Jessica Berry

I have previously posted this information below.......and just to add......the statistics were from a year or more ago, but the reality is the job market in my opinion and from talking to recruiters both external and in-house has not improved in the last 2 years (certainly not in Adelaide), so these figures would still be a good guide. Recruiters now receive so many applications for jobs they can pick and choose and there is an oversupply of engineers. As migrants to Australia the majority of us arrive without 'Australian experience', but the majority of us will find work. You also need to apply for jobs that you have a realistic chance of gaining an interview for. I have worked with many migrants and I ask them to bring along copies of job adverts they have applied for. Most of them think they 'meet all the criteria' in the advert, but when I then break it down and say "they are asking for XYZ, have you got this or have experience of this?", the answer is usually "well no but.....". Migrants often put in their resumes too much information that is irrelevant to the Australian job market or recruiters don't understand and it detracts from the information you want the recruiter to read. The job market (certainly in Adelaide, not sure about other states) will start to slow down now and I always advise migrants if they are coming over in Nov/Dec/Jan, they need to be prepared financially to cover themselves possibly until the New Year until the market picks up again. Have you registered with recruitment agencies? Tell them you are available for temp or perm work, have you got a LinkedIn profile, are you attending networking events, opportunities can present themselves this way from not what you know but who you know. Taken from the Career One job supplement in The Advertiser(Adelaide), but the figures will be for Australia wide. Jobseekers should leave at least 3 months for their job search and be prepared for it to take even longer to get into work or find a better position. That is the median length of time it is taking unemployed jobseekers to be hired as well as a rough guide for those already employed and applying for work elsewhere. Time spent looking for work... 1 to 4 weeks -16% 4 to 13 weeks -38% 13 to 26 weeks- 18% 26 - 52 weeks -20% Whole year - 8% The time it takes people to get jobs of course varies depending on many factors. This is a guide for people coming over as to how long it may take to secure work.People start panicking when they have only been here for a few weeks and don't have a job, but the process of securing work can take time. In our own circumstances our first jobs back when we arrived in 2007 (and jobs were definitely more plentiful than now in my opinion), my OH gained a temp position with 1 week of arriving and a perm position within 3 weeks of us arriving. I gained a perm position 10 weeks after arriving. We were both lucky securing perm jobs for our first jobs. I feel if we were arriving now it would be more likely that we would secure temporary contract roles to start with.

On our road in Adelaide (which will take you about 15 minutes to walk top to bottom), 4 shops that were something else are now coffee shops and they all seem to be pretty busy, there are only 2 other shops left, that aren't coffee shops!

What jobs do you do? Just wondering if there is likely to be sponsorship opportunities if you came over on a WHV.

From the migrants I have met, often one person tends to be more of the driving force than the other. Personally I think that both people have to be committed to giving it a real go, but they need to be honest about this before they come over. I think sometimes people get swept along with 'the dream', rather than understanding the reality of having to start their lives over again from scratch.

There is not a 'one size fits all' answer to this question, everyones experiences are going to be different and there are positives and negatives for both living in the UK and living in Australia. We are based in Adelaide and have been over here 7.5 years and we feel we have a good standard to living, but it has taken time and effort to achieve this. I think a lot of people are quite naïve, have unrealistic expectations and expect things to fall into place straight away and start panicking when they don't. In the past year, I have had a few people contact me and ask if I would be willing to meet up with them while they are over on reccies in Adelaide, as they want independent, honest and realistic advice regarding their job opportunities before they leave their well paid jobs and a high standard of living to emigrate. Often the information I give them is not what they had either been lead to believe or had envisaged in their mind. Perhaps in the current climate people are more cautious and want more information before they take the final leap, rather than getting carried away with 'living the dream'.

The salary expectation question in my experience, is often used (especially in the current tight job market here in Adelaide) as a way to filter out applicants as part of an initial phone screening process. So in general terms, you need to be around the figure they are looking for, unless you have a skill/experience that they are struggling to get, then obviously there is more scope for negotiations. I have worked on projects in the recruiting team where there can be a $20k variation on what the employer is willing to pay. One of my friends who recruits has phone screened several candidates from the mining sector and because of the downturn they are out of work. My friend works in a different sector, but when the candidates are asked the salary question they are still asking for a mining salary not a 'real world' salary and their application goes no further.

When I first lived here I used to forget and greet my Aussie friends with an "ay up" and they would look at me like I was speaking a foreign language (well I suppose I was!) then I had to remind myself that I was saying hello to my Aussie friends not my pommie friends. I have an Aussie colleague (with English heritage) and when I started working with him one day out of the blue he said "ay up" to me and it did make me laugh and also made me think of 'home'.

Congratulations. With our visa we were able to go to anywhere in Australia but always planned on coming to Adelaide and we feel we picked the right place for us. I remember when we got our visa we were so excited that we rang my parents up while they were on holiday in Borneo. They didn't have a mobile so I rang their hotel up and asked to be put through to their room!! After the initial shock/surprise at receiving the phone call and wondering why we were ringing them (and probably thinking it might be bad news), they were pleased for us. We just wanted to share our good news with them and couldn't wait till they got back!

On seek, what classification and sub classification are you searching on?

Certainly in Adelaide, Nov/Dec/Jan are generally the hardest months to find work as this is leading up to the Christmas holiday period/school summer holiday period and a general 'shut down' as many people are taking time off. As you are arriving in November I would make sure you have sufficient funds to cover you into the New Year. The HR job market within Adelaide can be difficult to get into and there is a lot of competition for the roles. South Australia now has the highest unemployment in Australia, so there are plenty of people looking for work. As with everything, there are exceptions and in Adelaide, it can be a case of being in the right place, at the right time and with the right skill set and people get their lucky break, for others it can take several months to secure work.

As a guide how many jobs on seek (when you use the sub classification) specifically in your role/area of expertise are there in Adelaide and then in Brisbane?

Hi Mashuk Have you seen the responses from your previous post, as your new threads seem to be on the same topics? http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/215313-hey-i-have-got-grand-letter-adelaide-hr-advisor.html

My parents spend their money, always going on holiday and going out. I encourage them and tell them I don't want their money and nor do I expect it. I am self sufficient and can support myself. The amount of parents who are a similar age to my parents that end up bailing their adult children out of debt is shocking in my opinion.

No sign of blackcurrant at Coles, just orange, oh dear!!

You can buy it at our Coles in Adelaide, although only orange double concentrate flavour, that family could have stayed after all!! :wink:

Yes, that was the other recommendation on The Checkout last night.

We shop at Coles, just personal preference and we find the specials much better deals than Woolworths. We collect flybuys. We also have extras cover with Medibank and you get flybuys for your monthly payments as well as 3x points for any fresh fruit and veg (you need to link the accounts). We also have a Coles credit card, no annual fee and when we took it out they gave us a $50 Coles voucher as an incentive and you get flybuys points with that as well. We also get our petrol at Coles petrol station where we get flybuys. We also get additional points offers through the post and via emails which we use if appropriate. We save all the points up till the end of the year and then use them at Christmas to pay for our food shopping. The thing is you need to use them as much as they use you (as others have said they just want your shopping habits for their own market research)! Don't buy stuff just to get points or drive miles out of your way just to fill up with petrol at a Coles, but be smart and if these things are available (for example we have been with Medibank for about 5 or so years but their alliance with Coles is a fairly new thing so we didn't just join Medibank to get flybuys) utilise them to the max!

Hi Keith This credit card was mentioned on The Checkout last night (not sure if you watch it but it is a great consumer affairs programme and you pick up lots of tips http://www.abc.net.au/tv/thecheckout/). One of the features on last nights programme (episode 16) was about using credit cards overseas or as an alternative a travel card loaded with currency. The travel cards were worse than the credit card because they gave you a much lower exchange rate, but one of the recommendations was the 28 degree credit card or the Bank West Platinum card as both did not have international fees and there was no annual credit card fee, so we are going to look into getting one of them. Regards Jessica

Working part-time! The generous annual leave entitlements! Hanging out with my family and friends.

Congratulations. I have lived in Adelaide for 7 years and have worked in HR/recruitment/training roles (as well as other things!), so happy to give you some advice. Have you visited Adelaide before, are you coming as a family or on your own?

I sold up in 2007 and could go back now and buy the same property for a third less than I sold it for! I think it does depend on the area though, as a relative has a flat in London that has made a lot of money in 3 years, but then the houses are crazy prices in London.

We sat watching it from 2.00am - 4.00am (felt a bit tired at work today!), great match, Nick was in the zone. I hope he goes all the way to the final.

Do you mean a 457 visa or are you on a WHV?

I think after only 6 weeks you are maybe getting a bit ahead of yourself with the doom and gloom and have created unrealistic expectations about 'living the dream'. In my experience it can take time to establish yourselves, sometimes several years before all aspects come together such as meaningful friendships and a job you truly enjoy. Perhaps homesickness is clouding your judgements at this early stage.

It must have been very difficult for you last time round and I can understand after only being here for 6 months and under the circumstances why you would consider giving it another go. We have lived in Adelaide for 7 years now. The big differences for us is that jobs generally are harder to come by (and have been for about the last 2 years in my experience) but on a positive note our mortgage rate is the lowest it has been in the 6 years we have had it (as a result of a slowing economy)! For us personally, as long as we stay in a job, we are now in the strongest financial position we have been in since we came in 2007, but I would say it took till around the 5 year mark until all aspects of our new life here came together. I guess it is whether you are all prepared to start over again from scratch and go through the process of establishing yourselves again.