missgreentea

I live in London with my fiancé and we both decided to immigrate to Australia. But we cannot afford to go to Australia to job interviews, specially when it's so far and expensive and you never know if you get the job or not.

So, how do people in Britain secure a job in Australia without going there? Do they do interview through video conference, phone interviews, or the employer comes to Britain?

LM109

Hi There,
Any and all of the interview options can be done.
I had my interview in Manchester for Queensland Health in June 2007 and landed down under in Jan 2008.
I would guess the employer would decided how they would like to interview you.
Good Luck
Lisa

Dorothy

It depends on whether you can even get to the interview stage from overseas. Do you qualify for a visa? Do you have a visa? I think you are going to find that employers are not going to be all that interested in someone on the other side of the world who does not have a valid residency visa and be ready to start work immediately. There are hundreds, if not thousands of unemployed people already in Australia who would be able to start work immediately, so you may find it difficult.

Take a read of www.immi.gov.au for visa requirements.

spottydog

Most people get their vias's then take a risk as generally, unless you have a very specialist skill, most employers aren't interested until you are onshore.

Once we had our visa's we sold our house, quit our jobs and headed to Sydney, my first job took about 3 months to find and the OH took 6 months so we lived on savings until I got my job.

roamer25

My employer (WA DET) were recruiting across the UK and Ireland and came round and did face to face interviews with candidates at the emigration expos.

Mine however, was done via the telephone. There were 2 people in a room in Perth, with me on speaker phone. I found it a little odd as I tend to crack too many jokes in an interview and this felt awkward on the phone when I couldn't see their polite nods!

But I got the job

Ruskee

I did video-teleconference interviews. Easy but time difference made for some interesting early starts to the day!

M_IT_and_F_Nurse-26yrOld

Hi folks...

My partner, sian, had her interview on the phone (nurse) and got the job (We are in perth) there and then. With regards to me, i work in IT, and i am struggling to get any work at the moment, short, long, temp roles etc. The market is pretty bad. Put it this way, i had an interview last week for a pee poor role and there was 60 people who applied. Thats how tough it is.. I guess it all boils down to what skills you, ie if your a nurse or doctor you want have any problems. PS dont trust all of the recruitment agencies, they dont give a damn.

Good luck

trehere

I had a few phone interviews before we went to melbourne but ultimately none of the companies were prepared to make a decision without meeting me face to face. In the end I managed to get a role within a few weeks of moving (after a face to face interview!) but I guess the phone interviews gave me an reassuring indication that there were roles out there for me before we left.
I think most companies will have a look at your CV and even want to chat with you if you are correctly qualified for the role and have a VISA that enables you to work, however they will want to meet you before they employ you.

fallen angel

Husband had an phone interview which was set up through a recruitment consultant, he then had a second phone interview and was offered the position based on those.

He works in Health and Safety and we will be going to Sydney on a 457 with all expenses paid.

Just waiting for all the paperwork to come through now

Deutschmaster

I emailed people over here asking if there was work going and told them a bit about myself in that email - not loads just a paragraph summary.

One got back to me saying that they had a position that I might be suitable for did I want to apply. I sent him a portfolio of my work - some of it is in the public domain - to demonstrate that I could do the job.

I then had an hour long phone interview and was hired on the basis of that.

The pay of where I am is quite a bit lower than market rates, that meant not many other people after the same job!

lonndongeek

If your skills are in demand (you'd need to be working in a very specialist area for this to apply at the moment), then the company that you're applying to will make an effort to fit in with you.

In my case I had a phone interview with one company and a video conference with another and was offered both jobs (I work in IT security). I was open about me not arriving in Australia for 4-5 months.

Playing devil's advocate - If I were an employer I'd wonder if somebody who thinks that Australia is a long way from 'home' would have problems settling in and leave me in a couple of months while I'm left to hunt for a replacement (seen it happen a few times).

This isn't intended as a dig at you, just my honest opinion.

Cheers

Steve

Syedney

I was lucky in that they had a UK base too so I went into the UK branch and had to demo few things to guys in OZ, through the marvels of rdp.

missgreentea

I didn't say it is "away from home", I said it is far from where I live now. And I'm saying is far to go there to a job interview, not to move there and live! I cannot take time off from work to go to a job interview in Australia neither can I afford a return flight ticket to go there to a job interview. It's VERY different from being in London and having a job interview in, for example, Oslo or Paris!

Of course that when I secure a job and a Visa, I'll move to Australia permanently. And I must say that I don't even feel that the UK is "home".

lonndongeek

Even in the 'good times' it was difficult for somebody outside of Oz and without a visa to get an interview let alone land a job. With the economy the way it is at the moment, things are even more difficult for people outside of Oz without a visa.

If you can provide more information (what sort of visa are you thinking of applying for? what areas do you and your fiance work in?) you may get more relevant advice.

Good luck!

Steve

missgreentea

I work in Marketing (Direct and Online Marketing) and my fiancé is an Architect. It seems Architecture is in demand in Australia, and through a search I found several job ads for my field as well.

We're thinking in applying for work Visas I think it's the one that makes sense, but we still have to research about Visas.

So, the way to find a job in Australia is first to apply and have the Visa and only afterwards look for a job?