So you are planning to migrate to Australia and think there is not much difference between Australia and the UK and you will get a job easily in Australia?

Take this test: Talk to an Australian about football. Once you have sorted out the name of the game, the pitch, the ball, the number of players in each team, the referee, the linesmen, the goal umpires, the rules, and why everyone hates Collingwood, you may get an inkling that things are not quite the same on the opposite of the globe.

Understanding how Australian business and Australians are different, before you hit the ground and discover you cannot see a kangaroo for miles, is critical to successful migration. The key to successful migration is to land a job quickly. This requires an understanding of the lingo and rules of the Australian game.

Job hunting methods used in other countries just don’t work in Australia.

In the Australian Jobs Pack for engineers and international students migrating to Australia the examples are from engineering, but the principles apply to all occupations. Doing your homework before you pack your bags can make or break your migration experience. The premise is simple – treat your migration as a project, your Project Australia. The Projects objective – Land a Job in Australia

You don’t have to be an engineer to be a project manager, but you do have to be disciplined enough to make a plan and follow it. Here is how to do it.

Step 1

Develop a schedule and a budget. The plan has to include absolutely everything; starting from where in Australia do you want to live and visas, through to costs for settling, Australian registration, job hunting costs. Is your occupation on the Australian occupations in demand lists for skilled migration? The budget is linked to the schedule. Blowing out your schedule will blow out your budget.

TIP – Work out who will impact on or be impacted by your migration. Make the most of all who will assist you, and work out how to handle the negative influences.

Step 2

Get your qualifications assessed by the appropriate Australian authority. Do this while you are still working. Being unemployed, or working in an unskilled job waiting for accreditation of qualifications, costs you money.

TIP – Be ready to start work the day you arrive in Australia.

Step 3

Develop a plan to get a job in Australia. If you land in Australia and pick up the local newspapers and browse the internet you will only be looking at about a third of the job vacancies. Your plan could be to be sponsored by a State, region or company.

TIP – Try and get a job before you take off. You can try UK companies and exporters who have offices in Australia. Or the opposite – get a job with a UK branch of an Australian company and transfer to Australia.

Step 4

Australianise your CV. Australian CVs are different from US and UK CVs. Australian employers want to see what you have done – not so much on qualifications, position or status of company. Create a base CV which includes all your skills to be a base to work from for job applications. This is your database of experience and skills.

TIP – Pay attention to the ‘soft’ skills. Because Australian business is structured differently than in the UK, you may not be able to find an identical job to the one you have. Having a strong understanding of all your skills will help you identify a wider range of job opportunities.

Preferably do all of the above before you get on a plane.

Step 4

Develop Networks. This is a big challenge. Australians are big networkers. You are a novice playing an away game. You need to use your internet searching skills to find people in your line of business. For engineers, this is pretty easy as starting from the Engineers Australia website you find many affiliated specialist engineering organisation and when they have functions.

TIP – Networking is a two way game. You have to share information with others.

Step 5

Research potential employers. This is your market research. Crawl all over their web sites looking at every single page. Also look through business and financial sites. Look at their competitors; know why they are different, or at least why they think they are.

TIP – Look at the Chairman’s half yearly report. This gives the most up to date information on the latest projects won and company developments.

Step 6

Target your job applications. Every employer and every position is different: every job application should be different. From your base CV ‘database’ you create a view of you to match what the potential employer is looking for.

TIP – Use the words and phrase in your application that a company uses in its communications. Get them thinking ‘This person talks the talk, I think they can walk the walk!’

Step 7

Know the answers before they are asked at the job interview. There are a number of Australian websites which provide a range of typical questions Australian employers ask.

TIP – Be able to talk in the finest detail about any of your work experience, and how relevant it is to the job you are applying for.

Project Australia is an essential tool for overseas qualified engineers looking for work in Australia. The multimedia Jobs Pack covers a range of data including the demographics of the Australian engineering industry and organisations; the labour market; an overview of visas; accreditation; planning; the hidden job market; creating CVs; addressing selection criteria and job interviews. A specific chapter has been devoted to international students. The principles contained in Project Australia are simple: apply project management skills to develop your future Australian career and follow a detailed plan. The book, DVD and CD take the reader incrementally through this planning process highlighting a comprehensive collection of resources and references.

The Australian Jobs Pack for Engineering Migrants and International Students, consisting of a book, DVD and CD, is available online and is supported by an on-line blog where questions are answered by the Author.

Read more…

Project Australia

P.S. The reason everyone hates Collingwood FC is because they have a black and white strip, like Newcastle United FC.