Toe Dipper

Blimey. Blackburn must be bad if they knick your kidneys! Go go go!

TD

JCSUPERMOTO

I would wait for the 3 months for you to recover(hope its a kind of pain free one too) then move!!!

In the meantime apply for jobs, but a reccie isnt worth it unless a prospect of arranging a few interviews in the knowledge that they know the commitment he would be making to shoot over just for one?!!!

So whatever happens in 3 months time,leg it over there lisa

jase

Dorothy

Why is he applying for jobs if you don't intend to move here for another 6 months? If he's going to be offered a job it will more than likely be to start now, not months from now.

Really, it's going to be very difficult to find a job from UK unless you are in very high demand. So, rather than wasting time applying for jobs when he's not going to be able to accept a position for months anyway just enjoy your last few months there. Many of us came with much less money than you have behind you and managed to survive.

And don't think it will be that easy to get a job "stacking shelves" to get you through either. Most employers won't hire him for menial work since they know he will be leaving that job as soon as something better comes along.

BAY

Have to agree with Zambia.

It takes a lot longer than one week to get a job ! Without telling you how to suck eggs you first of all lhave to look for the right job to be advertised i.e. www.seek.com.au . That in itself may take several weeks. Then you will have an interview/talk with the agency. Then you'll have a 2nd interview with the actual company. All in all it will take a lot longer than 1 week. Then should you be successfull you'll be expected to start straight away. They wouldn't except you saying 'thanks I can start in 4 - 6 weeks time cos I've got to go back to the UK and pick up my wife and kids' !!!. Also you need several weeks when you first arrive to sort out long term rental, set up bank accounts, get TFN etc etc

Lets start thinking properly and be realistic ... or are you just going to dump that on the wife to do ?

Some people seem so naive and uaware of whats involved in emigrating.

astonmartinv8

My wife and I moved from the UK ariving in Perth in late October 2008. We started a job search in April 2008. We both had a lot of knockbacks as agencies didn't want to speak with you unless you were there and as the notice periods here are typically shorter looking for a job 6 months out doesn't fit with their needs. It seemd to be a bit of a waste of time.

I therefore gave up and decided to focus on my then current job and my wife put the odd application in. Just before we left (in early September - we did two months travelling to get here) my wife got offered a job on the back of a phone interview which we were told was extremely rare. She started soon after we got here.

I started my search at the start of November. I spoke to lot's of agencies who all said that if I had been there 6-8 weeks before the market was booming, but with the banking collapse and subsequent economic downturn, the bottom fell out. That said, I proceeded in speaking to people and applying. Over the Xmas / summer holidays advertised jobs clearly reduced and has yet to pick up. Various companies I spoke to are reducing costs / suspended recruitment / withdrawn advertised jobs. Resources and banking have both been hit hard here and it is flowing though into government now too. For example, I had two letters this week where the advertisor (one government and one bank) had subsequently decided not to recruit to advertised roles. Nevertheless, I have secured a job I really want and should start soon. So for me it should work out at 4 months application to start.

What would I do now if faced with the same circumstances? Hmmm. Probably go for it and be prepared for a wait or to secure a job lower than your potential expectations. My experience is that the market is still generally very poor in Perth whatever anyone says. There are a lot of people losing jobs whilst in parallel there is still a "boom-time" optimism which doesn't translate to bottom line!

SunnyMD

OMG Blackburn ... and you need to ask ?????

Reading between the lines, how much worse does it have to be over here ??


Good luck

snoo

Well maybe we are unaware of what's involved in emigrating....but isn't that why this site is here? To help people with their questions and support them with their problems? We DO realise that we'll need to do a lot of sorting out when we get there...this is the reason why we are applying for jobs from here....so we can apply 'Oz-wide'....not have to start in one place and have to move again because the work is elsewhere!
We ARE looking at 6months til we move...but if a job is offered...then we would (or Paul would) move as soon as need be!

Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot............we wanted people's experiences and opinions and believe me....not all of the replies think that you are right in what you are saying....MOST say stay in your secure job for a while!

Personally I think you ARE right......even if you have an arrogant and offensive way of putting your point across! But then it's NOT me that has to worry about feeding my family when we arrive as, if you had read my post properly, you would know that I AM 'the wife'!!

snoo

I'd just like to express my THANKS for this extremely constructive and helpful post! I do foresee that this is possibly how things will pan out for us! This time last year we would have not even THOUGHT about having a job lined up before coming! Now we have sold the house we would have been booking the flights...although I've just had a major operation that we didn't foresee!

Thanks again for taking the time to tell us your experiences! Much Love...Lisa,xx

BAY

Sorry for being a bit blunt/rude, on reflection I was a bit harsh. Its just that emigrating is not easy, there is a lot to do when you first arrive, and getting a good job is probably one of the most difficult things, especially under the current climate which is beginning to affect WA. Just recently Colin Burnett (WA Premier) announced a freeze on recruiting for all Government departments along with all Government departments having to make a 3% budget saving. It was also suggested in the Western Australian newspaper that hospitals may have to reduce the number of nurses to meet this 3% cut.

worzel

I seem to remember a couple of details about that story that made it sound not so bad. Firstly they said it would mean the use of agency / casual nurses rather than staff, so still jobs for nurses I guess. Secondly, the Health Minister (Mark McGowan?) said he intended to make sure none of those cuts were in front line services.

Another point: While WA is possibly going to lose more positions than other states due to its reliance on mining, we started this recession with significant shortages of people to fill roles which mitigates things.

One more point, Rio Tinto talked about 14000 job losses globally but half of those were vacant or planned positions that would no longer be filled. They wanted to demonstrate to the City that they were making big savings but not actually making so many people redundant.

So let's not get too pessimistic.

steve_and_gill

I can only tell you how we have found it.

We arrived Nov 15 2008. We had temporary accoms booked until middle Jan 09.

The first week was a bit of shell shock, getting TFN, medicare, drivers licence sorted and also looking for a car.

A postal address and rental agreement contract are a godsend to get these things done.

We managed to find a car ($10,000).

Recruitment agencies started to pay a bit more attention, met with a couple. However, none of them have done much good. Not sure why, I have loads of experience and some very specific skills. Gillian was sorting out her teaching registration.

We looked at the cost of the short term rental, and wondered about getting a proper place, but was concerned about 12 month contract. As it happens we looked at a really nice place and decided to go for it. We got it and it turns out to have been a very good decision.

Have kept on applying for jobs, and had a few interviews. I've found that getting a hard and fast answer on stuff can be difficult (like pay, starting dates etc), and struggled that most of them have considered me too experienced and just not bothered getting back to me (!)

Finally started to come right at the end of Jan, Gillian got a job related to teaching (and her teachers registration has just come through), and I have to decide against up to three jobs which one to take.

So to get to anything approaching stable has taken nearly 3 months. It's been up and down during that time too. I have a job back in the UK which is very secure, interesting and decently paid in a great area if I wanted to back to it. To resist that at times has been hard, especially when you see you money disappearing.
Our outgoings have been:
$380 pw rent (was 450pw for the short term, but no elec & gas bills)
$100 pm elec
$60 pm gas (estimate)
$800 pa rego
$200 pw food
$80 pw feul

But on top of that we have had expenses for the car, registration fees, attending interviews, some eating out and some touristy days (not many though)

We totted it up and we live about $500 per month cheaper here than the UK.

I guess to really address you question is:
If you have secure jobs it makes it very nerve racking to come over, but most employers and recruitment agencies seem lax about contacting you while in the UK. You *could* get a skype in number for australia and a postal address here with a friend. Then just pretend you are in Oz when applying. You would have to hedge the info, so that if you reached interview you could still get away with it (perhaps phone and postal in QLD, and jobs in WA?) so they phone interview
It's horrible seeing your bank account only going down.
There will be lots of ups and downs.

If we had the choice again, I think I would have validated and hunkered down until the GEC is over, but that is 20-20 hindsight.

Zambia

Oh this is all soo true ...even down to the 10,000 car (10,400) but last week some hoon totalled it by rear ending it in a 5000 car i would be paying hospital bills.

Of the point though great post

snoo

Thank you for the replies....particularly Steve and Gill. Very helpful. Thanks to Worzel and Zambia for your input too...food for thought!

Thanks to Bay too....accepted!

So...I've got to say, of all of the trivial and not-so-trivial problems we have faced with the visa application...having to validate the visa (because of my health) with a weeks notice (not long enough to prepare paperwork or make arrangements to look for work whilst there really! Could have done with a few interviews lined up!)...looking into how to re-locate dogs...SELLING HOUSE....etc!...
.....This work problem does seem to have attracted the most interest and differing advice (which I suppose is because of people's differing experience in finding work!).........all very helpful and interesting!
I think we will set a time limit to be there...job or no job!

I'm struggling a little to keep focused here...so apologies if I'm not coming across too well!

Thanks again for your precious time......much love...Lisa,x

Zambia

Well you see here is the thing about the different piont's of view.

Chances are you could be lucky, arrive and get sorted pretty quickly and that can so happen. However times have changed a lot and I for one would not like anyone to pump money into a Visa app. Along with the cost of moving only to get here and not get a job within a 6 month window and have to ship everything home to draw the dole.

This also holds true for the fact in your late 30's a move could deplete or wipe out the rapidly declining equity in a UK property that is your Australia house fund.

Those in the just go camp I think that idea works for them and they basically are the type that likes the risk. Or are cashed up.

The I to discussed the I will go first option with the wife only to have it shot down in flames. She said she did not marry me to talk to me on a telephone for months.

But lets be serious once you get the Visa you just want to go

snoo

Well....a decision has been made (I think ) ha ha!

We have sold our house (as some of you know!)...and we HAD decided to get a rental here for 6 months to tie up lose ends, apply for jobs etc!

Well....we have decided that we are NOT renting here...but moving in with the Father in Law for a while! We are going to ship our belongings as soon as we move out of our house (about 6wks time!) and live out of a suitcase until we are ready to go!

So THE BULLET HAS BEEN BITEN!!

Thanks again for all of your input...I'm off to trawl though the 'shipping' threads!!
Lisa,xx