Barbitana

Hi friends,
Nowadays we hear many different (and even contradictory) things regarding the market of IT and telecommunication jobs. I wish to know your experiences living in OZ!

* How's it really?!

JayneS

Hi there
I live in Sydney (emmigrated 1.5 years ago) and heard all different stories. I work in support and there are stacks of roles. I also did a stint with an IT recruiter and there's loads of vacant positions they can't fill. Lots of stuff with the big banks...if you are networks - and have stuff like cisco etc in my experiencing you're laughing especially if you have good english skills

One thing I have noticed they are VERY keen for you to have a degree here and also very keen to see the quals not just the experience. PM me if you are coming to sydney as i can let you know whats about or speak to friends in IT recruitment.

Cheers

spottydog

We have been in Sydney since December and looking for jobs since January. I'm on the project management side of IT and have been offered the first job I applied for although it took over a month from application to first interview. My other half is network/server admin and he's had less success. It seems for him that they want everything on the advert rather than just the majority which it tends to be in the UK and quite often what they want is not skills you would expect see together in the UK. A lot of the jobs for my other half are also based in the Ryde area which is impossible for him to get to since he doesn't drive. He's now decided to finish his CCNA to assist and a lot of companies seem to want it then he's going to do his ITIL Foundation Exam.

One thing I have noticed is you will see the same job advertised by 10+ agents who all say they are the preferred supplier for the company.

I would agree with Jayne about qualifications for the first time ever I had to show my degree certificates and transcripts before getting the job offer.

Budgie

Didn't have to show my qualifications to get my current job, but had to spend 3 months to find a job. Agencies are generally worse than the UK at calling you back, or even wanting to speak to you in the first place. I registered with 140 of them in Sydney, and ended up getting a job with a company who didn't use agencies and advertised themselves, anyway!

The Telecoms sector is quite strong here, especially Sydney and Melbourne. Most of the jobs you see advertised here are Finance (as a majority it seems) followed by Telecoms. If you are'nt in those two sectors it seems to be a lot harder, but if you're Telecoms as you say there should be a few jobs out there!

caleb2003

I'm in telecoms but would prefer to try Brisbane, whilst I know most of the jobs are in Sydney (just like London here) is there a demand for contractors like there is here and are the contracts on contract rates as in England (where its usually double a permanent wage) ?

spottydog

All the agents said to me contract rates are just slightly above permanent rates and often not covering the cost of 20 days holiday plus public holidays lost wages.

wmoore

I agree with what's already said. There's more work here than people to fill the jobs, particularly Cisco / security stuff. I ended up getting offered 3 jobs from 5 interviews when I started looking and I don't consider myself to be any sort of guru.

As for the qualifications - I don't have a degree and my MCSE is in NT4 but I still did well. Part of thje condition of my current job is to upgrade the MCSE to 2003, which I'm on with but they didn't complain about no degree

Agencies can be crap everywhere. I only registered with those I got a vibe off. I can't really explain that but I registered with 4 and got proper interviews out of 3 of them.

Barbitana

Hi Moore,
Thanks for tips! sound great experiences!
But my case..., now before leaving to OZ I've two different options.
The first is attending a boring presentation skill course to get the MCT (which I've 3-4 years experience in teaching unofficially) and looking for teaching positions. Yet the second choice is choosing Cisco path and completing my CCNP incomplete track (old CCNA remaining just one exam ) .
I really wish to hear your suggestion or payment estimations (consider entering on WHV after 7 months getting PR) while your condition seems not so different to mine!
Thank you for any comment,

wmoore

I would say that if you're only one exam from CCNP then go for that. If you have the experience to back it up then you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a job.

For examples of salaries, take a look at www.seek.com.au or www.mycareer.com.au and see what's going now.

tree

Whats the situation like if your a .net web developer?
I have a couple of MCPs, a degree and 3 yrs exp.... I want to work in Melbourne...

Amazulu

Agencies are as bad over here as they are in the UK, ie most of them are crap.

ginaf

Is there anybody here who works or has a partner who is a contractor in Sydney? My other half works in Banking (Java C++ .net). What is the market like for that at the moment, and is the tax situation for contractors fairly similar to the U.K?

Thanks

Mr. Ee

Hi, I am a contractor in Sydney about to start work (Monday!) doing C++ etc. for a major Oz investment bank. Will be a shock to the system after 2.5 months off!

I must admit that my experiences with the agencies has been the exact opposite to that mentioned by a few others on this thread. I only applied for two jobs I found on Seek (both with banks), had interviews for both and was offered both. Interviews were a doddle, quite informal and quite short. Hardest part was deciding which job to take!

Unlike the UK, you might be quite surprised by the similarity between what a contractor gets paid and what a permie is paid. The agencies tell me this is so that when (if) a contracter is offered a permie role there isn't a huge drop for you or the expectation that the permie role will pay as well as the contract.

The company that you've worked for in the UK seems to be a big consideration too - especially in banking. The fact that I'd spent the last 7 years working for a major european investment bank was definately a draw on the CV.

Oh, and line up a couple of references that the agencies can call who'll speak highly of you, although this doesn't happen until after you've been offered a role!

smithfield22

Hi, my husbands a telecommunications engineer and is looking for a job in Adelaide, any tips!!! We move in September this year is it worth applying for jobs before we go?? CV lodged with lots of agents - whether this will be any good looking at your posts.

ginaf

Excellent! Thanks very much and congratulations on the job.