normanstanleyfletcher

Twinsdad,

Yes thanks, gave them a bell that same night. The woman I spoke to re-assured me that they were trawling through applications slowly due to local recruitment drive, and that she was sure they would be in touch. her advice was to be patient and wait. She took my name nonetheless and said she would check that the application had indeed got through to them - quite how I'll find that out without ringing back though is a mystery, as there was a hint that ringing back wouldn't achieve much.

She couldn't offer a reason why somebody else who applied circa the same time had already had their application advanced, so kinda hit a brick wall there.

I have resolved to submit a new application in due course and see what happens. I will be 40 in Dec '12 so need to get a move on really.

NSF

Twinsdad

I get the feeling they're swamped and overworked - although I've only got the last hurdle to get over, the video conference, I'm trying to adjust my mindset and settling in for the long haul. Are you aware that the maximum visa age has been raised to 50 ?

HelenTD

I've heard that there's been a surge in enrolments in the paramedicine course at uni here. I know that it takes a while to train, but there might be a lot more locally-trained paramedics here in a few years. I don't know if the degree gets shortened if you have other qualifications and experience?

normanstanleyfletcher

Twinsdad - hey I didn't know the visa age had been upped! thats good news from my perspective - even so, the sooner the better methinks.

HelenTD - would have thought that if the uni degree courses in perth are gonna follow any kinda UK experiences, then i suspect that in time they'll shorten the course length for sure!

NSF

CMcC

Well in my case being an irish tech/paramediccy person (similar to uk tech) there is rpl for experience and learning so they start u as a grade II ambo officer and the paramedical sciences degree takes two years to complete from there. Sponsorship is for two years also, then reviewed after the two.

If anyone is hoping to get the process hurried up it may be worth going over there for a week or two and organise to finish the application process in aus. That way u get to suss out ur potential new home as well....just a thought and it worked for me!

Goodbye uk

Got an email today regarding telephone interview so things starting to move along now. Its looking like its going to take many months to go through the whol process. Im going to use the time to do some serious research and of course some serious penny saving. Its hard to wait month after month but before you know it we'll all be rushing around trying to sort things out " last minute " Have to admit, at risk of sounding a bit sadistic, Im really looking forward to the whole interview process.

michael999

Good luck 'Goodbye UK', let us know how you got on. If it helps, my interview was very friendly, I didn't feel at all pressured. The only niggle was the folk from St.J didn't phone when they said - it was about an hour and a half later so I was full of tea and had paced myself dizzy waiting for the phone to ring So don't fret if the call doesn't come at the right time.

Twinsdad

Got an email asking me to confirm my availability for video conference next week ! Anyone got any hints or suggestions ? What's the format, questions etc etc ??

hater

Questions are HR-questions only. Some of them are the typical STAR-questions, some are just about career-planing and the visa...

The VC-System itself works pretty well (or did it for me) but remember to look in the camera and not the screen and remember the transmission delay

Twinsdad

Thanks for that - what are STAR questions ??

hater

S – Situation, background set the scene

T – Task or Target, specifics of what's required, when, where, who

A – Action, what you did, skills used, behaviours, characteristics

R – Result – Outcome, what happened

http://www.sentient-recruitment.com/star-method.html

Twinsdad

I was supposed to have my video conference this morning - turned up all bright eyed and the first thing the receptionist said was "I haven't used this equipment before" - it all went downhill from there really She had to 'phone someone to ask them how to turn the equipment on !! I was sat there with a sinking feeling and thinking to myself this is going to go well. Anyway, after an hour of her fiddling with the equipment and phoning her mates up I phoned HR at St Johns WA - on my mobile !! Was talking to them when my credit ran out Now waiting to re-book. Isn't this fun..........

michael999

Twinsdad that sounds like a total nightmare. I presume this was a business conference centre you were sent to? You would honestly think they would know how to operate their own equipment - why that would be like the ambo service just sticking new kit on the ambulance and not training the.......er, wait thats not a good example! Good luck for next time, don't let this get you down.

Zuluman7

Oh the joys of a brighter future WA!! Chin up Twinsdad hopefully get sorted really quickly now
Michael have you heard any more yet ?

Twinsdad

Thanks guys
Mixed emotions really at the moment, on the one hand I'm aware that compared to some I'm pretty lucky to have got this far in 'only' four months when a lot of people have been processing their applications for very much longer; but then again I was really psyched up this morning and looking forward to the application process being pretty much over and then hopefully getting down to some serious planning. When I realised it had gone belly-up I felt massively deflated. Is it just me or does anyone else find this nerve wracking ? The business centre said they'd lost some staff, have lots of new staff that weren't fully trained, were checking their equipment blah blah blah. I didn't say anything but did want to swear a lot
Hey ho - back to checking my emails as soon as I wake up every morning or last thing at the end of nights
By the way - would be good to have some feedback from guys out there about the day to day life as an Aussie 'ambo', how they've found settling in, finding somewhere to live etc etc. If we do get out there we'll all have to hook up for a beer