Difficulty in securing work

[Captain_Tor]

On 19/02/2019 at 05:24, NomadicBrit said:

Hi all, first time post to this forum and might be a little long, so bear with me!

My wife and I relocated to Sydney in May last year, after spending close to a year travelling SE Asia and Western Australia after leaving the UK in June 2017. So we have now been here 9 months. After a few months of unsettled accommodation and having to move twice in the first 3 months, we got relatively settled early September and I began to look for work in earnest. 

I am a Software Engineer by trade (so have a PR Visa) but really over the last 10 years have been a Software Architecture and Senior Technical Manager and have worked for some very large organisations in the financial services sector for over 20 years. 

The problems I have been having getting work so far:

• Lack of senior level jobs compared to London (to be expected)
• Being totally ignored by recruitment agents whilst applying for jobs I have all the skills for and demonstrable on my CV
• Going for interviews, getting through to final phases to either get a "No" or never being got back too (unprofessional and highly disrespectful)
• Been given no feedback at any point (or any at all when they ghost me even if I ask for feedback by a follow up email and then gets ignored).
• Not understanding what I am doing wrong in interviews to not secure positions I am qualified, if not even over-qualified to do. 

The startups have generally been better at getting back to me than the medium to large sized organisation, which is interesting in and of itself. 

It's now getting to the point where we have spent enough money being out here and, with the job market not looking great at the moment, we are wondering what to do. I could walk into a job in the UK as soon as we moved back, even though we don't really want to do that but, finances are now getting to the point where we don't want to waste much more money on banging our head against what we are beginning to see is a brick wall. It does get utterly soul destroying getting rejected for jobs, especially having had a highly successful career previously, and the uncertainty and not working has been causing some deal of stress, as it would for anyone.     

I'm 45 years old (was 44 when we got here), so I'm not sure whether age is an issue or not, given that I am apply for senior Head of Engineering/Architecture/Technology roles, as this age would be the sweet spot in the UK for these roles. 

Anyone else had similar experiences, and should we give it a couple of more months or cut our losses and head back home?

Many thanks in advance for replies on this. 

 

Not sure if this is helpful or not but you mention financial service sector, have you looked at the Big accounting firms in the city that have offices established in both UK and Australia? maybe reaching out to their UK talent Recruiters on LinkedIn? 

The big four regularly sponsor candidates to move over to Australia for senior roles, however with recent visa changes it is becoming more tricky so they might welcome applicants who already have their visa sorted and are actually already in Australia, saves on relocation costs etc.

 

[BacktoDemocracy]

On 19/2/2019 at 05:24, NomadicBrit said:

Hi all, first time post to this forum and might be a little long, so bear with me!

My wife and I relocated to Sydney in May last year, after spending close to a year travelling SE Asia and Western Australia after leaving the UK in June 2017. So we have now been here 9 months. After a few months of unsettled accommodation and having to move twice in the first 3 months, we got relatively settled early September and I began to look for work in earnest. 

I am a Software Engineer by trade (so have a PR Visa) but really over the last 10 years have been a Software Architecture and Senior Technical Manager and have worked for some very large organisations in the financial services sector for over 20 years. 

The problems I have been having getting work so far:

• Lack of senior level jobs compared to London (to be expected)
• Being totally ignored by recruitment agents whilst applying for jobs I have all the skills for and demonstrable on my CV
• Going for interviews, getting through to final phases to either get a "No" or never being got back too (unprofessional and highly disrespectful)
• Been given no feedback at any point (or any at all when they ghost me even if I ask for feedback by a follow up email and then gets ignored).
• Not understanding what I am doing wrong in interviews to not secure positions I am qualified, if not even over-qualified to do. 

The startups have generally been better at getting back to me than the medium to large sized organisation, which is interesting in and of itself. 

It's now getting to the point where we have spent enough money being out here and, with the job market not looking great at the moment, we are wondering what to do. I could walk into a job in the UK as soon as we moved back, even though we don't really want to do that but, finances are now getting to the point where we don't want to waste much more money on banging our head against what we are beginning to see is a brick wall. It does get utterly soul destroying getting rejected for jobs, especially having had a highly successful career previously, and the uncertainty and not working has been causing some deal of stress, as it would for anyone.     

I'm 45 years old (was 44 when we got here), so I'm not sure whether age is an issue or not, given that I am apply for senior Head of Engineering/Architecture/Technology roles, as this age would be the sweet spot in the UK for these roles. 

Anyone else had similar experiences, and should we give it a couple of more months or cut our losses and head back home?

Many thanks in advance for replies on this. 

 

I mentioned your dilemma to my wife and she suggested you try the consultancy she got work with, SMS,  now taken over, but they had a lot of brits working for them and she got a long term placement with a mining company thro them.

https://www.arnnet.com.au/article/614891/dws-acquire-sms-management-technology/

[simmo]

On 21/02/2019 at 09:10, NomadicBrit said:

I agree Jon. The UK is far fairer and more skill-based in terms of the employment, nationality is absolutely a secondary consideration. I have interviewed and employed many people whilst working for UK companies and it was always judged on the best person for the role with the best experience and skillset. 

I have friends living here (for several years) and always knew it was a first world country, but given that I was given a PR visa in 9 months, I assumed there would be plenty of opportunities and my skills would be more than relevant. It seems the immigration system is a little broken in that respect and I was naive thinking it would be a skill based judgement. It has been a learning experience and I strongly advise anyone of a similar age, regardless of how relevant their CV is, particularly in IT, to try and secure something ahead of the big move. It will save a lot of money and stress. 

How about getting your foot in the door of a larger company by taking a junior role then applying for more suitable roles from within the company  once you have proved yourself and learned the "aussie way".  

Just an idea.  Good luck.

[Chortlepuss]

On 20/02/2019 at 05:58, NomadicBrit said:

Thanks for all the replies everyone, really appreciate it and its helped clarify our thoughts. A lot. 

I have yet to hear back about one job, at a blue chip company, but have nothing else on the horizon and nothing else really to apply for. As I said, I can walk into a job back home, due to contacts and experience and I have nothing like that over here. On that balance, if I don't get this job I'm waiting to hear back from, we will head back to the UK. 

To answer PiP, I have tried outside of the box, applying for Project Management contract roles, etc, and still no dice. The Australian Experience thing is laughable but true, especially in Financial Services where they are at least 10 years behind what I've been working in. So I guess the "experience" they are looking for is to unlearn a bunch of stuff. C'est la vie. 

I'm relatively chilled about it, its been a journey (expensive one!), but we had pretty much decided last night that, after 9 months, we'd given it a fair go and I guess we aren't prepared to bang our heads against a brick wall anymore, this last job offer pending. Even if I get that, might only give it 6 months just due to the break clause on the lease we have. 

Thanks again for the replies. 

As said before Australia is a relationships based jobs market rather than skills. A mediocre local candidate will always win over a highly skilled immigrant. I’d urge you to try your luck with management consultancies - ASG have taken over SMS but SMS recruited a lot of UK ICT staff (they liked their large scale project experience). I’ve got work via a consultancy that I wouldn’t stand a chance of getting as a contractor. Going for junior roles has never helped me, and being good at what I do seems pretty irrelevant. It’s connections that count. A consultancy will get you these. Good luck, it’s pretty tough out there. I’m nearly 60 and female so next to no hope but you’re still not that old for a senior level male...