Originally Posted by luvmeboys (Post 10339854)

Hi Manc
We're both in our early 50's and we moved to Canada 4 months ago. We both only wanted p/t jobs which we now have. I don't know if this is a forever move, mainly because we have 2 sons back home who didnt want to come with us but also because it just doesn't feel right for me. Can't put my finger on it, I'm not a actually missing England! We will stay for at least 2 years to give it a chance, just maybe move to a different state - My advice would be, give it a go while your still young enough to enjoy it. You can always go back home if its not right but be positive. Good luck

Originally Posted by bitzenpces (Post 10340167)

I agree with the others in terms of ageism here. For a long time I haven't put my age on my CV, although people can work it out if you include the years you went to school, college or uni. I recently had to complete a form that asked if I wanted my age given to the employer and I said no. The ageism is probably related to discrimination about age, appearance, concerns about health of older workers, locals ignorant or overwhelmed about experience and qualifications and insular attitudes of agents and employers.

Despite seeming to be the right person for the job in terms of experience and qualifications, I got nowhere for a long time, and I realised that my chances of getting a permanent job were remote.

In the end, I got contract work through specialist agencies and that was fine for a while, especially if you get longer-term contracts. If you get moved around a lot or given dud tasks, you can get fed up with the whole contract thing, especially if you thought that you would get a lot of social life through the workplace. It helps to have interests outside work, clubs, hobbies and groups, to build a social network.

Apart from your work options, you need to think about how you like to spend your leisure time. Some hobbies just don't translate well to Australia, but others do.

Originally Posted by old.sparkles (Post 10338094)

Hi Manc68

I can't offer too much to help, just wanted to say hi, and welcome to BE

We're planning to move next April so I'm hoping I manage to find a job when we get there.

Anyway, Good Luck with what ever the future holds :)

Originally Posted by carolinephillips (Post 10338169)

Sorry you are having troubles getting to Australia, but although you are over the magic age of 50, don't give up hope entirely. OH was 45 and I was 48 when we emigrated, and I'm now 52 and have just had a job interview. You may have to lower your ambitions jobwise if you want to be out here- I have, but a job is a job, and if it allows you to be here, then might it be worth putting up with a less than perfect job if you can be in the country you want to be in- just voicing my opinion???

Originally Posted by Pit Bull. (Post 10338209)

Best of luck mate, I hope something works out for you.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10338258)

I would have to say that your précis of the Australian employment outlook rings bells. Yes they are very much fixated on ignoring transferable skills and the benefit of different, expert, perspectives. They are also fixated on qualifications, even if those qualifications are of less worth than toilet paper.

Mind, the same is true of the UK as well. 'Modern' HR looks for cogs to fit into a machine - exactly the right size and shape for what they have already got, and replaceable with an exactly similar cog on a whim. It's a very mechanistic outlook, exemplified by their use of computer sifting of CVs looking for keywords. Needless to say it's very, very daft, counter-productive to a world built on change, and almost guaranteed to get a duffer.

It's for that reason that you have to attempt to sidestep HR at every opportunity - for both sides of the employment negotiation they are a net negative.

As for UK or Oz, all I can say is when I looked at the decision, I saw the UK on a downward spiral that didn't show any sign they could pull out of, and Oz having opportunities that even idiot politicians would find it difficult to stuff up. For you a break from the past would also seem a benefit - new horizons, no old memories....

On the employment question, my view is you need to sidestep the bigotry of age discrimination and shortsightedness - and not go for conventional employment. Have you considered setting up your own niche company offering quality engineering type services? In this, your age actually counts as a plus (you are expected to be the expert), and you can scope your offering to your perception of need, which is informed by those fresh pair of eyes that they so need. Setting up and running a company has fresh challenges and you need to learn lots of new skills (not least selling), but the pay off is potentially larger than base employment and, of course, outsourcing continues a pace in most companies.

Doing that in Oz would give you the benefit of a vibrant economy, and if it didn't work here you could always setup a UK arm and see what the take up was there.

Originally Posted by asprilla (Post 10338318)

Sorry to hear about your mum and your bad luck with jobs to date.

These are my thoughts.

Yes, I agree that your chances of success are lower now, because of the economic climate. However this doesn't mean that you can't succeed.

You have 2 choices:

stay in the uk
try and get work in Aus before April 2013.


What are the costs and benefits associated with each ?? Perhaps you are in a position where you have little in the way of family ties/responsibilities and you are already relatively well off.

If your job hunt in Aus turns out to be unsuccessful, perhaps you would be able to pick up another job in the UK relatively easily within the next 12months.

If that is the case - then why not give it another go? The worst that could happen is you lose a few thousand $$$ and you get your pride knocked about a bit.

However, your situation might be very different to the person I describe above! All you can do, is weigh up the pro's and con's of each option.

good luck !!

Originally Posted by Swerv-o (Post 10338354)

I'm sorry to hear about the death of your mother - that couldn't have been easy for you to consider emigrating while that was going on.

As Garry said, there are many bells ringing in your story relating to employment here. I am currently going through it at the moment - I have a very diverse set of skills, qualifications coming out of my arse, and I can't even get a bloody interview. There seems to be a fundamental inability to consider that skills are transferable between roles and industries here.

An ex colleague of mine - incredibly talented and experienced in Fluid Mechanics applied for a role simulating pipelines in the mining industry. But because his experience was ink delivery systems, the agent wouldn't put him forward. He explained that the maths and physics was all exactly the same, only the viscosity of the fluid and Reynolds Number of the system differed, but the agent was resolute. I think the company would have taken him in a heartbeat if they had met him.

I have found that when I can apply to a company directly, then I will get a conversation at least, and and usually an interview. When it's a f**king agent I may as well just print my CV out and stuff it down stormdrains.

Unfortunately, the recruitment industry seems to be very transient here, and you end up with some 20 year old on a working holiday visa telling you what you are and aren't qualified to do. It sounds harsh, but I think it's a large part of the problem.

If it's still your dream to come here, then I think you should at least give it a go - maybe give it a 6-8-12 month period and set some clear deadlines about when you will decide that it's not going to work out.

Personally, I've had a gut full of the place, and am seriously considering moving on now.

Good luck.


S

Originally Posted by Snap Shot (Post 10338364)

We (husband and I) emigrated to t'other side of the the world last year. OK, it was NZ not OZ but if you don't mind an interloper I'll give you my two pennies worth.

Sorry you've had a hard time finding work in Aus. I'm especially sorry your mum died. My mum died in 2005, she had bowel/liver cancer. The very next year my husband floated the suggestion of moving to NZ. I asked if I could finish mourning for my mother first :frown: :(

We had been to NZ to visit in-laws on about 3 occasions. At no time did I want to emigrate to NZ. Just not my, 'cup of tea.'

Anyway, in Feb 2011 we did. Couldn't get work in Auckland despite my husband being a kiwi with kiwi and UK experience. Same deal in Christchurch. He felt he wasn't being taken seriously when he was interviewed.

At his first interview in Christchurch (for an international contracting company that shall remain nameless) he was asked by the HR bint on the interview panel, who had seen his local authority experience on his cv, has he applied for a job at the City Council ? It beggars belief. As it goes he had but that went nowhere fast as well.

He was eventually offered a job for a central government department which meant moving to the North Island of NZ. His background is finance and the job is relevant to his skills and experience.

It then took me a year to be offered a job. Which entails a daily 80 mile round trip. I'm into office administration. I was getting interviews albeit few and far between but no offer was forthcoming as a result of the interview. (So why interview me then ?). OK I wasn't expecting to be offered the first job I went for, but the phrase in brackets is experience talking.

Originally Posted by sign (Post 10340844)

i read this earlier, touching very, not disimiliar to many, my advice stay in the UK. i am mid/late forties, comfortable finanicially, retired at 40, but on the premise i die at 66, if i don't die at 66 i will be poor but who cares at 66 you are poor anyway as age is wealth so i do not worry. a;lso i am different sexually, i like men also so have no one to worry to support no wifey no kids just me and my me. if you are well off, give it a go i say well off i mean a spare £20k to chuck at one year out of work in australia. i have family here,still trying for my residents visa another tale. just becarefull australia is not a new chapter just another book capturing different problems, the days of running and landing on ones feet are over if one is unhappy before being drunk you will then be drunk and unhappy after the journey of sipping the poison. its a different world i am afraid. gud lucck.

Originally Posted by ukecadet (Post 10341716)

If you're anywhere near Ancoats I'll do a house swap with you.
Jokes aside,best of luck for the future.

Originally Posted by quoll (Post 10341494)

You didn't notice the LOL

As a retired ex hard worker at 57 I do know that! However many have still found that they can't get jobs even if they wanted them and many poor sods have been pushed to the line as their super - which should have been ample for retirement- has been slashed and burned over the past few years. Ageism is alive and thriving in Australia!

Originally Posted by kmthor (Post 10342566)

Im a white collar working on the construction side of mines and it is definitely who you know not what you know. I also found out very quickly that the agents here are disgrace, a lot them having no idear about your industry and what is going on in that industry or the real world.
I also found that the jobs advertised were very rarely "real" jobs it was normally to either get your CV for mass emailing or to go on there books.
i have no idear if the industry is regulated but it would seem not, if it is it needs a good kick up the arse.
If im looking for a job now i will only apply with companies that advertise themselves. I have even seen companies offer a bonus for not going through an agent.

hope it all works out

km