sackofspuds

"When looking for work here, it's not what you know but who you know. I found work through talking to blokes at barbecues" said my stepfather yesterday on the phone.

He was talking about finding a job in Adelaide.

My wife took this not only as an indication of the dire employment prospects there compared to the Berkshire commuter belt but also as a commentary on the difficulties of breaking into the jobs market there. Arguably it's also a way of warning us off - my stepfather is a hail fellow well met kind of bloke, whereas we are more reserved and he knows it.

I know there are no IT jobs there for me and intend starting my own business. That's not the case with my wife though.

Anyone here managed to find work in Adelaide through an ad in the paper or recruitment agency? I can't believe all jobs are gained through personal contacts.

sloake

Have you thought about sending yours or the missus CV direct to companies you would be interesting in working for?

Cant believe all jobs are gained through BBQs..

cadman

Don't believe it either. Surely it depends what job you do?

What does your FIL do? He's not a BBQ salesman is he?

Ushas

my hubby's in IT and he did a search for companies that dealt with his kind of thing. He saw a job advertised in May but couldn't do anything about it as we weren't planning our move till March 05. He wrote to them anyway just to query what they did and if they'd be interested in the future. They asked for his CV, things snowballed and at the end of Sept they flew him to Perth to meet him and discuss terms. We are now going in Jan (1 month today) and he has a job to go to.
I know this is in Perth but I am sure things work similarly all over Oz.

mlbonner

The Financial Review stated yesterday that IT jobs openings have increased by 5% since 12 months ago. Not saying there are hundreds of jobs suitable for you, but at least its going the right way.

renth

Knowing people, being "in the loop" is just as important in Australia as in the UK.

I was lucky when I got my job, through merit alone but now have a large network of professional contacts and feel that will help if I'm ever in the job market again.

podgypossum

Dire employment prospects? no more dire than anywhere else..getting a job is also no different than anywhere else.. go look on www.careerone.com.au

i know several people from Adelaide Brits who had no probs finding a job through the same channels as everyone else does.

cadman

In my line of work as an "agency" drafter it becomes a lot easier to find work once you have worked for a few agencies and then maybe the people at the agencies move to another agency. they know from client feedback if you're ok or not and from speaking to people already working for their agency who may have worked with you before.

After I was made redundant from my "staff" job I found it quite difficult to get another job but know would be confident of getting something.

Must be just the same down under, you have to build you reputation like Renth said.
However, once you've got over that initial "finding the first job / contract" problem then you should be ok.

BTW - gutted no-one laughed at my suggestion that the father in law got most of his work at BBQ's cos he might be a BBQ salesman

Andy.

sackofspuds

Sorry, podgy, but that is just not true for me. If I go to www.jobserve.com and type in berkshire and select IT as the industry I get 1,116 results for the last 7 days. If I type in London I get 9,194 results.

If I go to www.careerone.com.au and select SA - Adelaide as the location and IT as the industry I get 24 jobs from the last 7 days.

It's a fact that IT jobs are concentrated in certain areas of a country. In the UK over half the advertised jobs are in London and Berkshire followed by Surrey. It's no coincidence that I have worked in all 3 locations since 1995. In Australia, Sydney and Melbourne are probably the places for IT jobs. We have no family support there and they don't attract me enough to want to move there.

My wife is a Further Education lecturer. She teaches GCSE and 'A' level. There's no real equivalent to GCSE in Australia, ie, no public examinations that take place at age 16. We have made enquiries with all the TAFEs in the Adelaide metro area to no avail. All jobs are advertised internally first, apparently. Seems to me like many (most?) don't even need to be advertised in the public press.

My stepfather has been in Adelaide 15+ years and went from earning good money working on construction sites to working as one of the maintenance men in a shopping centre. Fine, being indoors suited him, but he's not earning what I would consider sufficient to support a family. Luckily for him he doesn't have to, but I do.

podgypossum

If your dad wanted to earn good oney on construction ites it would be VERY easy to do so in Adleaide as there is a dire shortage of construction workers. Anyone in these trades that have come out have had no problems finding work at all.
I accept there isnt as many jobs in IT as large cities, but what do you expect? Adelaide only has a popultion of 1 million people and you cannot compare it to London or Sydney. Its like asking for he same amount of job vacancies in say Bournemouth as you would in London...not comparible.

One of my best friends was a deputy hadmistress in UK..she is now working as an ordinary teacher at the moment. Maybe your wife could transfer her skills into another area of teaching?

sackofspuds

It's my stepfather who works in the shopping centre btw, not my dad. Interesting point about the shortage of construction workers in Adelaide. My stepfather was v. interested in coming back to the UK last time he visited because of the Terminal 5 project at Heathrow. He saw it as a last chance for him to "earn the really good money" for a few years before returning to what amounts to semi-retirement. Still, I'm sure he could do really well in Adelaide if he wanted to and just doesn't know that.

I don't accept that Adelaide is to Sydney what Bournemouth is to London. Adelaide is the capital city of an entire state, for goodness sake and in many respects it reflects that - University, State government, etc. Cardiff is probably a closer comparison. There are 68 IT jobs in Cardiff advertised on Jobserve within the last 7 days and, btw, 61 in Bournemouth, so Bournemouth still has 2.5 times as many IT jobs as Adelaide. I hope you see my point now.

As for my wife's job well yes, we had considered that she might teach at a school but jobs are so scarce in schools in the metro area that she, like other teachers, would be required to teach in country areas for years before getting a job near the city! That would be completely impractical and no, before you suggest it, she has no great desire to do supply work forever, thanks. She has a job here where they think the world of her and are bending over backwards to accommodate the number of hours she wishes to work.