You can do more research and decide if you are willing to take the risk.
But you will never know unless you try.
It depends on one's luck as well.

Which part of Australia are you looking to move to?

I feel bad for your friend. Which place is he at ?

I need to sell some of my stuff and quit my job if I were to decide to move. Big decision.

I think its Sydney. I don't want to go back to Melbourne, I am bored of that place.

Well, be aware that accommodation is significantly higher in Syd than in Melb.
But, having said that there are more job opportunities esp in finance.

I don't know why u find Melb 'boring'. It's less congested, very European feel in the city, and a strong and vibrant ex-Bolehland community.

Having lived in both cities, I can say that Melb is definitely more welcoming than Syd.

Yes that's why I was thinking of Sydney, more jobs. But I am well aware that property prices are higher there.

I don't like the box shape city centre. The trams are very easy to take but other than that just want to see somewhere different. Of course, the suburbs of Melbourne are huge, that stretch all the way to Frankston peninsular.

Mate, here is my take on your friend's situation and perhaps you might find it relevant:

Sweet spot and marketing is the 2 main theme about getting a job in Aus. Speaking of sweet spot, if you were in a senior position, recruiters are unlikely to recruit you for junior roles because they question your intention to stay in the long run - you are likely to move out once you find a better job. It is more logical to apply for the right level that looks like a right fit (i emphasise "looks like a right fit", not "fit you right"). I am willing to bet that if you friend applied for managerial roles or more senior roles instead, he is more likely to get calls because it looks like he is making a right progression compared to asking for junior roles. I do not know him personally so I can't judge how well your friends present himself. Academic credentials are pretty irrelevant if you are looking for experienced roles, I myself graduated from a local twinning college in KL and have never studied overseas. I really do not think I am smart but I think I might have positioned myself correctly for the right role by telling the right story about my career progression, with a large dose of luck and good timing obviously. Long story short - able to craft a very natural and interesting story about yourself and your career, with a dash of unique personality are the selling points in getting a job, in my opinion. Aussies dig that.

About laid back lifestyle, Sydney is as bz as it gets and it is getting more "Asian" in terms of working culture if you know what i mean. You can try out if you want and there is no harm with that but I think you will find better quality of life in other cities like Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide. Melbourne is getting pretty Asian too in terms of working culture.

Just out of curiosity, you mean Aus allow you to stay in Msia for the next 10 years after your PR expired? Anyway, that is all good but I think the longer your drag, the more unlikely you will find a job because of career gap etc. Getting a job in Aus is a leap of faith, not really a calculated measure mate, so one must be prepared to lose in some way in order to gain. I digress.

Cheers

This post has been edited by Justin Wong: Oct 6 2016, 06:19 PM

I can't really make a move yet mate. Reason being not enough saving as a lot of my money is going to my wedding. You know lah, Chinese wedding is not cheap. Then my fiancée has found a new job she really love, I really not ready to make her resign and follow me to Australia.

You are quite right about senior person asking for junior position. I got one friend who was a financial controller at Chinaman co. He told me this ridiculous question from interviewers that they not convince he would stay long because of his age and senior position. In which I am surprise, I said to him, he can actually tell them that he only want to the quality of life in Australia and not bother about senior position, even that can't convince them that he would stay long. I was just thinking - is this an excuse use by Aussies to discount experienced Asians? I mean, in this day and age, most Aussies don't stay long in their work anyway. If we see Seek.com a lot of jobs are on contractual basis, sheesh. And they want to hire people who last long? I even have a friend at Fitch who tells me his finance exec in AUstralia is actually a part time yoga instructor and part time accountant at Fitch Ratings in Sydney.

So to put this on my friend, is like geez, sound like a ton of excuses from the interviewers.

Well its more like I have to apply for RRV. I need to get an employer only then they reinstate my PR.

I am quite used to Asian culture anyways, I work for a big HK multinational co. So yeah I know how its like.

Congrats in order I say.

I accumulated my savings from my one-year job in SG. Maybe you can consider getting a job in SG and save enough "ammunition". In addition, SG experience is more recognised by Aussies compared to Msia, perception wise. It is probably a safe choice too. Think about it.

Again, you are focusing too much on reality. Whether everyone will eventually move out or not is not important, perception is. Contracting is a good idea too and it pays higher as well. Modesty is not something Aussies believe in and if you are good, Aussies believe that you should always shout it out loud and make it known, if your friend discount himself too much, Aussies will believe he is probably not that great anyway because they will not understand why people would wanna discount themselves if they are good, it is counterintuitive to them. So don't discount it yourself too much, it is like a genuine Rolex selling at price that is too cheap - people will start wondering if the Rolex is genuine because it is too good to be true. You get my point.

It is not exactly clear if you actually have a PR status ready or not but suffice to say if you don't, recruiters will not be as keen as well. Long story short, if you need to do too much explanation about your career or your right to work, it becomes messy and recruiter prefer a cleaner candidate. That is cruel reality. So get your PR reinstated once you set your mind to it so that your profile is cleaner.

That is all from me. Good luck once again!

This post has been edited by Justin Wong: Oct 6 2016, 07:28 PM

The longer u wait the more difficult u will find to find a job or decide to move, imho. Wedding, kids, career. U need to decide what yr endgame is. Fact is once kids come, moving over becomes 1000x more difficult.

There is no shame about contracting. Of course there is a risk, but u do get paid extra to compensate for annual leave and the like.
There is no certainty with cost cutting and outsourcing. So even if u can land a perm role there is no guarantee u can stay on.
The main diff is that u can get a redundancy from a permanent (unless they go completely bankrap) but nothing for a contractor.
A lot of companies prefer contractors so they can still get a resource and obtain tax advantages.

Yr fren needs to downplay his senior experience and simplify his CV.For example, if he is a FC, say he is a supervisor instead. Put in the relevant skills for the job in the CV but take out the stuff like "I hire and manage x employees, have final sign off on the accounts" if the job does not require it.

From the recruiters POV, their concern is that yr fren will leave soon cos of the lack of challenge and the junior aspects of the role. This will cast him in a bad light frm his customer for selecting inappropriate candidates and also deprive him of his commission.

Better make sure u still can reinstate yr RRV.

Actually its quite complicated to get my PR reinstated. I know how to do it but I don't want to reveal too much here.

You have your point about Rolexes, if you notice VW lately been dropping their price, who would ever imagine Jetta would drop from 150k to 105k? So people are thinking this car is a rustbucket with continental break downs. But in actual fact its a really good car with TSI engine.

Its all about balance I can say. Bid your salary too low, they think you are spoilt goods, bid too high, they think you are overrated. For me, I worked my way up from an accounts exec, to accountant to finance manager. So I really don't mind busting my chop down to Accountant level. I saw some decent jobs even contractual like AUD 90k to 120k. But some posters think that's too much for a first job in Australia, I guess they could be right. They know better anyway because I never tried the Aust job market before.

The thing is sometimes when we get married, we tend not to use our brains, I just committed myself to a property. So its like really hard for me to save to go to Australia. Thanks for your congrats.

Yeah I was thinking of Singapore too as the other alternative. I mean, yeah life is stress there but so is here. I am working for MNC working like dog Hongkee/Singaporean culture company but earning dog ringgit pay. So maybe better to consider relocating to Singapore as the exchange rate has really made it attractive.



This post has been edited by dangerminimouse: Oct 7 2016, 09:30 AM

I know I been told about the longer I wait the more difficult. But I am having dilemma to migrate or not. That's the catch. You be surprise that majority of my friends who migrate actually are from family status as having kids has encouraged them to migrate for better education standard and away from the racism red shirt in bolehland. Fact is, I have a relative who graduated in Aust and also got his PR, straight away look for jobs, but even with his age advantage, they still no consider him. 2 years of searching, he gave up on permanent jobs. Now in his 4th year as a migrant he works as a part timer.

The trouble with contracting some of the job only last 3 months. I know people tell me these jobs can beautify your CV but at end of day, even in Malaysia, people don'tsee contracting experience as somewhat important. But I can say its better than no job at all so mind as well take it up. Which boils to the question I wonder why Aussies are so afraid that migrants who apply junior job have this fear we won't last long. As far as I know, the Aussie job environment is so competitive, that people don't work 20 years old timer in the co anymore because of redundancy and the competitive nature of the work there. A lot of Aussies are having part time, contractual and most likely jump job after a few years. Somehow I suspect its a racism excuse from job recruiters to discount out migrant skilled workers, so they can avoid fair work penalties. But anyways its just my perspective I could be wrong.

He is downplaying his CV, my friend is looking for junior jobs but he is also looking into other positions such as marketing and counsellor. He been applying like 50 jobs a month but to no avail so few interviews come in. I told him to stick to relevant skill to his expertise. But he stubborn still apply only 10 out of 50 link to his accounting profession. Not sure why he is targeting other type of jobs. Its his will anyway I cant change his mind.

I got plenty of frens in big 4 in sydney / melb. I think they are doing well. At least facebook suggests that. XD

Like I said most ppl cant decide to migrate until kids come into the pic. Then all the problems with age, job etc come about. What I am saying is that by preempting the decision things may work out better.

There are 6 and 12 months contracts. Some are on perpetual contracts. My experience has been that firms take on contracts due to the uncertain nature of the economy, ease in rapidly expanding or contracting resources and as I mentioned b4, tax implications.

As for racism, many countries practice this. In reality most large firms I worked with or for has been multicultural with a mix of Asians, Caucasians, Middle Eastern etc. Fair work also applies for part timers and contractors. There was a case not too long ago, when Coles contracted out the trolley pushing service. The contractor underpaid his staff and pocketed the rest. Was reported and charged, both parties found guilty. Ditto for 7-11 and the franchisees who hired and then underpaid casual staff.

This post has been edited by shazam7: Oct 7 2016, 11:30 AM

then good lor but perhaps employers are very careful to recruit due to fairwork issues.

I know what you mean, I wish I can decide now but its hard. Besides I am not as young as you think. So I am a person who marry at late age. The impact of age has already come to me.

Even here we do take up contracts due to budget restrictions. In Aust I heard my friend wife had to go back to msia to take care of her dad who was dying of cancer, so they hired a 6 mths contract staff to back her.

I am one that went from 2 month contracting straight to permanent , and I am the only non angmo in my business unit. Interestingly my bosses made sure i got offered the permanent position even they had to interview other ang moh for the position due to company policy . So to say racism i dont see it. maybe im lucky i count my blessings everyday.

To be honest I was never treated like this in MY there was more racism in my previous workplace.

I think you're way worry too much though. To be realistic, if there's too many factor to consider on moving over, i suggest you should stay back in Malaysia coz or else you'll be miserable and end up depression later.
I'm not pouring cold water but just every person's commitment probably different.
Like my case, wife's parents at mid 70s so i can't move too far away from KL even my visa let work every corner of Oz. Any shit happens at least can quickly fly back.

Just my 50cents advise.

TBH i can't see any discrimination yet only beers clang clang sound and BBQ everytime...lol

that's why I am staying back in Malaysia.

there maybe 2 or 3 success cases but out of that, I likely hear 30 more unemployed there for every 2 or 3. Its they who are depressed and miserable.

Even if you are every corner of Oz you still like 6 hours flying away (I think Darwin or Christmas island is closest).

This post has been edited by dangerminimouse: Oct 7 2016, 02:18 PM

5 hours from Perth to be precise

So is Perth easier to find job?

I got one colleague daughter migrated to Perth as a pharmacist.

Seems got high demand for pharmacist in Oz. Maybe its because Ozzies love prescription drugs?