Hi all,

Would like to share my experience of getting a job in Melbourne.

A little background ,I am a UK Grad Mechanical Engineer with 10 years working experience in Msia c/w a PR

I was consider lucky and truly bless by God for being able to secure this job just after 1 week landing in Oz.

Use Seek.com extensively, i even started applying 3 months before arriving. Yes it did made me feel insecure and always make me ponder should i go over as when there is no response after applying for 30 jobs. I stayed focus and being determined , as there is nothing to lose. At most you lose your air tickets for flying thru and flow to Oz.

Once i arrived Melbourne and applied for an admin job for a particular industry which i had experience in for the past 10 years. It was a very low level job ( I was a Manger in Msia) , it was a clerk-admin job with 50k annual pay. I am willing to re-climb the ladder just to get back into the same experience industry i had. You have to take a step backwards in order to advance two steps ahead.

Hiring Manager call me the next day, offering me a Sales Manager post instead. As i am over qualified for the applied admin job. It was a big surprise to me and this pointed out that there are actually alot of hidden job market in Oz.

My observation that ,employers dont really prefer to advertise thier vacancy (cost and confidentiality reason ), they would prefer to use Contact Reference or Head Hunters - lesser hassle and look good for the company

Theses are a few pointers of how i secure my job.

1) Must have strong experience under your belt , you have to stand out among the rest. Being just an ordinary employee doesnt give you any plus point especially to a new migrant. - Start building a good profile in Msia , take up new task , new challenges , new targets.

2) Oz value your experience if you work with well establish Multi-National Company (MNC) company. ( i had 8 years experience with 3 different MNC company). If you are in some GM in a ABC sdn bhd , your experience are likely not recognize. Find an MNC to work with ,its even better with those company who have office set up or at least well known in Oz

3) Your communication or rather soft Skill. Speaking clean and simple English is good enough , you dont need to speak or sound like them and they wont expect you either. In fact they enjoy listening to our accent , just how we enjoy listening to theirs. You got to be an outgoing person or blunt if i may say.

4) Write up a good Australian format of Resume ( Our Malaysian style totally wont work)- I was grateful to have a friend in Melbourne who had worked as a recruiter for 10 year. My CV was revamp from 2 pages to 6 pages , it was so good that my employer didn't actually ask me any of the technical aspect as it was stated in my resume in a clear & understandable manner by using lots of Keywords. They just need to meet me up to know me more. - Appoint a Oz recruiter at fee to review your resume , it helps alot.

Yes, it wont be easy. But keeping an optimistic mindset can bring you much further than you ever expect. Take things at a time and try not to think too far , worrying about the future not only brings you no where. It actually brings your confident down coz there is nothing concrete to anchor on. I term this as self sabotaging.

Wishing the Best of luck to the guys out there looking for job in Oz. Stay strong

Yeah...times are bad... engineers from the Mining & Manufacturing Sector is flooding the job market now... they had been laid off quite badly.

But as for the ppl that need to come over to fulfill their residence requirement in order to continue their PR have to brave on with a positive mindset.

Sometimes, being successful is a matter of timing.

Same here.... altho heavily disappointed with it... i am still proud to say i am from Malaysia.

Well , if want you want to apply a job via Seek from Malaysia . My advise would be :

1) Have a Oz address and Oz Hp stated in your resume. ( at least u can pretend that you are seriously in Oz , rather in Msia. )

2) Very Important and effective - Is your resume Australianise ? ( i.e : If you insert your picture in the resume , it will be in the bin immediately) Google a few examples of Oz Resume format. It really makes alot of difference.

Good Luck

Well .... at the other side of the coin , with a family behind you . Your motivation will be different with much much stronger determination and efforts to make the migration successful.

While being single , you will tend to be lonely at times especially when seeing your high school / childhood mates posting thier enjoyful moments with old school mates in FB.

This is always the biggest pull factor the single here... there is nothing for singles here apart from earning the high buying power of AUDs. Else, You will tend to be easily influence to move back to Msia for a more happening lifestyle and kill of the homesickness

Wherelse with a family , is a totally different prospect and gains. Oz is a perfect place to raise a family.

Just my 2 cents

Best of Luck ..!! Fingers Crossed

So you reckon Malaysia is a better place ? lolx

1) With 457 Temp. Work Visa , is not an auto upgrade to a PR after 2 years of employment . You will still need your employer to sponsor you as a Permanent Employer , which i find many company is not willing to commit into this unless one is very talented and valuable to the employer - They would rather keep you in Temp. Work Visa as long as they could to reduce their commitment and the hassle through immigration.

If employer is happy to do it , there are two paths for it - Direct Sponsor or Nominated (ENS with CSOL skillset)

Employer ( Direct Sponsor) requirements

Typical criteria includes that the employer must:
- be actively operating a lawful business in Australia
- demonstrate a genuine need for a paid, skilled employee to fill a position in their business, comply with all relevant Australian laws and demonstrate a satisfactory record of meeting immigration laws (if applicable)
- demonstrate a commitment to training Australian citizens or residents in their business
- be able and willing to provide the employee with an offer of permanent employment

Nominated position requirements

- be a full-time position which is available for at least two years from the date of grant of permanent residence,
- provide working conditions which are equal to those provided for under the relevant Australian legislation and awards,
- be at market salary rates for the nominated occupation
- If direct entry application, be a highly skilled occupation which is listed on the Consolidated Skilled Occupation List (CSOL).


For Defactor Visa , it required heaps of documents with evidence of living together as a committed partner for 12 months without being married. Live together , get a mortgage together , repaying the mortgage together , have a Will to each other name and so on.


2) If married first and get a PR after it , both will have working rights and yeah this is the best way !!

My opinion is not to rely much on Visa 457 , its better to obtain a skillset which is in the SOL or CSOL at least. With this , you can apply independently without much restriction and not relying on your employer and the SOL actually reflects the skill shortage in Oz which you could land a good paying job easily.

The real challenge is getting is actually decent pay job more then getting a Visa.

Hope it give you a better picture.

Well, you should be able to survive with some part time casual jobs.

The min. wage per hour here is AUD 16.80

Assume you work 8 hours x 6 days , thats AUD 3.2k a month

And renting a room ( by sharing a house ) is around 700-800 per month depending on location.

Should be good for a single person without family commitment like you.

All the best !!

Normaron ,may i know whats your profession ?