Searching for work in Australia.
One of the most common questions I’m asked over at the Ask Bob section of the website is “what’s it like to find a job in Australia?”
Like many questions, it’s a moving target. When we first moved here late in 2007 it seemed Australia was in the middle of a big boom. Everyone was busy and there were not enough people around to do the work.
This was at a time when I needed tradies, including carpenters, plumbers, plasterers, gardeners, tilers and all sorts to help me sort out the mess that was my new home. It seemed we needed to make six or seven phone calls before we could secure the services of any one trade.
Today it is much easier, clearly there is not as much work around. Australia, apparently, didn’t quite go into recession when the rest of the world seemed to. But, generally speaking, workers aren’t so busy today, does that mean there are fewer jobs out there in the market place?
So what’s it like to try and get a job?
Firstly, if you are not an Australian citizen, then to work here in Australia you will need to be a permanent resident or to have some kind of work visa. Assuming you have one or other, let’s go job hunting.
To see how easy (or difficult) it is to find a job here as compared to the UK, I decided to visit the respective countries top online job search agencies.
For Australia I chose:
For the UK I used:
Next, in this super scientific experiment, I locked myself into a dust proof room (as if!) donned my full bodied white protective clothing and started searching for jobs.
These extra precautions may sound overcautious, but I didn’t want any more controversy as has happened in other UK versus Australia comparisons.
For this experiment I decided to choose the five most popular keyword searches for work and search each website to see how many jobs they head for each. Reed were extremely helpful in this, as their homepage lists all popular keyword searches AND the number of vacancies for each.
So, at the time of writing this post, the five most popular searches were for:
- Sales Jobs (10,897)
- Management & Executive Jobs (8,786)
- Financial Services Jobs (7,447)
- Accountancy Jobs (6,600)
- IT & Telecoms Jobs (5,972)
I ignored Temporary Work Jobs (11,398) and Graduate Jobs (7,855) because, in themselves, they do not represent any particular skill.
Okay. The criteria is set and I’m going in! Let’s see what happens.
Ok, I’ve finished. Here’s my results.
Notes:
*Both Monster and Careerone (who are in fact the same company, Monster own Careerone) claimed to have 5,000+ jobs for Sales. Yet they each only listed 10 pages with 100 per page, suggesting 1,000 vacancies. Jobsite also suggested they had 5,000 + jobs in sales but only listed 10 pages with 50 per page, suggesting just 500 vacancies.
Jobsite defaulted to vacancies from the last 7 days, but as this was the longest period available, we have to accept it’s all they got.
For IT and Telecoms, it is best to use Information & Communication Technology in Seek, IT in Careerone and IT and Telecommunications in Mycareer.
It is also worth noting that ” Management & Executive” is a term used by Reed to describe a complete category of theirs. None of the other websites had this specific category, so it is not surprising their returns were lower.
Conclusion
Remember, these websites act only as agencies, so undoubtably the number of jobs available in each country for each industry is not an addition of each of the three websites. I checked three websites from each country to give a more balanced view.
It seems clear that the best agencies in my test are Reed in the UK and Seek in Australia. So I feel you only have to look at the numbers from each of those websites in order to draw your conclusion.
I would like to suggest that given Australia has a population of around one third that of the UK and taking into account the watertight laboratory conditions, the results are incontrovertible. Getting a job in Australia is undoubtedly easier, and you’ll get paid more.
Well, that’s what I’d like to suggest. But today, I’ll leave it for you to decide.
What do you think?
Related posts:
- Finding a Job in Australia.
- Cost of Living in Australia: Salaries Compared
- The Cost of Living: Australia and the US Compared
- Television Advertising: Australia and the UK Compared.
- Buying a second-hand car in Australia Compared to England
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanx for excellent survey about seeking job in Australia.
According to your figures, my job hunting will be lucky. You just have given me I a hope !
Hi Alex
Good to hear from you and good luck with that job hunting. I’m glad you enjoyed this post. Hopefully we’ll see you out here sometime soon.
Cheers
Bob
Hey Bob
Just stumbled across your website and let me tell you its a relief to read some of the things on here on a real world perspective. Me and the other half have gone ahead and got a 12 month working visa for aus and will be arriving in January 2011 if all goes well. I have been looking at jobs in IT industry and there seems to be a lot of junior posts available in comparison to over here. Having graduated in 2008 and having worked for a company for 7-8 months it seems that I’m still not able to land myself a job in the field after graduating. What a waste!! Fingers crossed we find ourselves a good job whilst over there! And some time to travel
bookmarked your site thanks!!
congrts Priti, for your work visa …plz also provide me info about how to get work visa of Aus from INDIA ,,,as i have done b.tech in computer science and have 4 + yr exp in java/j2ee tech .plz zzzzzzzz mail me i will be great thankful to you for this .
Rgds,
sandeep
Hi Priti
That’s a great plan, getting a 12 month work play visa. It gives you a very good chance to find out if Australia is the place for you, and if it is, maybe you can secure a full time job while you’re here. If you get a job sponsorship, you’ll be one step closer to securing permanent residency.
I hope you both have a great time, do let me know how it works out.
hi bob,
im planning to go to australia. i have bachelors degree in law . what are the chances that i would get pr.presently im pursuing admission in management studies in australia.i want to settle down in australia
Hi altaf
Australia loves people with degrees. They love it even more if the degree you have is in a subject which is on their skills list. Check out my other post here, called moving to Australia: where to start.
You will find a link there to the government website, click on the visa wizard and answer some questions to see if you are likely to qualify.
Good luck!
hey bob
im a qualified joiner here in uk NVQ 1 & 2 but i really want to live out in aus for 12mounths but i wont be able to take my tools over there and i wont have any transport whats it like in the building trade at the min?? i am willing to do factory work anything but animals i just need the push to make me get the visa and get the flights booked but always worry about finding a job
Hi James
Well the building trade was very quiet towards the end of last year, and now of course we have a big tidy up operation following the flooding disaster here. I don’t think there’ll be a shortage of work for many skills, including joiners, for the foreseeable future. There are no guarantees with anything, but I think there’ll be plenty of work about. That’s my guess anyway.
Hi Bob,
I’m from Malaysia. I have 8 yrs working experience in Business & HR & Public Relation & Administrative & Finance for the company I am serving for now. I am working for a huge company in Malaysia. I am in my early 30s and have MBA degree and quite fluent both in English writing and speaking & have sat for the IELTS exam with band 6.5. But my job is not in the list of the Skilled Occupation List and I am still finding a way that can make me get a job over there to enhance my career and to be in a new working environment in a new place and I really like the country. I’ve tried applying jobs (sponsorship at the same time) in aussie but failed. So, do u think is good for me to keep trying to apply jobs/sponsorships?or just it won’t work this way?
Hi Mia
If if it is your dream to come to Australia, personally I’d say never give up. After all, you are only early 30′s, you still have plenty of time. I suppose it depends how much you want this. But I think level 8 of IELTS should be your target and maybe even consider retraining for something that is on the skilled occupations list. But if you do that, be careful what you choose as the list changes every year.
But if you don’t want to retrain, then at the very least you should get a professional Australian resume written as this will increase your chances of getting a response to your job applications. I recommend Red Star Resume, you can see their banner around my site.
Australia is not an easy country to get into, but as I said, I wouldn’t give up yet if I were you.
Cheers
Bob
thnx bob…wow 8 for ielts?the 1 i got was for academic purpose..so i think i need to sit for the general test & aim for 8 as suggested by u…but i feel a bit positive about trying harder now..thnx so much…
Sorry Mia, I may be wrong about IELTS 8, I think that is for certain professions, like doctors and nurses. Obviously, in some situations, a misunderstanding there can have serious repercussions.
But for everyone else, I think 7 will do. but I’d get that double checked.
Cheers
UPDATE:
I may still have this wrong, I’ve just discovered that 6 is good enough for some PR visas and 7 may be good enough for some nurses. Sorry for the confusion.
thnx mate
We defiently have jobs in Australia but to get pr you have to have a job that will be in demand in the years you apply. Unfortunately this does change so you may have an amazing degree but if your not in demand it wont help much.
Being Australian I don’t really worry about this but I would suggest finding out what Australia has as a skills shortage during the time you want to apply.
I cant really give advice on what agencies would provide this information but I’m sure if you google it you could find some place that would help you with this in your city / country.
Heads up though to some tradies and builders a lot of big business’s (not all though) are outsourcing there work to cheaper workers from neighbouring asian countries so you might not like the rate of pay
I realised my post sounded a bit negative so I thought I better add in a positive note.
) you defiently have a chance.
It is still possible to get a job here even if your skill is not in demand. We value good workers so if you can sell yourself (as in pitching to a company you are worth it… not actually selling your self
I would suggest coming here on a working visa, try get your job set up before you come (rent can be hard to come by so its good to prove you have a stable income ) and that way you can find out if you actually like living here before you decide to actually move.
Like anything if you really want it … theres always a way to make it happen
Sound advice Rebecca, with both your comments. The skilled occupations list does change and it is really difficult to get it right. You could spend four years or more training and getting work experience and by the time you get to apply, the skill has disappeared from the list.
Very tricky to manage.
But by carefully selecting skills that seem to always be present you will maximise your chances. And the best advice of all is yes, do come out here first and give it a try, even temporarily. It’s a lot of effort to go through if you’re only going to get here are not like it.
hi mate,
I am a graduate wrked for australian process in india i am seeking a job in australia (customer service job).. can you please update where i can post my resume so that i can find the..
Hi Sheen
I’m not sure what you mean, I’ve never had an area where you can post your resume.
hi
plz provide me info about how to get Aus work visa from India as i have done B.Tech(cse) and have the desired exp of more than 4 yr in soft development . plz update me asap
thanks,
sandeep
hey there,
i have done computer engg and have the desired exp as per immigration rule , but my wife is doing P.hd in Education and will be completed after 2 yrs. So plz advice me when should I apply for the skilled worker visa ? means 1.)After completion of her P.hd , would be more beneficial for me for getting visa or 2)apply on my basis .
If i got the visa after 15 mnths processing , so she also left for Aus with me or she can remains in India till completion of her P.hd.
plz response asap.
Rgds,
sandeep
Why wait? Apply now and try to secure a visa. Once you’ve got it, you will have options about when you need to come to Australia to validate the visa and live here. Unless you are talking about a job sponsorship, that’s different.
thanx sir,
both of us have to clear IELTS …???? as according to immi. rule the primary candidate shuld clear with min. 6 band . plz tell me about secondary candidate scoring for IELTS..how much secondary candidate needs ?????
Rgds
sandeep
Not sure what the requirement is for secondary candidates, not sure there even is one. But you would have to check with the migration agent or the Australian immigration Department, as I’m……….. not sure.
Hello and thanks to you Bob for your kind and very much appreciated reply to my original query.
I emailed Bob with regards to the 457 Long Term Temporary Sponsorship Visa and the problems I’ve had with getting work (3 years of very little work to be exact). I wondered if anyone else here had similar problems and how they managed to overcome them? We have our Permanent Residency (via my partners place of work) in processing but this is taking a while so in the meantime I’m struggling to get work. I’ve registered with loads of temp agencies, re-done my CV/Resume to fit the job market here but interviews are rare if at all and temp work isn’t coming through even after pestering agencies on a regular basis. The resume and myself have had great feedback upon registration with the agencies but once you’ve been in and registered you face the uphill battle to get even the lower level office work and the same old we have nothing suitable in but we’ll keep you in mind. Has anyone else had similar experiences? and if so how did you manage to get around it?
Any help would be very much appreciated, thank you in advance.
Andy
Hey Bob, I have a BA hons in Theology and at least 4 years experience in working with special needs adults and children. I have friends who live in oz who say there is a shortage for people like me with experience in this sector.
On the skilled workers list it mentions ‘Community Worker’ is that the same as a Special Needs worker?
I am planning on going to oz in May for 90 days to see if employers would be interested in sponsoring me.
Please help
Nick
I wish I could Nick, but everything I know about getting a sponsorship is written here… Getting a Job or a Sponsorship