bal56

Hello all, my first post! (Hopefully the first of many).

My family and I (two adults, five nippers + dog) were recently granted Australian visas (after a two and a half year process).
We accepted an offer on our house six weeks ago, so touch wood, are well placed to move early in 2005.
(We haven't yet visited Oz as an investigative holiday is a tad expensive).

With the responsibilities that this entails I'm trying to build some firm employment contacts (or line up a job!) before leaving Blighty! I'm flexible with regard to location - getting a job is top priority.

I'd therefore be glad to hear from anyone in a similar line of work to share experiences of job seeking.

Also if anyone has advice on the pitfalls of relocating a 'large family unit' (other than sheer expense of course), I'd also be glad to correspond.

binbird

Welcome to the site.

Congratulations on getting your visa. You do have a lot of planning ahead of you!

We hope to get our visa in the next month or two and head off towards Sydney for May 2005. Got to sell the house first!

Can't offer you any advice but you're looking in the right place for it!

Good luck with your plans.

Bindy

Go Banana's !!

Honest and truthfully, we have found that employers won't touch you until you 'land on the sand' -- oh just made that up, llike that one

It's true, they have no way of knowing how serious you are until you are here.

Don't stress, build in a buffer fund and wait 'til you arrive, as you won't know where you want to live in relation to work and schools etc, it takes a bit to find your feet unless you have a base here, family and such, that know the areas really well, or you have decided after several recci trips

Good luck
Jill

Siren & Brian

As for the large family... we have 4 kiddos together and you must be prepared for all the usual stuff that siblings do only rougher and in the heat..lol

Make sure you're ready for the "I don't have as many friends here" or "I miss____" or "I hate my new teachers." etc...

Be compationate and supportive... in short... be a parent, that's all there is to it!

Best of luck!

Siren

Go Banana's !!

5 CHILDREN :scared: :scared: :scared:

Just spotted that, no wonder the job is a priority !!!

But do bare in mind schools etc, they do differ - been there, done that got t-shirt

Jill

bal56

Thanks Jill.

I've talked to some recruitment agents in Oz who back up your 'land on the sand' statement. (Nice catchphrase by the way!).

There are a couple of others however who seem used to recruiting folks directly from abroad, and with whom I've had preliminary phone interviews. (These seem to be guys recruiting for the big consultancies).

I'm not counting chickens as I know that many of these leads go cold, but plan to chase them by phone for a few weeks to see if any develop into firm offers. At worst I want to build up a list of interested parties to talk to when we arrive.

Our 'year' expires at the start of May so if I have no definite offers by Jan we intend to go through with the house sale (the buffer fund!), rent short term in the UK, and then come Feb/March time decide whether to fly out jobless or to just take a holiday down under to keep the visas valid and check the place out.

PS the nippers are all 11 and under so the flight should be interesting!

Wanderlust

Hi,

Dont know exactly what it is you do, but if as you say it's technical .... I recommend trying this recruitment agency. www.techstaff.com.au

They couldnt get me a job before I got here, but they lined up some interviews for me. I was interviewing within one week and had a job in 3.

Good luck!!

W.

gedge

Toll seem to be a major player in the logistics stakes over here. Couple of years back they were looking to break in to the European market, and put a tender in to buy P&O Trans European (my old company). Didn't work out otherwise I might have been looking at a transfer
P&O have their fingers in a few aussie logistics pies too. Try Cold Logistics.

What sort of role are you after?

bal56

Thanks for the additional info folks.....

I currently work for a logistics provider recommending technology solutions to prospective customers, and then project managing their implementation.
I'm not so much a techie, more someone operating between the business and IT.
I've also done more general process mapping/business analysis work also in the logistcs arena in the past.

I have Toll and P&O on my list of 'speculatives' but haven't got that far yet. (I have tried Oz Post, TNT, Exel ...).