that you have to look at facilities management type roles and ACT Health and other organisations might be areas to look at.

 

I would recommend that you research the market well, keep an eye on seek.com.au for similar jobs to guage what might be right for you and if necessary be prepared to compromise if needed.

 

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you feel that I can help, I am always very happy to look through CV's and offer any advice.

 

Peter

[Guest chasm]

Folks,

Thanks for the replies and links,very useful information there . I'm quite willing to compromise and am half expecting to go in at a lower level if necessary and work upwards if I'm lucky enough to get a role within my own field.Trying to do some groundwork prior to arriving to have my name at least familiar with some people in agencies if at all possible.

 

Sure if not I will pretty much do anything if needed - rubber gloves and a plunger here I come!

[Guest 101126]

Folks,

Thanks for the replies and links,very useful information there . I'm quite willing to compromise and am half expecting to go in at a lower level if necessary and work upwards if I'm lucky enough to get a role within my own field.Trying to do some groundwork prior to arriving to have my name at least familiar with some people in agencies if at all possible.

 

Sure if not I will pretty much do anything if needed - rubber gloves and a plunger here I come!

 

Hi

 

As I've said before I would be happy to look over your cv if you want to send it to me via PM and advise as there are technical roles that I know we tend to always have requirements for

[Guest APB]

Hi All

 

I'm new to PomsInOz and have just read this thread.

I've recently received my SS 176 visa for permanant residency on 4th Jan 2011 and have to activate before the end of Nov 2011. We were planning to travel Sept at the latest but are still in the UK ... North East.

I'm mid 40's and there is only myself and my good lady migrating.

I have over 20 years working within the Primary Care sector developing GP clinical systems for a private company, working in the Public sector (NHS) as an IM&T Senior Manager and for the past 2 years back in the private sector in ICT Project Management in both Technical and Operations depts for a software house in the Healthcare Sector. Hence the InTact reply was very interesting as this work area seems very relevant?

 

My worry is the same as the other posts in this thread however? I am concerned with the amount of jobs available that require security clearance? I did my research when supplying details of appropriate positions for SS with ACT, but didn't realise until now, how restrictive the security clearance constraints are.

 

I have applied for positons online and registered with a recruitment agency in Canberra who have asked me to get in contact with them when I arrive in Oz with proof of visa etc. So it sounds like there is nothing much I can do to gain employment until I actually arrive in Canberra.

 

Do employers consider an offer of employment to applicants still residing in the UK, before arrival and activation of PR visa?

 

The previous paragraph in the post "it's not what you know but who you know" is also worrying as we don't know anybody in Canberra ... as I guess most new arrivals don't?

 

So ... Is a "leap of faith" and pure good luck the norm?

[Quoll]

 

The previous paragraph in the post "it's not what you know but who you know" is also worrying as we don't know anybody in Canberra ... as I guess most new arrivals don't?

 

So ... Is a "leap of faith" and pure good luck the norm?

 

Yup. Not much else you can do really. Unless you have some highly specific skill set which someone really needs then you are unlikely to get a permanent job before you arrive so plan for a few months out of work and then if you pick something up quickly, it will be a bonus.

[Guest panksy29]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the reply. We received our Visa yesterday so we are in the process of deciding when to move. I have not been to Australia before but from the research we have done Canberra looks like a great place to live. I love Kayaking and Cycling and Canberra looks like a good place to do both. I am worried about getting a job due to the Security restrictions but I do think that I cannot get a real picture of the job market until I make the move. I still have lots of research to do about the logistics of shipping all my belongings and finding a property. We are not sure weather to sell our house in the UK or rent it before we move. I also think I will have to sell allot of stuff as there is no way that it will all fit in one container.

Thanks once again for replying to my post it is really nice to hear from people that have made the move. I will send you a private message with my CV so that you can give me some advise. I am hoping to get some work before we move as it would make the move allot less stressful.

Thanks

Jeremy

[Guest panksy29]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the reply. We received our Visa yesterday so we are in the process of deciding when to move. I have not been to Australia before but from the research we have done Canberra looks like a great place to live. I love Kayaking and Cycling and Canberra looks like a good place to do both. I am worried about getting a job due to the Security restrictions but I do think that I cannot get a real picture of the job market until I make the move. I still have lots of research to do about the logistics of shipping all my belongings and finding a property. We are not sure weather to sell our house in the UK or rent it before we move. I also think I will have to sell allot of stuff as there is no way that it will all fit in one container.

Thanks once again for replying to my post it is really nice to hear from people that have made the move. I will send you a private message with my CV so that you can give me some advise. I am hoping to get some work before we move as it would make the move allot less stressful.

Thanks

Jeremy

[Guest 101126]

Hi All

 

I'm new to PomsInOz and have just read this thread.

I've recently received my SS 176 visa for permanant residency on 4th Jan 2011 and have to activate before the end of Nov 2011. We were planning to travel Sept at the latest but are still in the UK ... North East.

I'm mid 40's and there is only myself and my good lady migrating.

I have over 20 years working within the Primary Care sector developing GP clinical systems for a private company, working in the Public sector (NHS) as an IM&T Senior Manager and for the past 2 years back in the private sector in ICT Project Management in both Technical and Operations depts for a software house in the Healthcare Sector. Hence the InTact reply was very interesting as this work area seems very relevant?

 

My worry is the same as the other posts in this thread however? I am concerned with the amount of jobs available that require security clearance? I did my research when supplying details of appropriate positions for SS with ACT, but didn't realise until now, how restrictive the security clearance constraints are.

 

I have applied for positons online and registered with a recruitment agency in Canberra who have asked me to get in contact with them when I arrive in Oz with proof of visa etc. So it sounds like there is nothing much I can do to gain employment until I actually arrive in Canberra.

 

Do employers consider an offer of employment to applicants still residing in the UK, before arrival and activation of PR visa?

 

The previous paragraph in the post "it's not what you know but who you know" is also worrying as we don't know anybody in Canberra ... as I guess most new arrivals don't?

 

So ... Is a "leap of faith" and pure good luck the norm?

 

I like the quote about its not what you know but its who you know and how this presents an issue when migrating to Australia, of course that is true, its true of any employment market, I believe the stats within the UK are that +60% of jobs are recruited to through peoples network or in people you know directly, so its hardly surprising that this would be the case in Australia, add in that Federal Governmet is by and large restricted to citizens means it can be hard and people need to be aware of that and work with it. Add in the logistics of being half way around the world if you have not taken that leap of faith yet and it makes it less than easy. So people need to manage their expectations when emigrating to any country.

 

However APB, there may well be an option for you to explore a role within InTACT in the team that looks after ACT Health. I work within this team and know that we are looking for technical project managers with Health care experience to support ACT Health e-futures development program. The opportunities are non ongoing permanent positions (which means you contract as a permanent employee for a defined period, so similar to contracting but on a salaried position with all the benefits of being an employee, i.e. paid holiday, sickness, super etc) and we are currently looking at these positions running until June 2013 to support their Healths program. Effectively we are looking for people to start now so I do not know how that fits with your time scales. additionally we are looking for Solution Archictect and a large number of support roles within Health. InTACT would recruit people who are in the process of emigrating and certainly having PR would more than suffice. You would require security clearance, to the level of 'Highly Protected' but InTACT will sponsor that and support it with a non citizen waiver form as employers can do here and as they did for myself. As with any security clearances it means lots of paperwork and quite a wait but they recruited me, and then started the paperwork, so you can be working at the same time.

 

Therefore if you are interested in coming in the short term there are positions now that we are recruiting to, security clearance would not be an issue (as long as you have been good and lawful) and challenging work does exist. InTACT is a challenging place to work but no more so than if you have worked with some of the SI's working on NPfIT in UK and they are always keen on taking good people.

 

If you are interested send me a PM with your CV and any details around your timescales and availability and I will make sure ti gets put in front of the right people.

 

Good luck

[Paul1Perth]

I like the quote about its not what you know but its who you know and how this presents an issue when migrating to Australia, of course that is true, its true of any employment market, I believe the stats within the UK are that +60% of jobs are recruited to through peoples network or in people you know directly, so its hardly surprising that this would be the case in Australia, add in that Federal Governmet is by and large restricted to citizens means it can be hard and people need to be aware of that and work with it. Add in the logistics of being half way around the world if you have not taken that leap of faith yet and it makes it less than easy. So people need to manage their expectations when emigrating to any country.

 

However APB, there may well be an option for you to explore a role within InTACT in the team that looks after ACT Health. I work within this team and know that we are looking for technical project managers with Health care experience to support ACT Health e-futures development program. The opportunities are non ongoing permanent positions (which means you contract as a permanent employee for a defined period, so similar to contracting but on a salaried position with all the benefits of being an employee, i.e. paid holiday, sickness, super etc) and we are currently looking at these positions running until June 2013 to support their Healths program. Effectively we are looking for people to start now so I do not know how that fits with your time scales. additionally we are looking for Solution Archictect and a large number of support roles within Health. InTACT would recruit people who are in the process of emigrating and certainly having PR would more than suffice. You would require security clearance, to the level of 'Highly Protected' but InTACT will sponsor that and support it with a non citizen waiver form as employers can do here and as they did for myself. As with any security clearances it means lots of paperwork and quite a wait but they recruited me, and then started the paperwork, so you can be working at the same time.

 

Therefore if you are interested in coming in the short term there are positions now that we are recruiting to, security clearance would not be an issue (as long as you have been good and lawful) and challenging work does exist. InTACT is a challenging place to work but no more so than if you have worked with some of the SI's working on NPfIT in UK and they are always keen on taking good people.

 

If you are interested send me a PM with your CV and any details around your timescales and availability and I will make sure ti gets put in front of the right people.

 

Good luck

 

You couldn't wish for a more helpful post than this. I can certainly second the opinion that it's "not what you know but who you know" applies to anywhere in the World but it looks like the OP has a good contact already.

 

Thanks 101126.

[Guest APB]

You couldn't wish for a more helpful post than this

 

Many thanks Peter, Paul1Perth's quote is spot on.

You can't say fairer than that! It's reassuring to know that the issue of Security Clearance may not be a complete showstopper, although I don't under estimate the difficulty in finding work.

 

I'll send you a PM with my current CV etc, as you have kindly offered.

It's good to know there are still many good people in the world.

 

Jeremy, I guess we are going through similar emotions and thought processes at the moment. The issue of whether to sell or not and what/what not to take.

We thought about renting our property out, but anticipate mortgage interest rate rises in the UK soon? We don't fancy managing a mortgage in the UK whilst trying to settle in Canberra.

 

So I guess making the move for us is all down to timing ...

 

cheers

 

Anth

[restfamily]

A lot of the Federal government IT work is now outsourced to the likes of IBM, CSC, HP etc - I think you'll find that working for these guys is less restrictive the for the goverment directly.

 

No this is not the case as they all subcontract to the government, and you often need to be a citizen to get in the front door of the buildings! People do find work, I did, as its not 100% of the departments but it is the significant majority and really narrows your chances.

[Guest weewun]

hi Jeremy

 

If you are on the state sponsored 176 visa then you and your wife should l be able to apply for ACT public sector positions. I have just rang up the ACT recuitment line to ask as we will hopefully be going through the SS176 route.

I was told that if someone has a permanent visa they can apply. If they are on a temporary visa then can't apply for temporary positions apparently till you get a permanent visa.

You are correct about the federal government jobs - need to be australian citizens

Both my husband and work for Local Authorities here.

 

Good luck

Rudi

[Guest weewun]

sorry with the last post I was meant to write that with a temporary working visa you can apply for temporary positions with ACT govt jobs.