DRSAS

Hi,

This is now my second week in Sydney. So far I have applied for quite a few positions, however the feedback that I am getting from recruiters is that I don't have Aussie/ Local experience.

This seems like a significant challenge to enter the workforce. How do I get around this ? I am in IT ( ITIL, Service Delivery)

DRSAS

moneypenny20

You keep on applying again and again and again. Two weeks in is nothing I'm afraid to say. If you're still having issues in six months, then it's time to reword your resume. There will be employers out there, including IT places who recognise that international experience is a bonus. Stick at it.

Vash the Stampede

I found the same thing when I landed in the UK. Even recruitment agencies (the last resort of the tragically unqualified) were turning up their noses at my CV on the basis of 'no UK experience.'

This despite the fact that all of my skills were transferable between multiple industries. (Apparently there is a uniquely British way of doing office work, and nobody outside the UK knows how to do it unless they've been taught by a British person. News to me, but that's life: we learn something every day).

It was a classic catch-22 situation: I needed UK experience but couldn't get it because nobody would employ me without UK experience.

Eventually I talked my way into a basic admin job paying minimum wage. It was primitive and excruciatingly dull, but good enough to get the magical rubber stamp of 'UK experience' onto my CV.

With a pocketful of 'UK experience' pixie dust, it was easier to find new employment.

I spent the next 5 years hopping from job to job, dragging my way up the payscale by ensuring that each new position brought more responsibility. When I finally left the UK I was earning more than I'd ever earned in Australia, but it was hard slog all the way.

Short version: keep looking, keep pushing, and aim to convince someone that you're worth a try. Once you've got that first job under your belt it all gets easier.

Good luck.

DRSAS

In the mean time so that I dont have to dig too much into my savings..God Sydney is expensive!...which places are easier to find any/odd job to get by in the mean time?

DRSAS

Hi,

I just read somewhere that volunteering is also a great way to get that "Aussie experience"....

I am looking for IT volunteer work through Seek Volunteer and Go Volunteer

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Vash the Stampede

I reckon volunteering is a great option.

Can't help you on the best places to find work in Sydney; never lived there myself.

Tr1boy

It's the issue everyone faces. You just have to keep plugging away. I was lucky in that I was young when I went to Oz and gradually worked my way up the corporate ladder. I only had one recruiter in the UK mention 'no UK experience' ( as it applies to what i do now rather than when I was 20), I told them to get stuffed.

My role is pretty specialised and the projects I am involved in are a specialty within that. I've always worked for very large multis, and to be honest haven't seen much difference in when working in the US, SG, China or UK offices. Everyone pretty much works the same way, the same rationale is applied and local conditions taken into account.

However this obviously only applies to a certain level of role and a certain size of company. IME, the smaller the company, the more of an issue this is.

Seems to me that NZ pushes this line far more than Oz or UK.

Bermudashorts

It has only been two weeks, you just have to keep at it and to be honest I would take these local experience comments with a pinch of salt. Most of us migrants find work and if there were any truth in the comment we would all be unemployed wouldn't we? I think it is a bit of a fob off line from a recruiter who can't think of anything else to say. Just move on and you will find many more enlightened recruiters. Australia is a nation of immigrants, of course not all insist on "local experience", many hiring managers won't even be Australian themselves.