Brisbane offer
 

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can offer some advice on a potential job offer in Brisbane. A little background on our family, My wife, 8 month old daughter and i are quite far into the visa application, positive skills assessment, English test etc EOI lodged in October for pur PR 189 visa with 65 points.

I have a job offer in Brisbane pending my visa in the constuction industry ( I'm a carpenter to trade and qualified construction manager). The offer has a Salary of $85-90k + super, company car + other benefits. Can anyone advise if this is a good salary to live well in the Brisbane area? It works out just over what I'm currently earning in the UK.

As a family we don't over indulge, at the same time we have a good lifestyle and dont want for much at the moment. Just worried about putting ourselves in any financial difficulty, but knowing I'll have work to go straight into is a bit of a god send as i know others have long waits to find employment.

My wife is a medical secretary with over 15 years experience in the UK and Ireland. She will be looking to gind a part time position, 3-4 days a week to provide additiinal income.

A bit long winded, appologies. Appreciate any advice and thoughts from your experience.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Hi Stuart,

I would imagine you will be just fine on that income. Additional income from your wife will be great too.

Good luck! :)

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Salary sounds OK, however it really is down to individually what you spend as a person/family. Housing - take it you'll rent for a bit? Have a look here https://www.realestate.com.au/rent to get an idea for rental prices (we find it more expensive to rent in Brisbane than we did in Scotland, however again it's really up to what you want).

Now, with regard to your wife - make no mistake it is really really difficult to secure a role in Brisbane, especially a part time role. Someone might come on and say it was easy for them and that's cool but I and many others I know have found it very tricky. Can't even secure temping roles. We have a lot of varied experience in many different areas and it seems more who you know rather than down to your skills and experience. I read somewhere that 80% of jobs on seek.com go to the incumbent, who knows if this is true or not. All I know it takes a heck of a long time to prepare a cover letter (requirement for jobs), plus answer selection criteria and slightly tweak your CV.

As long as you have the expectation it might take a while, then that's fine. Of course it might be entirely different for your wife, I can only speak of my (and quite a few others I know) experience. If it does take a while that'll be no hugely bad thing as you'll be busy setting in and getting to know the area, undertake the admin required to get into the Aussie system. Plus you'll be earning a wage whilst this happens.

All the best for your move, it is great out here in Brisbane, so much to do and see and the people are so friendly! My UK FIL visited recently and he commented on how great it was to see so many kids outdoors again, how clean it was and how friendly people were.

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Thanks for the advice and comments.

We will be looking to rent at first, budget approx $600-$650 per week. Long term we will be looking tp buy a property as we will have some decent equity from the sale of our house in Scotland which we'll try to save and keep aside for buying once we're settled.

My wife is keen to get into work asap, mainly to get into some social circle, but appreciate it may take some time. We're working on her cv and cover letter now to get a head start.

We're flying out on Thursday for 3 weeks, so looking forward to getting around as many places as possible.

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Hi Stuart, sorry no advise for you here! Congrats on making the move to get to aus! My husband and I will one day make the move! He is also a carpenter and we have a 15month old! Did you sort the visa process out yourself or did you go through a company to help you? Also with regards to applying for jobs, are they jobs you found on the internet?

Re: Brisbane offer
 

It won't be easy for your wife, as others have said. Could I recommend that she start as a casual, perhaps at lower-level roles - that is often the path forward in Australia, so when a job does come up, she is the "incumbent" (so to speak) and the person "who they know."

$85-90K with a company car should be OK and able to tide you over until your wife has some money coming in as well.

Re: Brisbane offer
 

That's a healthy budget PW.

Good idea. Just remember with the cover letter (goodness knows why so many employers want this, plus selection criteria doc, plus CV!) always tweak it (and your CV) to exactly reflect the wording of the particular job advert (where applicable experience relates). Many times the application is scanned by a 'bot' and even if you have exact experience, but use different words, it's very likely your application won't reach human eyes.

Good luck!

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Even if the job application goes straight to a human, getting the key words in is essential. I've spent many years working for Queensland Government, and now more than ever before we are deluged with applications for every position.
Make sure every point in the application is addressed, where possible using the 'buzzwords' from the job description. Also pay attention to the comments like how many pages are needed - if they ask for one, and you are even one word over onto the second page., you are likely to be rejected. Use a common font like Calibri or Verdana (both Qld Govt favourites), and don't shrink the font/margins too much - many people do that to get as much on the paper as possible, but if it is hard to read, you will be dumped at the first hurdle.

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Appreciate the advice, it's great to have some insight from others who have been through the process. I always try and make the cover letter as specific to the position as possible.

Do you think the weekly rent of 600-650 pw is achievable on the salary?

Re: Brisbane offer
 

I used the down under centre for my skills assessment and also using an agent for the visa. I would highly recommend both, extremely helpful throughout the process.

Re: Brisbane offer
 

I also applied for jobs online and followed up with the companies direct. I supoose i was fortunate to contact the right one. Have you started the process yet!?

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Pleasure.

Depends where you’re looking and what you’re looking for. We pay 480 PW for a three bed newish townhouse in a leafy suburb 15 mins from South Bank. There is a glut of apartments (units) just now so you could get a deal if you’re looking for that. Where are you looking and what type of accommodation?

Re: Brisbane offer
 

Oh and if you have a pet it can be quite difficult to secure a rental.

Re: Brisbane offer
 

We went to the down under seminar and done a skills assessment, are you using them to sort out your visa? We haven’t started the process yet still doing a bit of ‘homework’ how long did it take you to make the first step from ‘let’s move to Australia’

Re: Brisbane offer
 

We would be looking for a house, minimum 3 bedrooms. We have a pet dog who will be travelling with us, not even an option to leave him behind. We have briefly looked out toward the bayside and slightly further north of Brisbane.

I wouldn't know where to begin looking at suburbs around the city, decent schools for our daughter would be high on the list. She's young enough so we have plenty of time but at the same time we would prefer to settle rather than hopping around.