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do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Old Dec 16th 2012, 12:08 pm
  #46  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by eddie007
How far sarf?

People STILL have problems with my Essex accent... Perhaps it's the speed...

it may be the other drugs

People Even appear to have problems understanding my accent when I post in the barbie
Not sure...I feel that technically, in theory, London, or even cockney is the closest to Australian as you will get.

On the other hand, in practise, I find it fascinating that a London accent (South London) or Estuary English is so recognisable and different to any Australian accent. The glottal stop is the single biggest giveaway. There are public-school educated Australians who would pass as English-born people - or even have a nicer accent than many an English born person - that's the other side of the coin.
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Old Dec 16th 2012, 1:52 pm
  #47  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack
Not sure...I feel that technically, in theory, London, or even cockney is the closest to Australian as you will get.

On the other hand, in practise, I find it fascinating that a London accent (South London) or Estuary English is so recognisable and different to any Australian accent. The glottal stop is the single biggest giveaway. There are public-school educated Australians who would pass as English-born people - or even have a nicer accent than many an English born person - that's the other side of the coin.
I think people from Norfolk sound most like Aussies that I've heard in the UK. Not sure why that is.
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Old Dec 16th 2012, 9:48 pm
  #48  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by Wombatz
Just to reassure you even more, I love the Scottish accent, I always tell my husband if I ever leave him it will be for a Scot
Well thats all Scottish workmates banned from your barbies then!!!
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Old Dec 16th 2012, 10:24 pm
  #49  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Having served in the Armed Forces for 23 years and learning to understand every dialect that the British Isles has to offer, plus spending time with both Australians and Americans, I can confirm that, to some, any variation of pronouncement can be challenging!
I have learnt that "When in Rome...etc". Therefore over time I have assimilated some variations into my accent. Brought up in London and Kent gives me a base southern UK accent, but working with Jocks/Taffs/Geordies/Brums/Scousers/Janners/Paddys/Yorkies and Mancs for so many years makes me say strange things!! (By the way, those to me are terms of fondness and endearment, not meant in any way to offend people from the areas which those slang words pertain to!!).
Then spending 4 years working with Americans meant some other phraseology crept into my language. I had to slow down for the Americans and intonate my words 'American style' so that they knew what I meant, some strange misunderstandings came about in my early days with them simply through different use of words and their meaning.
Australia is the same, they speak 'English' but over the years their intonation has changed variances of words and that is what they are used to. I agree with 'don't your voice or your accent' but I would suggest refining it so that your colleagues understand it. As a Celt I naturally speak fast and even with a messed up southern accent my colleagues ask me to repeat so when I am talking, and especially when addressing conferences and meetings, I deliberately slow down and phrase my words into a known manner.
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Old Dec 18th 2012, 9:12 pm
  #50  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by aali-01
thanks for the reply. two ppl have told me the same thing till now
one guy told me that when a recruiter calls you and he doesnt like your accent, he would hang up. you know what, same thing happened to me
now i am not saying that the accent would have been the particular reason but you never know.
p.s
i could here the noise in background before he hung up.
no offense to anyone.
this is true, or was. I was in recruitment in Melbourne and we actively screened people out based on their accent. It's one of the reasons companies hire recruitment agencies, they can discriminate without getting caught, and the jobseeker in most cases never knows what company the job is for so they can't prove anything.
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Old Dec 18th 2012, 9:47 pm
  #51  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by ExKiwilass
this is true, or was. I was in recruitment in Melbourne and we actively screened people out based on their accent. It's one of the reasons companies hire recruitment agencies, they can discriminate without getting caught, and the jobseeker in most cases never knows what company the job is for so they can't prove anything.
Well it only took 4 pages for the word discriminate to be used and from a kiwi - love it.

Well quite frankly if I'm running a business that's doing telly sales to white bogan families then I'm going to want an equivelent targeting my market. Same said if I were to apply for a telly sales job in Pakistan. Would I get it over a local with local lingo - of course not.

The first post in this thread is a joke and you just added fuel to what has been so well discussed without predjudice.
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Old Dec 18th 2012, 11:07 pm
  #52  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

It's been my experience if you're not Chinese in Sydney then good luck getting a position in a small finance/accounting business. They only hire their own kind.
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 12:11 am
  #53  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by Beoz
Well it only took 4 pages for the word discriminate to be used and from a kiwi - love it.

Well quite frankly if I'm running a business that's doing telly sales to white bogan families then I'm going to want an equivelent targeting my market. Same said if I were to apply for a telly sales job in Pakistan. Would I get it over a local with local lingo - of course not.

The first post in this thread is a joke and you just added fuel to what has been so well discussed without predjudice.
Loads of kiwis running HR in mining companies/contractors in WA - hence the vast numbers of kiwis working on mines in the Pilbara.

They really do look after their own.
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 3:56 am
  #54  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by Amazulu
Loads of kiwis running HR in mining companies/contractors in WA - hence the vast numbers of kiwis working on mines in the Pilbara.

They really do look after their own.
That's quit amusing. Just thinking out a loud here. The management of my company is all South African in Australia and they all worked together at 1 time or another back in South Africa. Our Singapore office is getting p8ssed off at the newest re-structure. Before they reported up through Oz (the Saf's) and now they are going up through the Indian channel - they don't like the Indians for whatever reason.
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 7:06 am
  #55  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

I used to work with a chinese medic who pronounced any word beginning with N with an L,had to really to hold it together when suturing,esp when he would ask for 'a lumber two leedle
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 7:43 am
  #56  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by Amazulu
Loads of kiwis running HR in mining companies/contractors in WA - hence the vast numbers of kiwis working on mines in the Pilbara.

They really do look after their own.
and your problem?
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 8:09 am
  #57  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

i've heard of stories about name disdcrimination. if your name does not sound western you might be discriminated against.
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 10:39 am
  #58  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

I can't see what was wrong with the original question.

I'm from the UK but my background is Indian. I've got a brummie accent but for us from there aussies are not racist at all. However for Indians its different as there is a cultural difference. Aussies want to go for a beer with work colleagues, speak about things in common. Someone who boozes, goes out, plays footy is more likely to be hired than the veggie tee-totler whose only time away from work/home is to go to the temple. Can't blame them in a way

So, I am 100% sure that people here discriminate on accent. They can't do it because your black anymore, or brown, yellow whatever. So instead they use the accent and claim you need 'local experience'. As Paddyo said do as the romans do so yes next time the phone rings lose the pakistani accent

I have seen guys from the same place in India with the same skills. 1 was educated at a posh school in India and so doesn't have an indian accent. Other one has a thick indian accent. It doesn't take a genius to see who will get work.
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 2:09 pm
  #59  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by itxrd
I can't see what was wrong with the original question.

I'm from the UK but my background is Indian. I've got a brummie accent but for us from there aussies are not racist at all. However for Indians its different as there is a cultural difference. Aussies want to go for a beer with work colleagues, speak about things in common. Someone who boozes, goes out, plays footy is more likely to be hired than the veggie tee-totler whose only time away from work/home is to go to the temple. Can't blame them in a way

So, I am 100% sure that people here discriminate on accent. They can't do it because your black anymore, or brown, yellow whatever. So instead they use the accent and claim you need 'local experience'. As Paddyo said do as the romans do so yes next time the phone rings lose the pakistani accent

I have seen guys from the same place in India with the same skills. 1 was educated at a posh school in India and so doesn't have an indian accent. Other one has a thick indian accent. It doesn't take a genius to see who will get work.
Nice try .... Don't buy or pity it for a second.... Just got home from dinner in Singapore with my Indian colleague. He drank beer but I couldn't care less if he drank OJ all night. Good company either way. Could he do what I do in Oz. No. Could I do what he does in Sing .... Not a chance ... Cultural differences in the right places make perfect business sense
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Old Dec 19th 2012, 7:04 pm
  #60  
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Default Re: do i need to change my accent to get a job in australia

Originally Posted by Beoz
Nice try .... Don't buy or pity it for a second.... Just got home from dinner in Singapore with my Indian colleague. He drank beer but I couldn't care less if he drank OJ all night. Good company either way. Could he do what I do in Oz. No. Could I do what he does in Sing .... Not a chance ... Cultural differences in the right places make perfect business sense
See what you're saying. Never thought of it like that
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