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Professional Engineer & Chartered Financial Analyst moving to Oz


Mad4daSun

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Hi there,

We just got granted 189 visas and will be making an activation trip soon from Canada.

I am a Mechanical Engineer with almost a decade in the natural gas pipeline industry in Canada. I already got the CP Eng designation in advance from Engineers Australia.

My Wife is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 6 years working in portfolio management for pension funds in Canada. Fixed income is her specialty.

If anyone on this forum is hiring or knows companies that are we would be delighted to connect and go into more detail on our skills.

Really looking forward to making the move.

Thanks!

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11 hours ago, Mad4daSun said:

Hi there,

We just got granted 189 visas and will be making an activation trip soon from Canada.

I am a Mechanical Engineer with almost a decade in the natural gas pipeline industry in Canada. I already got the CP Eng designation in advance from Engineers Australia.

My Wife is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 6 years working in portfolio management for pension funds in Canada. Fixed income is her specialty.

If anyone on this forum is hiring or knows companies that are we would be delighted to connect and go into more detail on our skills.

Really looking forward to making the move.

Thanks!

Where are you planning to move to?

A bit like Canada, Australia is a big place.

Your wife will be best served first in Sydney or 2nd Melbourne for work opportunities (very little outside of that, possibly Suncorp in Brisbane).

For you, probably WA or Qld.  You may be able to look at FIFO which pays well but not ideal.

You have some research and decisions to make.

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Thanks Marisa and Collie for the advice.

From our prelim research Brisbane would be our first choice, however my wife's not a big fan of high humidity. We would also be looking at buying a house and Sydney / Melbourne seem astronomical for prices.

We will definitely be updating our linkedin and reaching out to people in our fields. I think the first step is to get boots on the ground and get a lay of the land.

Thanks again.

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5 hours ago, Mad4daSun said:

From our prelim research Brisbane would be our first choice, however my wife's not a big fan of high humidity. We would also be looking at buying a house and Sydney / Melbourne seem astronomical for prices.

We will definitely be updating our linkedin and reaching out to people in our fields. I think the first step is to get boots on the ground and get a lay of the land.

Thanks again.

I know a lot of people who revel in the Queensland weather (winters are gorgeous), but I'm like your wife - I simply can't cope with humidity and if I'm in Queensland in the summer, I have to become a hermit in the air-conditioning for most of January and February (and before all the Queenslanders pile in to tell me it's not that bad - you don't think it's that bad because you don't have my intolerance to humidity).   

Having said that, I did work in Brisbane for most of one summer.   Offices and public spaces are well-supplied with air conditioning and if your house has air-con, shady verandas and a pool, you can survive. In that sense, it's probably not that different from surviving the depths of the Canadian winter.  

Sydney is astronomical for housing.  Melbourne prices are about two-thirds of Sydney prices, and everywhere else is much cheaper.  Unfortunately your wife will struggle to find work in her field anywhere outside those cities, I think.   

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Brisbane not as bad as further up.  I used to dislike humidity hence settling in Adelaide.  However time spent up north and in Asia have made me rather look forward to some steamy heat, especially in the winter!  I also know people who have respiratory issues and extreme humidity or dryness make them worse.

As far as jobs go there will be more opportunities in Melbs and Sydney but a lot more competition, some companies struggle to recruit and retain good people outside these cities.

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On 02/02/2020 at 09:22, rammygirl said:

As far as jobs go there will be more opportunities in Melbs and Sydney but a lot more competition, some companies struggle to recruit and retain good people outside these cities.

That is very true, however in @Mad4daSun's wife's case, her type of role would be in the head offices of large corporations, 99% of which are in Sydney or Melbourne. In Brisbane there's Suncorp, but not much else.

If she is willing to change career direction and work as an accountant in the interests of work/life balance, then i agree there would be opportunities outside the big cities.

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6 hours ago, Mad4daSun said:

She could work for any Super or investment fund, and I'm sure there's at least some in each state. Doesn't have to be the big ones. We're also looking for family friendly to raise our kid. If we can have it all we'll take it haha.

Mate,

I come from a FS background.  60%+ of opportunities for her will be in Sydney, about 35% in Melbourne and maybe 5% elsewhere.

While the big super funds will have front office operations interstate all the back office stuff will be Syd/Melbs.

Perth is great for raising a family but there is next to no FS operations (trust me, I live here).

She could look at a treasury type role in 1 of the big resource companies but they are hard to get into and there are a lot of very qualified professionals in Perth job seeking.

Adelaide has a big defence industry,

Canberra is a govt/uni town.

Have a look on seek.com.au or Linked In to get a feel for job opportunities in the various locations.

Could she keep her Canadian job and work remotely?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 04/02/2020 at 05:26, Collie said:

Mate,

I come from a FS background.  60%+ of opportunities for her will be in Sydney, about 35% in Melbourne and maybe 5% elsewhere.

While the big super funds will have front office operations interstate all the back office stuff will be Syd/Melbs.

Perth is great for raising a family but there is next to no FS operations (trust me, I live here).

She could look at a treasury type role in 1 of the big resource companies but they are hard to get into and there are a lot of very qualified professionals in Perth job seeking.

Adelaide has a big defence industry,

Canberra is a govt/uni town.

Have a look on seek.com.au or Linked In to get a feel for job opportunities in the various locations.

Could she keep her Canadian job and work remotely?

Thanks for the advice, sorry for the late reply. No working remotely is not an option for the Canadian job. What are your thoughts on Brisbane? Thanks.

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On 04/02/2020 at 13:57, Marisawright said:

Why do you think that?    Are there separate funds in each state in Canada?   It's certainly not the case here.  Most funds are national, not state-based.  

Canada has pension funds provincially for their public employees / teachers etc. So there are a certain amount of jobs in each province. However they're not easy to get into and don't pop up often. Obviously Toronto / Vancouver have majority of finance jobs. Montreal has some too but french is a prerequisite usually.

I was thinking that there'd be state teacher retirement funds etc in Australia. I suppose we need to research this in more depth. Thanks for the advice.

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We thought where we'd like to live first and foremost and thought about jobs second. We were advised by all employment agencies not to come to WA because of the job situation. We hadn't been to Aus before but liked the look of Perth, the climate, the house prices, the beaches. 

It was high unemployment in the UK  when we left in 92 and high here. You just have to have faith in your abilities, learn the market, tailor your resume and you might be surprised what companies have operations in Perth.

Certainly for your field probably the best place to be. Your wife could afford to have some time off if you worked FIFO. Not ideal for married people though.

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17 hours ago, Mad4daSun said:

Thanks for the advice, sorry for the late reply. No working remotely is not an option for the Canadian job. What are your thoughts on Brisbane? Thanks.

From a work point of view for your partner, Brisbane may be better than Perth but not by much.

It really is Sydney or Melbourne.  Her type of role does lend itself to remote working but unlikely to get that straight away.

If you end up doing FIFO, she may as well be in Sydney.

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