Goosenman

I had emailed energy safe Victoria but I rang them this morning. Got straight through to the person who had actually read my email. She said she couldn't answer the question of what I needed to do and didn't want to advise me incorrectly, so had forwarded the email to her licensing manager to answer, but that I'd need to give him some time. Bizarrely, it felt like I was the first person to have ever been in this situation of having job skill and knowledge but no qualification. They might still come back to tell me I'll still need to do an apprenticeship but we'll see.

Thanks for the reply and wow! I don't know why, I figured experience would be regarded in place of an equivalent qualification, but even a brief look around tells me the exact opposite. I'm lucky in that I didn't need a job to get visa but foolishly it seems, assumed I'd be able to get a panel building job without too much trouble. thanks again for your reply.

I worked as an electrical fitter for 22 years before the company I worked for, closed down. I built all manner of switchgear but received no formal training or certificate etc. I was 100% trained as I went. I'm in Australia on a permanent migrant visa (subclass 100) so have full right to work. i found a job this morning that was pretty much what I did back in the UK. I met every criteria except for the minimum qualification of electrical fitter. I sent my cv but contacted the agency anyway who informed me that my experience counted for nought and that without the qualification, they wouldn't consider my application. To get a qualification from scratch would take four years of part time study and it would appear I'd need to do it through an apprenticeship with a company any way. I've looked at the ARTC thing, which would assess my skills and possibly give me a practical and theory test. But I don't meet their criteria either - I need to provide evidence of my qualification via certificate/college exam result, or prove that my skills meet guidelines set out by my respective union in the UK (never had a union or know where I would even fit in) or prove my skills have been assessed by someone who either knew my trade or took advice from someone who knew my trade, and that I had worked in this trade for seven years. My skills have never been assessed but were obviously up to the job for 22 years. Can anyone suggest what I do or try next, please?

We are currently using a wireless dongle that my father in law got for us. It works well but in terms of cost, it is excessive (one of the computers downloaded a huge 2.6gb update without us realising and it cost us $40). For short term, it's great but for long term use, it just isn't economically viable. We found the broadband incredibly hard to figure out but eventually settled on TPG. Just to add, the dongle is totally wireless and doesn't require any type of phone line to use. It gives you a 3G connection, but gets busy in the evening.

H all, first post so please forgive me if this is in the wrong place. We got to Australia on Tuesday, I'm on a permanent residency visa. In the UK I worked in the switchgear industry, building lv panels of all shapes and sizes. I'd been doing it for nearly 22 years but I have no formal qualification in the building or the theory behind it all, I was thrown in a deep end and worked and learnt as I went. our main priority was getting to Australia so a job has sort of taken the back seat prior to getting everything else sorted to get here. But now I need to start looking and am beyond clueless. Could I start with a few basic questions? Without qualifications, is it even worth trying to find a job in the same industry? Am I going to be retraining to to do a job I can already do? Just a quick look round has left be struggling, my wife suggested finding companies and sending a letter of interest along with my CV. Would this be a good way to start? Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.