Pollyana

Oh I agree, I think its shocking, but its such a widespread practice that all the managers just accept it. Part of the problem is that the rejection letters have to come out from various Shared Service Providers and because they are third parties they don't really care. If the responses had tocome from the individual managers I think things would be better. Not perfect mind you, but better.

tum

Hi Wendy, thanks, yes I did, temp jobs have been slow, but they said it is picking up and are looking for a suitable temp position. I have also said I do not mind it being a reception or admin job to start with. So, I will give them a call again on Thursday just to check in :-).

Wendy

Yeah, I remember Feb being a little slow. Started picking up around the end of the month for me.

Definitely keep 'reminding' them you're there, they get fed up of you calling and give you 'sympathy work' - then you can show them what you can do, and get more

tum

Thanks Wendy, I am reminding them :-), in a nice way, do not mind getting sympathy work and you are correct, once they get good feedback (luckily I do have a good local reference from a company I worked for here in Cairns) I will get more, you are so right :-). And it will be a great starting place for a more permanent job.

DadAgain

Gotta remember Qld Government are also in election mode right now - that means a lot of projects may well be 'on hold' waiting to see how the dice fall before making any big decisions. I'd suggests that projects (and therefore work in govt departments) may well pick up after the election.

Alternatively of course, whoever wins the election might take a look at the books and say - time to stop spending, lets have a whole-of-government recruitment freeze! (In which case the savvy managers will be recruiting like crazy now to try and build a decent team before the freeze happens!)

tum

Ok, forgot that is the way it works.....thanks for that. There was one job that was advertised but withdrawn later (got a letter saying that 'unfortunately the job was no longer available, so that was nice). I think I saw the same job make a comeback as a temp job later on. Oh well, you never know . I will just keep on trying!

DC10

Hi Tum

I feel for you. I lived this nightmare over the past few months and became so disheartened that I flew back to the UK only to then be offered a job in rural Victoria for which I'd interviewed more than a month previously. The main thing to understand is that public sector recruitment in Aus is painfully slooooooooooooow, and I think even more so than usual in the summer. The whole system is set up to favour those who are already inside the public sector tent, and slow recruitment processes are part of that. Selection criteria and detailed referees' reports (foreign to private sector mgrs) are other ways of locking out newbies. Such is the obsession with "fairness" they probably don't do this deliberately, but it is certainly the result.

For my two pennies' worth, I think there should be rules about a minimum % of recruitment of "outsiders" at every level, and a strict maximum time from post being advertised to filled!

According to my contacts in Canberra the use of temporary employment registers varies from active to nil depending very much on department.

Even if you have an interview you shouldn't expect to be offered the job, let alone start, for weeks. One thing that really annoyed me was the tendency to obtain references for multiple candidates - basically a complete and very embarrasing waste of your former employers' time! The references requested are very detailed and time-consuming by UK standards. The concept of offering a job "subject to references" is apparently unknown.

What type of field(s) are you looking at? I also found that within the public sector they seem very reluctant to see "crossover" skills. For example, my background is in (UK) public sector insurance & risk, but I didn't get a look in for the likes of Workcover or Medicare jobs, presumably as no direct experience in those local programs.

Best of luck, chin up!

DadAgain

This is Australia all over.

A degree in "Budget Fashion Retail Marketing" is seen as completely irrelevant and no use if you're applying for a job where the requirement is a degree in "Budget Footwear Retail Marketing"

tum

Had to laugh about the Footwear remark, but I do agree it is true in most cases .

Hey DC10, thanks for your reply. Thanks for your comment about crossover skills, although it does - and therefore it should ideally be assessed as such - show your skills set.

I have worked as a project manager/trouble shooter, managing f.e. a state governments subsidiary scheme for improving the indoor climate of primary schools by implementing ducted air purifying systems, double glazing, CO2 monitors, insulation.

Another project was youth and safety: implementing measures to improve youth welfare and wellbeing as well as reducing the impact on negative youth behaviour (truancy, tagging, aggressive behaviour, drugs and alcohol abuse) on the community and their inhabitants.

Also as Grants/subsidy officer, responsible for implementing and initiating new regulations in the area of community welfare & well being (such as subsidising sports clubs, youth welfare, elderly welfare), budget of 1,200.000.00 Euro.

And there you have it :-) all these jobs were in the Netherlands, do have great references but they are not Australian and certainly not local. The other reference I do have though is from a local company working as an office adminstrator.

Will try to do what Wendy said, get temping jobs (do not mind a lowel level than I am used to, anything to get met started hey, not picky) and work my way up from there. Sounds like a plan .

Just finished (why not) a job application as an Foreign Currency Exchange person and required assessments. See if they will crossover my skills .

Cheers, Miranda