Kirstyjo

Hi

My husband and I really want to emigrate to Australia and are in the initial planning stages of doing this.

He is a geneticist with a PhD, I am a Humanities teacher (we have been basing our potential move on my husbands job, with the hope that i could get supply work when out there). From what we have researched,there are definate shortages in science and in my husbands field in paticular. Jobs come up regularly within NewScientists etc and all of the other international job sites. However, we are not really sure if we are doing the right thing at the moment when applying...

My husband has been applying for lots of jobs through these websites and where he can he has been emailing the comapny asking questions , trying to show his interest etc. These jobs he is applying for are usually at universities and have moving packages etc so would be sponsored visas through the company.

But I'm not sure this is the right way to go about it. Would he be a better candidate if we had visas sorted already??

I really want to increase our chances of getting out but we can't move without a job offer as its too risky.

Does anyone have any advice on what else can be done to increase his chances?

Thanks

Beoz

It's certainly possible. You generally have to apply the scatter gun approach in order to hit a target. In addition hone in on a few selected targets of choice. It may take time but if the skills are sought after it will come. And of course if you are in demand the visa can be sorted through the employer. Mrs Beoz targeted at few select companies and through the aid of names she was given, found a job in Oz whilst in the UK

Kirstyjo

Thanks for your reply... would employers look more favorably on him if had a visa set up do you think?

Tramps_mate

You cant just set one up that quickly. A company sponsored one (if they are offering them) are much quicker..

ScouseMan

Hey,

Universities are massive employers who routinely employ international candidates and so the lack of a visa should not be a problem. I would imagine (happy to be corrected) that most international postdocs and academics are sponsored by the university and all job descriptions that I have looked at state that the offer is open to international applicants.

I have recently accepted a job offer at the University of Queensland on a 457 visa. The job start date was set at 7 weeks after accepting the offer and so their HR department are clearly confident that the visa can be processed in this time. Of course it is not them personally who process the visa but they know the process inside and out and the expected time frame.

If your husband is applying for an academic/research position of 3 year duration (or greater) it could be possible to apply for a sponsored PR visa, which has some advantages. The Distinguished Talent Visa (Offshore) (subclass 124) is another possible route to sponsored PR but I don’t know anything about this visa.

Applying for an independent skilled visa might be an option but this route takes significantly more time to process than a sponsored visa and would also incur significant costs. I have not been through this process and so cannot offer any real advice, but many other posters in the forum have pursued this route.

It sounds like you are going about the job search the right way, each university will advertise their own jobs on their websites, but will usually add them to seek.com.au also. Give CSIRO a look: http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Careers.aspx

Note also that many jobs do not get advertised and so don't be shy about sending CVs and cove letters to research groups in academia or companies.

If your husband would consider a research post with a pharmaceutical company then try contacting some of the large recruitment consultants.

Good luck …

mybigplan

scouse man, brilliant, thats just helped me i so want to move

Kirstyjo

Thanyou so much scouceman - you are a star!!

Your advice is really useful - you are correct in saying that he has been applying for academic / research jobs that are three year posts. Its good to hear that he is doing the right things... when you dont hear at all from applications it gets you thinking that maybe you are doing something wrong

Do you mind me asking how long it took you to get your job offer?? (my husband has applied for a few jobs at Queensland uni himself )

Great thinking about the pharmaceutical companies and recruitment agencies... dont suppose you know of any??

Thanks again, I feel like he has a little more direction again now x

Kirstyjo

Oh and he uses both those websites to apply for jobs on a regular basis

ScouseMan

No Probs,

I was fortunate in that I landed the first job I applied for; I interviewed two weeks after the application (skype) and was offered the job a week later. This will be my first job post PhD.

You say that your husband is currently applying for jobs with 3 year contracts, are there jobs with shorter duration that you are not considering? Could you not go out on a 457 visa with a 12 or 24 month contract? You might find that the contract is extended and even if not in the year or two spent in Aus you would have made contacts and gained local experience which will make finding the next job a great deal easier.

Pharma is not my area but here is a list to get you started:

http://www.medilexicon.com/pharmaceuticalcompanies.php

They list 74 companies in Australia and the big names are there (AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer etc.), but of course they could simply be distribution centers and you would have to investigate to see which companies actively research in Aus.

In science the two big global recruiters that I am aware of are:

http://www.hays.com.au/
http://www.kellyservices.com.au/

While these are a good place to start you will find plenty of smaller boutique recruiters that specialise in pharma.

Don’t despair if it is difficult in the short term as you must remember that while pharma is a big industry in Aus, by UK or US standards it is rather small and so jobs will not come up as readily as they would in the UK. And like Beoz says above, take the scatter approach and even if research groups are not actively recruiting put in a speculative application with a well written CV and cover letter. Many friends have lined up their post PhD jobs in this way.

Good luck

Jon77

I had two interviews via Skype whilst in the UK, got offered the second one

These were for a university position.