RobiK

Hi all,
With all the DOOM N GLOOM news coming from down under, is it a good time for a civil/geotechnical engineer with 10 yr experience to make the move? Or should I just stay put for a year?

vxm665

Anytime is good for Geotechnical Engineers in Australia, even in any part of the world if you have vast range of experience. Experience in application of numerical modelling techniques will be advantage (FLAC or PLAXIS).

Do the search on the following web for opening in Australia
http://www.seek.com.au/

RobiK

I have been checking seek.com.au for the last four months. Initially it was very bad. There were no leads. Now there is a slight improvement. However, seek.com is tricky in a sense that the same job is advertised by multiple headhunters, giving a false impression of lot of openings. And sometimes, IMO, agents post positions that are non-existent, just to get the resume in, and then call around and send it to as many companies as possible. Only few companies are hiring now; I have directly contacted the hiring managers at several companies, and I get an impression that hiring will pick up later this year or next year.

vxm665

I agree that false impression is given in seek by recruitment agent. Are you trying opportunities with work eligible visa in Australia or Do you expect employer to sponsor you.

If you have work eligible visa, I don't think getting a Geotechnical related job is not difficult as I have seen many vacancies in multidiciplinary companies like Coffey, Arup and so on.

mahsud82

what about mechanical engineers... I am moving next week to melbourne...
I have 3 years of experience as a mechanical design engineer for oil, gas and petrochemicals. Equipments included Pressure vessels, columns and Heat exchangers.
Any known companies recruiting for similiar positions.

simmoman

I am a civil engineer specializing in Rail engineering. When I arrived in Australia in late 2005 and it took about a week to get half a dozen job offers and I was able to earn more than I could in the UK. I would suggest you try the rail or mining industries because thats where the big money and opportunities are. I found Hays pretty good as recruitment agencies go.

RobiK

Simmoman, Is rail engineering similar to geotechnical engineering? I have done a lot of permanent ground anchors, soil nails, MSE walls, temporary and permanent shoring, etc. Is that similar to what you do in rail engineering? I have been in contact with Hays. They are quite helpful. How would I go about contacting the rail companies? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

simmoman

Rail engineering is a pretty specialist thing but a lot of jobs involve major earthworks and we would normally employ a specialist Geotech company to do design work or site supervision. Any of the major consultancy's would have Geotech capability so try Sinclair Knight Merz, GHD, Parsons Brinkhoff, Kellogg Brown and Root, Arup's or if you want to go to contractors try Leightons, Abi Group etc who all do rail and major RTA road works. Also you might want to try RailCorp and ARTC.

pawpaw

sorry, how about quantity surveyors? any demand for that?