Finding a job in Australia

In my personal experience, I did send out a fair amount of job applications and have had the pleasure to meet professionals whom were interested with my qualifications or whom asked to interview me. However, some have found better candidates and have even said [quote] I was over-qualified for the job [unquote].

Of course there were a ton of employers out there who didn't even bother replying/calling/show any interest to move forward. Not surprisingly this was on the news last night:

A SUDANESE man who has applied unsuccessfully for more than 1000 jobs has resorted to using a fake Anglo name on his resume in a desperate attempt to get work. 

Former refugee Agnok Lueth, 23, who fled war-torn Sudan for Melbourne in 2004, created the resume alias "Daniel McClean" because he believed Australian employers were unwilling to give him a fair go under his real name. 

Mr Lueth sent out hundreds of resumes for jobs he was qualified for, but only received callbacks on applications with the fake names. 

Of the six applications with the fake name, he got five callbacks.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/business-smarts/little-white-lies-agnok-lueth-adopts-daniel-mcclean-on-his-cv-to-try-to-get-a-fair-go/story-e6frfm9r-1226097072346#ixzz1ScZn7uLc

So maybe there is a fair amount of discrimination going on? Fortunately for me, I did not have to change my name (or fake my CV) to get any interviews =)

Crime rate - Australia vs Malaysia

I'm so happy this blog is helping some people out there... My second 'fan mail' =D

The question:

Hi Sherwyn,

Good to know you. You have one nice useful blog here.I'm planning to apply for a PR and move to Perth from Malaysia (yeah I know, everyone is running out of this country now). I was about to submit my application for WA sponsorship and stumbled upon some articles/websites says the crime rate in WA is quite high compared to other OZ cities and also other part of the world. Some claimed OZ has one of the highest crime rate in the world :-( . Do you have any thoughts on this? I know we have to be careful where ever we are but looks like from what I read the situation is worse than Malaysia. Hope to get you view/opinion on this....

I'm also moving without a job, I'm in IT line. Do you think I can find an IT job easily with a PR and without any OZ experience? I searched through some job portals i.e Seek and saw quite a number of vacancies. But since you are already there, hunting for jobs, sending out resumes, attending interviews, etc etc I'm sure you can explain more based on your experience.

Hope to hear from you soon before I put in my application. Yes, everything is on hold now until I can convince myself....sigh

Take care....

 My reply:

 thanks for your compliments.

Crime is everywhere and its really unfortunate that we can't escape it. However in comparison of Perth and KL; I really don't feel it as bad here than in KL. I mean I've lived in KL 80% of my life and I have never felt comfortable going into the city or even walking out to the streets outside my house! In Perth, I have no problems, no sinking feeling to be super cautious of every suspicious looking person.

From my experiences here in Perth, the main problems are drunk violence; so I avoid going into the City or don't even bother going out at night... I mean.. it is Perth.. there is really nothing much to do outside after 6pm. Knowing KL, these things happen back home too.. and how much of the actual crime does get reported in KL? I've never trusted any statistics provided as I know a lot of people (Malaysian culture/attitude) that can't be bothered to make police reports - "It's just too much hassle la.." or "Report so what? You think it will make a difference?" and even "Report just waste money only la.. Kopi here. Kopi There."

Quite honestly.. Can you tell me that you are not afraid of the Police in Malaysia? Some say they are the biggest triad in Malaysia...

In Australia; you speed, you get a summon with a nice picture of your car. Sure you have to pay an expensive fine and get some points deducted, but it sure as hell beats being threatened for a Kopi-O. Note here you don't get threatened and the cops are out there doing what they are supposed to be doing (catching bad guys), and that is more than enough for me. I don't know what or how the whole 'Bersih' thing is or will work out, but from what I'm seeing - they are putting up roadblocks to stop what is right than working out what is wrong.

As I know from the local Perth news, a lot of the robberies involve pharmacies (for drugs), brothels (cash ma), and mainly commercial outlets (food, money, etc). However I have friends that experienced a knife point robbery, but that was in Sydney. It could be probable that Sydneys crime rate is higher than Perth or even KL, but please don't quote me on that as I have no experience in any other city in Australia. Heck... I've only been in Perth!!!

I have seen a lot of vacancies for IT (and IS) on Seek and the local newspapers, but I really can't comment much as I'm not applying for IT jobs, I do not know how many years experienced you are, or what the companies are actually looking for. However, I can tell you that Job hunting here is not as easy as in KL. I don't know if its because I do not have Australian work experience or because I do not have a degree that i'm not qualified or because I have a name not everyone knows how to pronounce or I'm not as handsome/pretty as the successful candidate, but I have friends that are IT graduates and they work as McDonalds Supervisors, Casino Dealers, Bank Tellers, etc. So expect to lower the bar a bit as it is really tough to live on a saving divided by 3.2X..

By all means, if you can secure a job for yourself before the big migration, do it. I would also advice that there are higher chances of getting a job in the Eastern states, as they are more commercial based. Also make sure you have everything planned/in order before submitting your application - the application fees are expensive!!

I hope the above is more informative than it looks. Glad to help and thanks for stopping by my blog and taking the time to email me =)

All the best with your application and don't hesitate to email me should you require more assistance.

Best regards,

Sherwyn

It really does seem a lot of Malaysian eyes are starting to open and the migration bandwagon is quite a lifesaver for a few of you... Oh well.. it's either Malaysians WAKE UP or time to WAKE UP Malaysia!!!

Is migrating to Perth a good idea?

I got my first 'fan mail'.. and a very constructive one as well so I'd like to share it with you other curious peeps out there. =)

The question:

Hi Sherwyn,
I saw your blog on the expat aussie site. I read your blog and found out u r M'sian located in Perth. I am a housewife with 2 girls, n my hub, we are applying for migrating to Perth.
Can I know more about the standard of living, the best suburbs or place to rent a hse/apartment, schools for primary n preschool since my daughter is 6yrs and 3yrs old now. My hub is working as Construction Project Manager in Malaysia. We are taking the risk to migrate there w/o any job. Do u think is easy to find a job for a PR like us?
I hope you can advise me and give me more details about OZ:)
Thanks:)

The answer:

Hi,
I recently moved over here and been job hunting for about a month, but no luck yet. According to my friend it is because now is the end financial year and a lot of companies still do not know the new years budget for hiring new staff. If so then it will be easier to secure a job after July, hopefully... 

The standard of living is very high, especially food. Perth is actually one of the highest and most expensive places to live in the world. There are many suburbs around and I'm not too familiar with all, but from what I've understood, don't always go for the cheap or low cost living areas but then you'll have the problem of paying more money for the houses in higher-end areas. The same applies to the schools, the 'better' schools are located in the 'better' suburbs. I would suggest you to invest in a good home. After all it will be a place you would want to call home. Invest time in it as well, as you will want to find out the surroundings, train stations, bus stops, schools, etc. 

anyhow, regards to your hubby's job, construction in Malaysia and in Australia is totally different but then again I wouldn't know much about your hubby's experience in the industry. You may try to look for some jobs while you are in Malaysia and start giving it a go. www.seek.com.au is the largest recruitment site, much like Jobstreet.com.my - if you do not mind your hubby being away from home every 2 weeks, there is some serious money working in the mines. He should have good chances to work there assuming he has an engineering degree. 

Just a highlight of the standard of living;
- petrol is around AUD$1.30-1.50/ltr
- a new camry/accord is around AUD$40k
- apartments/houses range from AUD$400k to millions
- a regular McDonalds meal is about AUD$8.00 

If you look at the above, it is pretty intimidating for a Malaysian (everything x 3.2).. But if you look as an Australian income earner (1:1) cars and petrol is a lot cheaper than earning RM living in Msia (RM1.95/ltr and camry ~ RM150k). Houses and a McDonalds meal is about the same, but don't forget that fast food here is the cheapest choice of an outside meal compared to the mamaks/kopitiams in Malaysia. 

As a PR myself, I didn't want to lose out on the benefits that came along with it, especially for my 3+month son... Plus the current political situation in Malaysia is going very unstable, so it is very worrying for the future of my family. Furthermore, it is getting more difficult to maintain/obtain a PR with the increasing number of immigrants in Australia. 

I hope I've provided you with enough information and I will encourage a fellow Malaysian to come over seeing that the situation in Malaysia is getting worse on a daily basis. Of course this information is all from my perspective in Perth. If you are not fully committed to Perth, you can choose the other wonderful cities in Australia. I would think Melbourne or Sydney will have higher employment opportunities but I've never been to any of those cities so i'm sorry that i cant help you there. 

Sincerely,
Sherwyn

Hope the above helped a little with your curiosity, if not please leave a comment below and i'll add it in =)