Getting A Job in Australia (Before You Move)

I'm typing this article on my way to Australia. I thought I'd share my experience on the one task that most people, and not just Singaporeans, would find extremely daunting about migration - finding a job. More specifically, how to find a job in Australia before you actually move over.

You've read that finding a job in Oz is tough. It's 10 times tougher if you're not physically there to attend interviews.  Despite advancements in technology, most companies (anywhere in the world) prefer to see applicants face-to-face. There are exceptions of course which I will write about below, but expect companies to favor candidates who can be there to attend the interrogation physically.

So what is so damn difficult about finding a job down under? For one, employers emphasize "Australian experience". You get this in every job advert,  even if you’re an IT programmer and there is  no Australian-specific programming language. You may have graduated from some swanky University in the USA/UK and used to Sinkie employers fawning all over your 6 page CV detailing everything from your last job as a Satki programmer to a vacation internship with Shittybank, and be thinking that your 3.99/4.0 grade point average would make Aussies climb over each other to get to you.  Sorry to break it to you mate, most OZ employers care shit about your foreign work experience or paper qualifications. Some of that discrimination can be attributed to tough visa/union laws which require employers to (and rightly so) favor local hires. Other factors could be due to the high cost of labour which means employers would prefer hiring someone who is tried-and-tested under local conditions. To find someone who is willing to hire a migrant without local experience you have to look very deep and very hard. You would also need to put aside certain overrated beliefs about yourself.

What makes me qualified to advise you on this topic? Everyone loves a well-credentialed author and I'm no exception. For starters, I have obtained job offers through phone / skype interviews not once, not twice, but FOUR times in a row. I have never attended a single one of these interviews physically. The first time was when I got a job in New Zealand through phone and skype interviews. Heck, I have never visited NZ in my life. But I got the job anyway. The second time was getting not one, but two job offers in Singapore when I was still in NZ. All the interview processes for that job took place over telephone. They actually had no Skype facilities. The fourth consecutive time I got a job offer through telephone/video conference was with a consulting firm based in Australia. For that I had to make a trip down to their local Singapore office to attend that video conference call. All the above said, I think I am at least partially qualified to write on this topic.

Disclaimers first. The tips in this article is not going to work for everybody. We're obviously different individuals and no amount of advice is going to help you if you behave like a baboon at the interview. However, some of these tips will at least improve your chances. Many are really just common sense - but many sinkies have never ceased to surprise me with their (lack of) basic level thinking skills.

1. Tip 1: Get your Australian Permanent Resident visa (and put it in your resume)

Finding a sponsor who's willing to go through the subclass 457 visa (which is already being abolished) system is significantly harder than finding a job as a local applicant (such as a Subclass 189/190 permanent visas). Your chances will dramatically improve if you're an Australian PR since employers need not prove they can't find a local for your job. This is really the most important tip for any one who wishes to find a job in OZ in order to migrate.

If you already have a PR visa, do yourself a favour and state your visa status in the resume. Let your employer know you're considered a local hire and that no sponsorship is required on his part. Many employers are not familiar with immigration rules and would simply toss your resume into the recycle bin if you don't state an Australian residence address and telephone number (also see Tip 7) or you have a foreign sounding name (See tip 2). You need to educate your prospective employer.

2 years ago when my wife (foreigner) interviewed for a Singapore international school she was initially accepted for an interview before being suddenly rejected due to her foreigner status. Upon my educating the hiring manager that foreign quota requirements do not apply to foreigners who are spouses of Singaporeans, my wife was hired immediately. Moral of the story: Do not assume employers know the immigration rules.

2. TIP 2: If you have a good IELTS score, put it in.

If there is one qualification Australians would care about in a migrant that's the IELTS. If you've got anywhere between 7.5 and 9.0, you'll do yourself a big favour to let your prospective employer know you are actually capable of communicating in English at a reasonably proficient level. And no, Singaporeans are NOT considered by Australians to be native speakers - not by a very long stretch. Put it as "7.5/9.0" and not just "7.5". The latter doesn't provide any useful information unless the person is familiar with IELTS and their scoring scales. 

3. Tip 3: Get an English name

This should really rank higher. I didn't put down an English name but putting one down will tremendously increase the chances of your CV getting picked up. Recruiters would not spend more than 15 minutes to screen the 200 CVs they receive on a daily basis and they are not going to pick a candidate whose name they can't even pronounce. Go for an easy name - don't give yourself a satki cock name because it sounds sexy but which you yourself can't even pronounce accurately. And do yourself a favour to open a new email account with that name. Your email address is what shows up in their inbox and they're not going to pick emails sent from "LHL@suckyourmoney.sg".

4. Tip 4: Be pro-active when responding to job adverts

You will likely not get any job interviews through Seek unless you call up the recruiter and sell yourself. Those recruiters who advertise through Seek get a million emails a day. They operate on a commission basis and would naturally go for the candidate they think will most likely get through the door. Whether or not these candidates are actually more qualified than you is irrelevant. It is your job to get yourself noticed and his job to sell your profile.

To quote my experience, when I interviewed for my Singapore job from NZ I dialed up 2 recruiters who were both advertising for the same job (they didn't respond to my emails). I eventually got that job through one of them (the other was not interested to take up my case). Moral of the story: You have to be pro-active. If there's an opportunity there's advertised on Seek and not anywhere else, call up that recruiter and convince him to at least put up your CV for consideration. If one recruiter wouldn't, go through another. Don't just send emails because they're likely to get lost among the million emails they receive everyday. If you thinking on saving the money on overseas calls, they're most likely thinking the same.

An alternative method is to visit the website of every company who could potentially hire you, look at the available positions and contact the in-house hiring recruiter directly. Sometimes you may not find the appropriate HR contacts; you have to be thick-skinned and do cold calling or cold emailing.  I got my NZ job this way.

5. TIP 5: Network your way to a job.

Again, you have to be thick skinned. Let your friends, family, acquaintances, ex-colleagues etc. know you're looking for jobs in Australia. This is a bit like fishing. If you keep throwing out your name, you will eventually get a few hits. I got my Australian job through a friend who passed on my name to an Australian senior manager who was seconded to Singapore for a couple of years. Initially there weren't any opportunities on offer but interestingly, an opportunity came up some months later and I was hired with just 1 formal video conference interview and a phone call.  

This method requires patience and good people relations. If you've been behaving like an asshole all these while this is not going to work for you.

6. TIP 6: Take pride in your CV and tailor it

Not in that sense that you should be proud of that 3.99/4.00 GPA obtained at Singapore Muggers University, but your CV should be very readable. You'd be tempted to dump in every achievement and every job responsibility from wiping your bosses' ass to getting his daily fruit. If you do that nobody's going to read your CV or chances are: the important relevant points get lost in that sea of information. Keep the CV tailored (you probably read this a million times on other sites). If your main job is to get fucked by the boss and take blame, then don't include irrelevant stuff like how much revenue you generated or how many stupid ideas you executed to perfection.  If you must, summarise it.  Keep your CV concise, neat, and easy on the eyes. Sometimes, less information is more. 

7. TIP 7: Rehearse your interviews and make sure you present a coherent picture of yourself

You may have gaps in between jobs or several jobs within a year. Whatever your story is, make sure it's coherent, believable and well-rehearsed. Recruiters are desperate but they are not stupid. You won't believe how many candidates I've come across who have said they needed to leave their job to temporarily take care of a sick grandmother/grandfather/mother/father/uncle etc. No offence to anyone who really has a sick family member, but judging by those CVs I reviewed we sure have a lot of sick people out there.  

Don't make a fool of yourself. Spend some time to think of a quality excuse. It's actually okay to say you're burned out, or you took a gap year to go travelling etc. Most employers are human themselves and would understand everyone needs a break sometimes - even Sinkies who are supposed to be cheaper and faster. If an employer can't provide that little bit of empathy then he's probably not worth your time.

The above said, DO NOT LIE about anything in your resume. One lie would quickly lead to another. If there are multiple reasons that made you leave your job, its alright to choose the reason that you're most comfortable explaining. 

8. TIP 8: Find yourself a niche market

This may not work for everyone, especially the ones who are already entrenched in their careers. I take NO responsibility for those who follow this advice and their careers come unstuck as a result. Let the reader beware.

Australian employers aren't completely closed to foreign applicants but you (obviously) need to have niche skills that are hard to fill. It's not necessary to completely change your career but you ought to look horizontally at all the different areas of expertise within your field and assess which is the one that would most likely get you a job in OZ. That area is likely to be something that is greenfield, highly specialized and very short on talent. Note this is a dangerous idea because specialised jobs usually also means the market for such jobs is small and opportunities will be much rarer.

Three years ago when I decided to move to Singapore from NZ I was presented with two job offers - one was a cushy "mass market" type of job and the other was a highly specialised greenfield that was, at that time, fraught with uncertainties as to its future prospects. I went with the latter with one eye on the Australian job market. The rest is history. 

9. TIP 9: Furnish an Australian number and address

I've never tried this before but others have. Recruiters don't like candidates who aren't physically there to be interviewed; by furnishing an Australian address and telephone on your resume you can sometimes fool recruiters into believing you're physically down under. This method has very expensive drawbacks of course being that you would have to fly to Australia on short notice if you do get any interviews. Flight tickets to Australia from anywhere except New Zealand WILL be expensive (Scoot can be as low as $400+ depending on the season and that's not a small amount).