Matthew Molder

So about 10 weeks after submitting my backup documents for my skills assessment as a Construction Project Manager, I received a response from VETASSESS. Unfortunately they found my Educational and Work backgrounds to be irrelevant and gave me a negative assessment. I have Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design...which I knew was a little bit of a stretch but was hoping it would have at least been considered like an architectural degree would, as I'm very well-versed in building code requirements and construction-related codes and can easily read a set of construction documents. What really surprised me was the negative assessment of my work experience. I have worked as a project manager the last 5-1/2 years and they deemed it irrelevant?!? My firm specializes in client-side construction related project management, and I tried to cater my resume and job description as closely to the ANZCO code description as possible (without lying of course!). Does anyone think I have any chance of a successful appeal to my assessment? I was really hoping to apply for a 189 visa but am considering a Work and Holiday visa if that's my only option. I turn 30 in August so this is my last chance! Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated. I was quite frustrated last night and did an impulse buy of guidance/feedback from an online migration agent and am scheduled to talk to them early next week...hopefully they'll have some positive feedback. Will keep everyone posted of any good news!

Hi Mohd - did you end up submitting for your skills assessment? I uploaded all my docs by 8/3/16 and am currently awaiting a response from VETASSESS. Their site mentions an average 10-12 week response time and was hoping to see what other applicants are averaging!

If you're a native English speaker, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I took the Pearson PTE Academic and somehow got a perfect score (while I do consider myself a good speller and whatnot, by no means an English scholar). The hardest part for me was the verbal response describing charts/graphs. They give you appx. 10 seconds to respond and I was certain I missed them because a few of the graphs didn't make much sense and I was stumbling on my words using a few "uh's" and "umm's", but I suppose they heard me getting frustrated in English and gave me credit anyways! Now I'm just (im)patiently waiting for a successful skills assessment!