First of all, never tell people you're degree qualified unless you want to use it for RPL (course credit). All these skilling initiatives are generally for bogan jobseekers who tak habis skolah lol. But being asian as I am, I milk the system for what it is worth.

Also it is free. So nothing to lose. Cheap courses are also available at SkillsTech Acacia Ridge.

Where are you stuck in anyways? It's not too bad, you can always tide yourself over by working at the local 7-11 or Maccas till things get better. I'd wait till 6 months after the GE before I'd give up.

That's just life lah.

I'm still the best goddamned toilet cleaner this side of the Darling Downs. I'll unblock a toilet bowl in club after a huge Saturday night with my bare hands in one go lol.


If you know your taxation law, you can get away with murder. I got every thing I paid to the tax office back.

My tips:
1) Keep a diary of all expenses and travels
2) Carrying any of your tools which weight more than 20kg back and forth from home allows you to claim vehicle deductions
3) Claim for study related costs and books among other things
4) Work from home? Keep a record of hours! You can offset your phone/internet and electricity bills
5) Claim depreciation on tax deductible assets
6) Income protection insurance and insurance related to investments can be used to offset tax
7) Your handphone and business related calls can be used to offset your mobile bills
8) If you're crazy. Negative Gearing. Mind you it is not for the faint of heart.

You can refer to your accountant or the ATO website. My union, APESMA, publishes a yearly tax guide for members on how to claim with easy to follow examples in a 30 page document.

Nevermind, if you need a job fishing logs and want good pay and are up in Queensland, just PM me. My old boss is looking for good people and he pays 25 dollars an hour after deducting everything. If you're good enough you can easily go up to 40 or 50.

This post has been edited by empire23: Jul 23 2013, 06:48 PM

Cleaner lah. Always got market cleaning business. If you're really a hard worker, the boss will subcon to you, 2 regular supermarkets will take 1 person 4 hours if you're experienced and your yearly gaji will be around the 100k mark.

6 months isn't enough. 1 year min with 2 years max even if you're going hardcore jobhunting.


Unfortunately I do not have anything similar in Sydney. But I've got a few contacts working out in Campbelltown at the Appin 9 project nearby Sydney, they're looking for experienced Electrical and Production engineers well versed in AS3000/3008 and instruments, so if you know anyone you can pass it on. They were also looking for admin staff, but they didn't tell me any requirements. Try the BHP and AGL websites. If you need referral, well, can bullshit one, because the boss there is Malaysian too

Melbourne.....well.....Melbourne is filled with gay and AIDS so no respectable friends of mine work there

They can't outsource all IT. IT "roughnecks" are sort of an "elite force" in corporate mining IT. They both manage IT and deploy it when necessary, in the field, in the office, anywhere. Their backgrounds are IT but they double as telemetry and instrumentation engineers when required. Often they're "seconded" or loaned to other mine sites for their skills between the same company with extra pay. Most are at home programming admin scripts via powershell as they are at home under the hot sun wiring up fiber net comms.

Because they work in the field, both as managers and technicians, they usually advance up the ranks twice as fast as any other IT personnel. They're paid double the average city IT joe, on average about 130k a year for an experienced admin with coal board induction and they only answer to the mine site EEM (Electrical Engineering Manager), so in essence, they do what the **** they want (much to my dislike sometimes).

They are also my Number 1 enemy as their stupid IT policies make my work harder and on average take 3 weeks longer than it should. As much as I understand the need for a rekey time for your stupid SSL VPN, what I don't understand is why you have to rekey the stupid thing every 15 minutes which f***s with my meshnet.

At the age of 40 plus the likelihood of you getting enough points to migrate are very slim.

He is right as well, most employers here disregard your Malaysian experience. To them it is worth nothing. If you are above 40 with a family and without Australian experience in the accounting line, it would be hard to get a job.

This post has been edited by empire23: Jul 26 2013, 08:10 PM

Well suggest you do SAP in Malaysia first.

1. It's effing expensive with a 2 day course on average costing about 4k AUD.
2. It is only useful if you have experience. Nobody wants a fresh SAP consultant.

http://www.bn.tafe.qld.gov.au/business-ind...p-training.html

Awesome if you know people.

Shit if you don't.

OnG/Mining generally hire friends one. If you're really smart (Honours student, co-curriculum banyak, vacation experience and so on) you can get in via their graduate programs, but hiring is very very competitive.

If you got friends, even freshie can get paid as well as someone with 2 years exp.

Because everyone keeps hearing stories of how their cousin's wife's uncle's son in law has made it big over here lah.



Yes, unfortunately. I honestly have recommended friends not on the basis of qualifications but rather on the fact they're me mates.

If there is one place where the Aussie culture of "sticking by your mates" is strong, it is in this sector.

It is the best of the cities, but still not good. If you want an EnE job Singapore, Taiwan or Malaysia are your tickets. There is little in terms of need for electronic engineers (which is reflected in the SkillSelect demand list)

If you're willing to go electrical, knowledge of AS3000, AS3008, AS1102 (with AS3007 and 3008 if you want to work in Mining or Construction). All the shit they never taught me in Uni.

If you don't mind me asking, how much are you being paid and which subsector of OnG mining are you in? I got an offer to move to WA recently although my answer for the pay offered was akin to "get **cked"

My mates from Weatherford just got screwed. It isn't going anywhere till after post election consolidation.


If you can't find a job in Malaysia where getting interviews and landing your first job is a 2 to 3 month affair, you won't find one here man.

The only people you should do an assessment with is the DIAC. Once you are granted a permanent visa, they will give an ARRIVE NO LATER DATE on your visa. Example below of my old expired visa.

Well, all the occupations you mentioned have their own regulatory bodies. As my friends from the US say, too much regulation. Breaking out of your current job scope usually entails a significant investment of cost and a lot of uncertainty.

Plus all the jobs you mentioned need you to deal with people face to face, that is another issue as Aussies generally have a hidden streak of "politically correct" racism and a general aversion to newcomers.

Hey, you could make it from there to restaurant owner. It happens quite regularly as you learn the tricks of the trade. People switch vocations quite often over here. Our sales consultant used to be a fitter mechanic, our production manager an electrician and so on.

Australians don't have a really rigid "job expectation". The night manager at the IGA I used to clean at was a psychologist.

Money is definitely worse by a mile in the UK. Plus how do you even get a visa these days?

I personally have no problems getting a visa to the UK. My work with DART Energy up in Aberdeen helps though. But for the current layperson without an offer, how to move leh? The reality is that no one is going to sponsor you out of the blue lah unless you've been in the workforce for years and have contacts.

My 2 cents is that no industry is recession proof. If CSG goes down the drain and I have to go back to Malaysia after 10 years in this industry, what would I do? There are a lot of things people can do. Be flexible, I mean if you're a cleaner and hold 2 contracts that's an easy 100k a year, provided you've been in the business long enough and know people. I have a cleaning subcon named Micheal and he used to be a SAP consultant in Sydney. We both know the cleaning money is good.

Be flexible with what you do, your degree course doesn't determine everything. I'm an electrical eng by qualification but most of my work is in completions and telemetry. Sometimes I even spec flow, piping, gaskets and so on. If you want to survive you have to be multitalented and willing to learn.

Not really lol. I used to drive people to knockshops, hookers have it as bad as everyone else when the economy goes down .

They used to pay me 30-40 AUD as commission for every person I brought them. Good Times

Selamat Hari Raya to those in Australistan who are celebrating.



And to those participating in the election, may our votes be heard regardless of who we support. Unless you support the Greens, in that case I hope you die in a fire

Me mates at Alstom and ABB say there are openings for something along these lines, but these jobs usually fill up fast.

If you don't mind me asking, how much were you offered? 100k? Probably with a probationary period and review afterwards?

A 3 month review is good.

If you earn a lot, there are a lot of tax avoidance strategies you can. I didn't pay a cent of tax last year.

eg; I bought a tool box, put it my car and have over 20kg worth of tools. Thus I can legally claim my drive to an from work as tax deductible.

400k for a family of 4?

Given that you have 3 dependents, I'd be looking at earnings of 100k a year before going to the banks for a loan. This based off the general lending criteria I know of when I last talked to CBA and St George.

I would sell the property back home. Over here is your LVR is above 80 percent. eg; You take a loan above 80k for a house which is worth 100k. You'll have to pay for mortgage lenders insurance which can drive up the price (it is called a "low deposit premium") and is a must, so you'll also have to pay about 100 dollars extra a month for a loan of 300k AUD. Remember that you also need home and contents insurance.

Also having a low deposit means you lose out on 0.8 of a percent on interest cuts if you bank with the big 4.

I'm quite I have all of that covered. Screw giving them my tax dollars. Plus the idea of secure store is very subjective. I can say I feel that the office is reasonably unsafe given the cost of my tools.

Malaysia has a double taxation treaty with Australia. What I earn in Malaysia is not taxed here in Australia as long as I pay Malaysian tax. As I am a citizen of Malaysia by the definition of the treaty I am considered a "resident".

That's true. A sparky's Cert III ticket is a worth more than an MBA. If you got a Cert IV instro ticket + Sparky ticket, you can name your terms most of the time and take home 140k.

A degree isn't worth much, thus my want to finish my TAFE ASAP and putting it even above my masters Petroleum Eng .