riktus106

Hi ive recently moved to Brisbane with my partner she is a nurse and we have a working visa for both of us, she has a job and im trying my best but cant seem to find work im an it support engineer and im struggling to find work can anyone help me at please in finding work? or does anyone know of any place were i could find employment? ive logged on to seek.com and put loads off applications in but still to no avail i need help please .........

sonlymewalter

What's a support Engineer?

Only advice I can think of is that you should join a Recruitment firm that specialises in your field of work as maybe they will have jobs in your line of work.

The one hold up you may comre across is lack of Aussie experience. Depends how much in demand your job is as to whether this will be a prob or not. Also, if you do find it's a prob you might want to consider doing almost anything to get your foot on the ladder so to speak.

Sorry can't help more than this but good luck

The Bloke

Have you considered something else in the meantime? Anything? You could put in a thousand applications and get interviews for only a handful. In a specialised field, you can hardly expect to walk straight into the dream job shortly after arrival without sponsorship, or having it prea-arranged, and with no Australian work experience. Nurses are high in demand, whereas engineers are really are not in such high demand.

sonlymewalter

Actually Engineers are in very high demand. It just depends a) what Engineering field they are in b) if they have Aussie experience ......or most importantly if they have an Aussie mate who can get them a job

scotvness

My OH is an IT Support manager in Brisbane - she reckons there is heaps of work going. The ATO were advertising only yesterday for IT support. Get your resume listed on 'seek' companys and agencys look in there! The OH started out with a recruitment agency then through that work was made permanent.

Good luck

The Bloke

But my point still is, why not take anything that is on offer, rather than complain that he can't get "the" job in a specific field, until he can get what he wants.

bcworld

As a general rule the ATO now employ only Australian citizens.

e.g. http://www.ato.gov.au/careers/conten....htm&page=9&H9

JackTheLad

Well, for one, it looks absolutely crap on your CV.

Imagine:

C++ programmer
Java programmer
Team Leader
Project Leader
Burger flipper at McD's

Now can I have that Support engineer job?

And don't say, just don't mention it on your CV, any job will want to know what you've been doing since you arrived in Oz.

My only advice, assuming its IT support engineer, is try the government: HERE.

Government are corrupt as anything, they only recruit people they know etc.. but if you apply often enough, they'll start to think they know you!

JTL

The Bloke

Even flipping burgers pays the bills until you get the on you want. The OH's first job here was a casual job sorting mail for Austraila Post for Christmas. She now works for the Dept of Emergency Services(what she wanted before getting here). It took her over 3 1/2 years to get a permanent job with them, but she was prepared to do anything to find any work.
BTW she has that casual job on her CV.

JackTheLad

Well, that 'imaginery' CV example I put in my post, was pretty close to my real experience. When I got here I was getting pretty desperate to get a job, and even applied for a lowly IT support role with Redlands council, with a ridiculously low pay (below $50K).

Two things, first I don't think I could have ever taken the job, cos I know if I had ever then applied for a job that my experience suited, they'd look at my CV and think "He's just a crappy newbie support guy chancing his arm". Secondly, I failed the interview!!! I got too technical for them when they asked about computer viruses. They wanted the reply "run a virus checker", whereas I started on about memory dumps and checking processes and threads etc.

Actually twice when I was applying for government jobs I was told I was over qualified, and about 15 times told I was underqualified. Its all just government speak for "we already know who we want to fill the job, go away". Now that I'm working for the government, I've been on interview panels, and at pre-interview meetings, I see them dismiss any CV of people they don't know.

JTL

sonlymewalter

Sorry The Bloke. I misunderstood. Good point

There is one problem though if people aren't careful they can be pidgeonholed into a role so if they jump from job to job [taking anything to get going] they can be seen as someone who can't hold down a job or it can be assumed the roles taken are because you can't work in your chosen field.

No easy answer, but your point re taking on anything is a good one, so long as it's not to the detriment as mentioned above

sonlymewalter

That's not the first time I've heard that about Government JTL

Is it detrimental to try different jobs in Government though i.e doesn't the same apply in terms of them thinking you are Jack of all trades, master of none?

sonlymewalter

That's the problem with an "equal opportunities" process.

They have to go through the motions but at the end of the day they still only employ the person they wanted in the first place. This is particularly upsetting if someone has spent a lot of time on the selection criteria and done lots of prep, for no good:curse:

Does this happen in a majority or minority cases JTL

datamile

In Oz you really have to pursue the agents to get anything done. Use seek/jobserve, ring the agents. Lots of places take people on contract first and then convert.

sonlymewalter

That's because recruitment agents make a killing for filling jobs. If a job happens to require your skills then you're a valuable asset. If Recruitment agents have your CV and there are no jobs that fit your skills, you're not worth a cent to them