Good day.

I am an electrical engineering students which graduated last year November (transcript and graduation ceremony in this coming June) and been start working as project engineer (construction) till now. Before this, I have some experience on hands-on electrical work and AutoCad as i work as part-time technician and draftsman during my 4 years degree. Currently I am interested in Australia Professional Year Program. I did check their requirement and I am eligible for the course as well as the application for the visa. However, the classes are only conducted at night or during weekend. So, I am planning to work during daytime (the visa allow me to work) to support my living expenses and to attend the class at night/weekend. I am wondering, with our Malaysia engineering degree (I will have two degree; one from the university and another from UK), am I easy to find an engineering job in Australia ? I dont mind if I have to start from the bottom.

I will be staying with my relative, thus my major concern is my daily living expenses (if possible I would like to save for my course fee as well). Will it be easier find a job at the store like ALDI or Woolworths as compared to engineering-related job?

have you thought of NZ?

Yes, in fact, I love NZ more than australia. However, i didnt manage to search any professional year program at NZ. Secondly, I dont have any friend nor relative staying there. Thus, renting house increase my monthly expenses.

Would like to ask, how's the engineering industry at NZ compared to Australia ?

Good day.

I am an electrical engineering students which graduated last year November (transcript and graduation ceremony in this coming June) and been start working as project engineer (construction) till now. Before this, I have some experience on hands-on electrical work and AutoCad as i work as part-time technician and draftsman during my 4 years degree. Currently I am interested in Australia Professional Year Program. I did check their requirement and I am eligible for the course as well as the application for the visa. However, the classes are only conducted at night or during weekend. So, I am planning to work during daytime (the visa allow me to work) to support my living expenses and to attend the class at night/weekend. I am wondering, with our Malaysia engineering degree (I will have two degree; one from the university and another from UK), am I easy to find an engineering job in Australia ? I dont mind if I have to start from the bottom.

I will be staying with my relative, thus my major concern is my daily living expenses (if possible I would like to save for my course fee as well). Will it be easier find a job at the store like ALDI or Woolworths as compared to engineering-related job?

Hi there, I am currently a Manager in the CF consulting practice of PwC in Australia and I hope I can share a bit of insight or perhaps some of my personal thoughts on getting accounting and finance jobs in Aus.

In my personal point of view, you need the following 3 ingredients to stand a good chance with securing a job in Australia:

(1) Connection/Network (If you have friends who is currently working in the company you wanna join, their endorsement will be very helpful, as Aussies are wary of hiring offshore candidates because they are not familiar with Malaysians.. without being racist or anything, just imagine a highly educated and top candidate from Bangladesh randomly send you an application for a job, will you be keen to purely assess the candidate based on his papers?)

(2) Solid and proven experience - Let's face it, the job market in Aus is competitive, mainly because everyone throughout the world wants to migrate to Aus to live in one of the World's most liveable country. That being said, the competition is actually at the lower level accounting / finance jobs, where there is just too many good candidates that an employer can choose. I liase quite closely with a number of headhunters in Australia and I gathered that actually there is a healthy demand for experience accountants, auditors or finance professionals at the managerial level, especially those with strong technical skills, esp the Big 4s, some bulge bracket IBs and consulting firms. At least that was quite true before the recent economic events.. but that being said, I can tell you the Big 4s are still looking at ppl. In short, there is a shortage of good quality candidate at the managerial lvl but a total oversupply at the junior or slightly senior role instead.

Unlike in Malaysia or Singapore however, Aussies are very choosy in selecting candidates, they would rather not employ anyone at all and leave the vacancy open than employing the less than ideal candidate (I have worked in Malaysia for 5 years and in Singapore for 1 year, I gathered that they will lower their standard and get someone in to do the job if they are desperate, I might be wrong)

(3) Ability to present yourself confidently and talk well during interview - Goes without saying, that is just Aussie/foreigner's mentality, the ability of you talking through and bullshit (to a certain extent) signifies confidence and perceived ability, which is something I personally do not like and disagree in many extent, but then again, I am not in charge.

In addition, it will be very helpful in terms of CV if you have been working in similar role in Singapore. It seems that Aussies are more familiar with Singapore and recognise Singapore experience as equivalent.

Contrary to general belief, it is actually harder to secure an accounting role in smaller commercial companies / firms compared to getting into larger professional firms like Big 4s, because employers in this space are much more parochial and they expect candidate to have more Aussie local experience, more than what bigger international firms like PwC expect. I think there is a lot of job candidate had that false impression and hence went to apply for smaller roles in smaller companies with the idea that it might be easier. It is not.

The only challenge with getting into bigger companies however is that there is a very high expectation of your CV and qualifications, which some of us may not have the luxury to have it.

Bottom line, it is possible, but difficult nonetheless. If you think I must be some foreign grad, you are wrong: I graduate locally from a private college and I have never step foot in Aus before that. Full disclosure: I worked in the CF consulting practice in Big 4s in Malaysia and a mid-tier firm in SG for 6 years, and I am an ACCA and CFA. However, I do not think my ACCA or CFA is the key determining factor, though it definitely make my overall picture look coherent and nice as a candidate. Ultimately, it is your experience that matters, as there are ppl with lesser qualification still get hired because of their solid experience.

Hope that helps.

I know there has been a serious influx of accounting graduates who tried to secure PR and entry role accountant.  So I'm considering the risk of putting a huge investment (& burden) on two years Aussie education and not getting a chance to secure PR.

I only have a friend's brother who is currently a fifth year student in Uni Melb gotten his PR after two years studies of accounting degree.
Anyone else got opinion to share?

Any malaysian accounting graduate in Aussie manage to get PR in the past one or two years?

I know there has been a serious influx of accounting graduates who tried to secure PR and entry role accountant.  So I'm considering the risk of putting a huge investment (& burden) on two years Aussie education and not getting a chance to secure PR. Education has been a major income for Aus and I'm afraid this keeping accoutant on the SOL list is a marketing gimmick of gov and higher education.

I only have a friend's brother who is currently a fifth year student in Uni Melb gotten his PR after two years studies of accounting degree.
Anyone else got opinion to share?

Anyone study building and construction(B&C) or already work as foreman/site manager at Australia ?  Mind to share some experience here.

Do you have an existing visa? What visa do you plan to apply for?

Because if you're a UK grad, your UK Degree might not meet EngAus requirements for engineer status, but you did say 4 years so you should be ok. So ensure that you are eligible for registration before anything else.

Usually an overseas degree from a Malaysian uni without large amounts of professional experience is viewed negatively. The engineering market is heavily depressed with a lot of jobless grads, for people like me that are already experienced, things are usually far easier but currently with major resource projects winding down, you'll find that you have to compete with 10 years post-grad qualified engineers with CPEng status in the job market.

Also HR departments everywhere generally require you hold a PR before they give you a shot at even making the short list. They usually ignore job applications from non-PR/citizens unless you're a top of the crop grad with specialized experience. Also your electrical technician experience doesn't really count here as employers know that only Cert III qualified persons with a license and apprenticeship can work as techs/sparkies.

As for NZ. If you thought the Aussie market was bad, wait till you look at NZ lol.

you mean construction manager?

isnt kiwi better now than Australia? like Kiwi need the infra work and real upgrade. correct me.

Even if u get the PR, accounting jobs are hard to come by. Multiple applicants for each job. Health care, aged care, child care, trades - plumbers, electricians - r in short supply, based on what I have read.

getting a PR with accountancy qualifications is not difficult.

Getting a job is another matter altogether, market is down expected to be like this for awhile.

i think you better put a priority into education first then only PR. the immigration rules will change year after year so you won't know if accounting still in the SOL list after 2-3 years. only consider it when u entering last or last 2 of semester

Any malaysian accounting graduate in Aussie manage to get PR in the past one or two years?

I know there has been a serious influx of accounting graduates who tried to secure PR and entry role accountant.  So I'm considering the risk of putting a huge investment (& burden) on two years Aussie education and not getting a chance to secure PR. Education has been a major income for Aus and I'm afraid this keeping accoutant on the SOL list is a marketing gimmick of gov and higher education.

I only have a friend's brother who is currently a fifth year student in Uni Melb gotten his PR after two years studies of accounting degree.
Anyone else got opinion to share?

Btw, there is still healthy demand for accountants, just that it is not evenly distributed - there is shortage at the senior, experience level and in places other than Melbourne/Sydney. You may stand a higher chance if you are willing to work in say.. Gold coast or Adelaide or somewhere but then I suppose that defeats the purpose as most ppl wants to stay in Sydney and Melb.

How come nobody thought about re-education i.e. studying or re-studying to be tradesperson job like electricians, air-con servicing technician, car mechanic or nursing? Those could potentially pay much more than accounting and finance or whatever "professional" jobs. There is a serious shortage of skilled tradesperson and nursing that at one point that students (i think it was nursing) was offered multiple jobs with very decent salary and fast tracked PR priority. It also comes with less job insecurity

Do you have an existing visa? What visa do you plan to apply for?

Because if you're a UK grad, your UK Degree might not meet EngAus requirements for engineer status, but you did say 4 years so you should be ok. So ensure that you are eligible for registration before anything else.

Usually an overseas degree from a Malaysian uni without large amounts of professional experience is viewed negatively. The engineering market is heavily depressed with a lot of jobless grads, for people like me that are already experienced, things are usually far easier but currently with major resource projects winding down, you'll find that you have to compete with 10 years post-grad qualified engineers with CPEng status in the job market.

Also HR departments everywhere generally require you hold a PR before they give you a shot at even making the short list. They usually ignore job applications from non-PR/citizens unless you're a top of the crop grad with specialized experience. Also your electrical technician experience doesn't really count here as employers know that only Cert III qualified persons with a license and apprenticeship can work as techs/sparkies.

As for NZ. If you thought the Aussie market was bad, wait till you look at NZ lol.