Australia needs thousands of workers each year to fill existing positions. We are experiencing a strong and prosperous economic recovery after the pandemic and with borders opened once again there is a high demand for employees across the country and in all sectors and industries. To work in Australia, you need a valid visa that allows you to do so, such as a student visa subclass 500 and many others.
In this post, I am going to walk you through the best strategies and tips to get a job in your desired industry, get pen and paper, take notes and start browsing around the vast Australian job market.
REQUIREMENTS FOR WORKING IN AUSTRALIA
You must have a visa that allows you to work in the country with the relevant requirements, you must also be at least 18 years old, you will need a Tax File Number, a bank account, an Australian resume and depending on the industry you want to work for, you may require one additional certification such as the RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol), the BlueCard, or the Whitecard Permit.
CREATE AN EFFECTIVE RESUME FOR THE AUSTRALIAN JOB MARKET
Having local work experience in Australia will make things much easier since local experience is highly valued and requested by Australian companies and employers.
Here are some tips for putting together an effective resume: Avoid including your photo: Australia is a very inclusive and diverse country, and a photo on your resume is seen as unprofessional and might send the wrong message across to recruiters unless you are a professional actor or work in an industry that requests a photo, other than that avoid at all costs using a photo on your resume.
I am a recruiter myself and I have previously worked as a recruiter for multinationals that gives you strict guidelines to follow at the time to analyse a candidate’s resume so, trust me on this one and take into consideration what I am about to tell you when you are creating your resume. You have about 10 to 15 SECONDS, to impress your future employer, take advantage of it and create a resume that is interesting, eye-catching, and impressively specific so you can make sure that your application is going to stand out from everyone else’s.
Less is more: keep your resume simple and straight to the point, ideally on a single page, highlighting your skills, contact details, work experience, availability, and education. (Maximum 3 pages)
Add some references: Add references that will allow your future employer to verify your work experience.
Certifications are important to work in Australia, take the time to properly assess the industries you wish to work in and choose wisely which certifications you wish to obtain as they are not cheap. Here are some examples of certifications you can earn in Australia to consider for a job.
RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol)
If you want to work in a bar in Australia that serves alcohol you must have an RSA card.
RCG (Responsible Conduct of Gambling)
If you are interested in working in a casino environment, you should also consider taking an RCG course to become a certified casino employee.
You can mix it up and get a bundle to get both certifications on one card and get a discount on the price of the certifications. Each state has different laws governing the serving of alcohol, so an RSA in Queensland, for example, may not be valid in New South Wales.
White Card
To work in construction in Australia this additional certification is required. Not only as a worker but also as a cleaner, architect or engineer. This permit is required for all people who work in the construction field.
BlueCard
The BlueCard is the necessary permit to work as an au pair, to look after the children of a family internally or as a nanny or babysitter. is also requested to be a teacher or any other profession related to children. It’s a way to protect the children.
Barista course
It is quite common for the certification to be awarded by the workplace itself in a course that can last anywhere from 1 to 5 weeks. As motivation, Australia is the country where baristas earn the highest salaries. To become a qualified barista, you need to know how to properly prepare the different types of coffee: latte, cappuccino, etc.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES, STUDY AND WORK AT THE SAME TIME
There are many ways to find a job in Australia, depending on your level of English you will find different options, if you are just starting on an elementary English level, most likely you will be assigned a non-customer facing position meanwhile you acquire the required English level to be able to effectively communicate with customers, colleagues, and supervisors alike. Working in Australia will open doors for you in the job market and will help you grow personally and professionally.
Do not get discouraged if you are not able to work in your career or profession right away after you arrive in Australia, this is the constant struggle of thousands of non-English speaking immigrants in Australia, the language barrier. The ability to communicate effectively with your colleagues and supervisors at work is a crucial factor for any type of position, so it’s okay if you can’t work straight away in the job or position you studied for, or in the kind of jobs you just to do back home.
At Lexis English, we take pride in helping our students to be ‘job ready’ as best we can and exploring the Australian job market through workshops, lectures and promoting local jobs for our students to apply for on our social media and campus boards. Given that you most likely won’t find your dream job right away, I suggest having several resumes ready, segmented by the industry or profession you want to work in.
If you are interested in working in the hospitality industry (bars, restaurants, hotels), create a resume that is solely focused on that industry and highlight your experience and skills in that specific field. Industry-oriented resumes will help you focus your efforts and organize your strategy to finally land a job you feel comfortable with. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a good idea to keep applying for desired positions related to your profession or career.
For example, if you are an engineer go ahead and create a resume focused on that field and take the opportunity to shine and highlight your professional achievements and showcase how passionate and committed you are to your career. Job hunting and applying for positions is a job by itself, so be disciplined, manage your time effectively, and set daily goals so that by the end of the day you feel accomplished. It’s also important to keep morale high, don’t give up and don’t take “NO” personally.
If you are looking for “Qualified jobs” in Australia and you want to work in your profession or career I highly recommend you use LinkedIn for that purpose, without a doubt is your best tool to directly engage with potential employers in any professional field. If you already have a LinkedIn account in your native language, you don’t need to create a new one, just translate it to English by following the steps on this link, https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a541791
If you are looking for “non-qualified jobs” or casual jobs, then LinkedIn might not be the best option for you, there are hundreds of job hunting/job-seeking websites, however, at some point, all of them will take you to these two main ones where you can find all sort of jobs in all industries.
Don’t be afraid to look for positions that require you to speak your native language, Australia is a multicultural and cosmopolitan country where there’s a demand for virtually anything, so, go ahead and give it a try and search for jobs that are actually looking for a specific demographic, language or cultural background.
Be proactive and take advantage of the job market knowledge you already acquired from your home country, it is a great idea to constantly look for jobs in multinational recruiting firms such as Adecco, Hays, Robert Half, Michael page and many others, those companies don’t exclusively recruit senior positions such as CEO, Director, Manager etc. They also recruit for all sorts of positions and levels across all industries, so make sure to constantly check their websites.
TRY NEW THINGS!
Australia is a land of opportunity and discovery for everyone so just try new things you might find a new career/profession/role that you love even more than whatever you were doing back in your home country.
Conclusion:
There is something for everyone here in Australia, don’t get discouraged, persist and you will thrive!
Here are some bonus websites to search for your dream job here in Australia
JobActive powered by JobSearch
https://www.simplyhired.com.au
https://www.adecco.com.au
https://www.hays.com.au/offices/perth
https://www.senserecruitment.com.au
https://au.drakeintl.com/job-seeker
Michael Page Recruitment Agency Perth
https://www.adecco.com.au/perth
https://www.people2people.com.au
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