AdrianPom

'A lot of us have been lucky here though and have a good life.' Yes. Some people survived The Hindenburg, but that didnt mean is was a success! :biglaugh:

'The thing is, you are telling us the way the world should be.' No I am not. I am just explaining what I found.

'I didn't have a high falutin' job so maybe that made a difference' Ah yes. And of course Australia is Egalitarian isnt it!

'How long have you been in Australia AdrianPom?' Nearly 7 years mate, and I am safe in the UK now. I am reviewing the situation, and it is a tough call! Paradise or civilisation? I must go to bed now, else I will be rocking around the clock. I must reflect on my charisma and people skills. I just dont know how I got so far without them in all my jobs before I arrived in Oz, which of course is the only country in the world that knows how to do everything right..... said Brian sarcastically.

'He found adjusting in the work place a little frustrating at first until he got out of his UK mindset' Yes. They tried to brainwash me but luckily I had worked in the USA and Germany beforehand, so I knew what was happening. It is also known as Stockholm Syndrome. :wacko:

'I think decisive and matey describes my OH plus hard working.' It depends what you do. You can be decisive and matey and work hard, but if I am running a business, I want someone who actually delivers results. Sadly another thing I saw a lot of was brown nosing and lots of attendance, without it always converting to results. Not saying this is you, but I am saying when you are talking about stuff like 'decisive', 'matey' and 'hard working', if the wiring doesnt bloody work, being 'decisive', 'matey' and 'hard working' doesnt really cut it does it?

'it's that in many roles, charisma and people skills are far more valuable than technical knowledge' Good luck at the Dentist. I hope he has lots of charisma as he fills the wrong tooth!

'If you rely on your rank or grade to make things happen, you will have no traction.' I am over 50 years old mate. I have worked in the USA, Germany and the UK. No problems. I wasnt relying on my rank at all. That's very patronising, and if you want me to be decisive I will. Sling your hook! I was just trying to do my job. Sorry. Australians play games and I got tired of it. It's childish. It's pathetic. We are not at work to play games, we are there to achieve things, but so often I saw what you describe which was some overblown ego with a huge inferiority complex exercising school playground type tactics. A country of 24 million people and what are its globally famous brands? What are its inventions? Not all that much, because the workplace is more about who you know, and playground antics. Turnbull has put by $1bn for innovation. What a laugh. He needs $10bn just on management training. There will never be any innovation where ideas are squashed in favour of personal short term gain which is what I saw more than anything else.

I too have lost almost all of my savings. I am not actually an electrician. I met one at Cottesloe beach who was working as a driving instructor while he was a having a ciggie break, and I was taking pictures....we got chatting and we compared notes. He was a driving instructor because he couldn’t get a job as an electrician! I was disappointed that his story was almost the same as mine. Even more so after experiencing so many electrical failures, bangs, sparks, shorts...most houses are like a 15 year old has wired them. It is pathetic. And then they say the UK qualification 'isn’t to Australian standards'. They are quite right. Australian standards are rarely up to UK standards in any field. I am actually an Accountant, and the work I got was ridiculous. It was an insult. The money was less, they took no notice of my experience, they took no notice of my qualifications, and they didn’t know what they were doing half the time. I applied for a Senior role in Darwin, and after 3 interviews in Perth with a non-Aussie who was the CFO, everyone thought the job was mine. Then I went for a final meeting with the Operational Manager in Darwin who was an Aussie. He looked as if he hadn’t started shaving yet, and there was still moisture behind his ears. No shortage of arrogance, ahem, I mean confidence though. Way too much actually. (No doubt he knew the 1001 racist joke handbook many managers seem to learn in WA at school.) One question he asked was what I would do if I were to start. So I explained. He said 'I don’t like it when Accountants interfere with my numbers'. That was it. He blocked my recruitment, and he is still there. He must know someone. This happens a lot in Australia. It isn’t what you know, it is who you know. I have been in the UK just two weeks contemplating my future, and it is a different world. Already I don’t think it is very likely I will ever go back to Australia. My contempt is growing by the day. My advice to anyone thinking of going is this. If you are unemployed, and have nothing to lose, try it. If you have a job, a house and a car, DON’T GO. Take extra holidays to Spain etc if you want some more sun. You won’t be able to when you are there. When you live in Oz the holidays are Bali or stay in Australia. Longhaul trips will probablybe to the UK to see those you left behind, and will be costly, and too short. If you must go, plan it so you have an easy exit strategy, and don’t export your lifes possessions. Keep your house and rent it out. Don’t wait to use up your lifes savings. Make a list of things to check on before you go. I mean things like: 1. Am I happy 2. Is it what I hoped 3. Is the work right 4. Is the work paying well 5. Where am I financially compared to where I would be if I hadn’t come 6. What do I like about my new home 7. Is this really making my life better 8. And things like this. Make your own list of frank questions. I was so keen to tell everyone in the UK how good it all was, I started believing my own bullshit. Make sure you don’t lose touch with reality as your life savings evaporate. I did! The whole proposition is bullshit. Jobs are hard to get for non-Aussies, the pay is usually less, cars cost double, housing in a nice area is expensive, everything is expensive. People say nice things, but are usually being two-faced. In the years I was there, the only people I ever saw who clearly benefitted were those who had little when they left. Australia gives those with few skills and brain cells but who make the right noises a chance. If you have something to offer, they see you as a threat, and it will all be uphill. I am going to write all my experiences down, but it will be a book. If you think moving there is going to make your life better, think again. The only way it made my life better was to realise what I had before I went. Now I will find it very hard just to get back to where I was, never mind be where I would have been if I had stayed in the UK, and never mind my savings going down the drain.

Great Post. When I get the time I will try to compliment yours with my experiences. In a nutshell, I would say the more you already have in the UK, the less you are likely to benefit by moving to Oz. As you touched upon, Aussies take no notice of anyones qualifications other than their own. Even if you have a skilled migration visa, they almost treat it with contempt in the workplace. One fiasco example is electricians. I have never experienced so many major electrical failures anywhere as I have in Oz. Every single house I have ever lived in has had a local power cut, AND shorts, AND mystery failures..even the new houses, probably more in one year than in 40 years in the UK, yet they wont accept UK qualifications, because they dont meet Australian standards. Sighhhhh! Now I have found this site I need to gather my thoughts and get them down on paper. I hate to admit it, but I think my decision to try Australia was the biggest and most costly mistake of my life. In fact I reckon apart from my house, it is the most expensive decision of my life. It is backward, and the reason is because they will not accept ideas from outside. Another example is the soon to close car industry. Import taxes almost doubled import prices which came from half way round the world, but the Aussies still could not compete. Sighhhhhhhhhhhh.