Melbourne Jobs

BN123

Hi Guys,

I've been living in Melbourne now since the end of November and can't seem to find a job anywhere. 5 of us have been sending out CV's and calling recruitment agencies for weeks now with out any luck.

I work in IT and my girlfriend in Advertising, since the start of January we have handed CV's into shops in the CBD/DFO area and still we don't get a call/Interview. Not even an ice-cream shop wants us.

Any Irish in Melbourne have any advice of where to look? We are thinking about packing it in now and using our money to travel.

Thanks,

brendansmith

BN123 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I've been living in Melbourne now since the end of November and can't seem to find a job anywhere. 5 of us have been sending out CV's and calling recruitment agencies for weeks now with out any luck.

I work in IT and my girlfriend in Advertising, since the start of January we have handed CV's into shops in the CBD/DFO area and still we don't get a call/Interview. Not even an ice-cream shop wants us.

Any Irish in Melbourne have any advice of where to look? We are thinking about packing it in now and using our money to travel.

Thanks,

If i were ye i would just travel. My mates have been here longer than you lot and they are equally as unlucky tbh

Coileach dearg

If recruiters see that you are only visiting for a short term then there isn't a hope of getting you a job. You have to make up white lies and tell them you are interested in staying in Australia for a good while. You have to be able to talk to talk.

Zambia

BN123 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I've been living in Melbourne now since the end of November and can't seem to find a job anywhere. 5 of us have been sending out CV's and calling recruitment agencies for weeks now with out any luck.

I work in IT and my girlfriend in Advertising, since the start of January we have handed CV's into shops in the CBD/DFO area and still we don't get a call/Interview. Not even an ice-cream shop wants us.

Any Irish in Melbourne have any advice of where to look? We are thinking about packing it in now and using our money to travel.

Thanks,

That's not good to hear ....

However other posters are right permanent/not permanent is the first question asked when people respond to my applications.

lady_j

Well firstly look at applying to temping agencies, if your on the WHV you're only permitted to work for 6 months with one company so recruitment agencies have no interest unless your in the critical skills list (engineering, trades, nursing etc). I found geoffrey nathan quite helpful, they send your cvto all their contacts. They take a cut of the tax allowance but they did get me a lot of work so that made up for it. http://www.gnjobs.com.au/

devondudley

im in the same boat me and my girlfriend here since start of dec tried all the temp agencies and handing in cv's to everywhere. I was told they basically only gonna hire oz first then working holiday people but with the way the economy is going worldwide loads of people need jobs.I must have applied for well over 100 jobs and nothing so far im gonna go fruit picking in a week for a few months if i cant find anything

brendansmith

devondudley wrote: »

im in the same boat me and my girlfriend here since start of dec tried all the temp agencies and handing in cv's to everywhere. I was told they basically only gonna hire oz first then working holiday people but with the way the economy is going worldwide loads of people need jobs.I must have applied for well over 100 jobs and nothing so far im gonna go fruit picking in a week for a few months if i cant find anything

Man, why the hell not go fruitpicking?

The weather is good, its good excercise and its great money.

Plus do 3 months and you will have a 2 year workin holiday visa, you can take this and use the money from fruit picking to go to perth and get a job. Melbourne will always be there, its just a bit full at the moment.

Aslong as the missus isnt too wingey you should have a blast! But they rarely arent;)

BraziliaNZ

wow, I had no probs getting work in Melb this time last year, but I probably have more experience than y'all. I think traditionally summer is a quiet time of year on the job front down here anyway, and with the bloody stupid global slowdown i'm so sick of hearing about, this wont make things any easier. A warning though to all who think the streets are paved with gold down here.

Zambia

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

wow, I had no probs getting work in Melb this time last year, but I probably have more experience than y'all. I think traditionally summer is a quiet time of year on the job front down here anyway, and with the bloody stupid global slowdown i'm so sick of hearing about, this wont make things any easier. A warning though to all who think the streets are paved with gold down here.

Very true I keep hearing about the hoards of people applying from Ireland (Granted I see no official figures) for residency but by the time VISA's are processed and they sell houses etc I really don,t think it will look as rosy as they hoped.

Hopefully people come here because they want to live here and not because there is apparently loads of work. As their is a sizable chunk of Australians returning from London each week. In direct competition with new arrivals.

That said I have no idea how to find a Job on a WHV. Anyway I'm off for a walk on the golden streets.

BraziliaNZ

seriously though, when i was in melbourne last year, you could walk around st kilda or downtown or richmond or anywhere really and WALK into a job in the service industry in a bar/shop/restaurant. I lived with some girls who would be offered 2 or 3 jobs a day in bars/restaurants etc. Met tonnes and tonnes of backpackers from all over and no one had a problem finding a job, I really don't know what you're doing wrong.

Zambia

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

seriously though, when i was in melbourne last year, you could walk around st kilda or downtown or richmond or anywhere really and WALK into a job in the service industry in a bar/shop/restaurant. I lived with some girls who would be offered 2 or 3 jobs a day in bars/restaurants etc. Met tonnes and tonnes of backpackers from all over and no one had a problem finding a job, I really don't know what you're doing wrong.

Dublin 2005 - 2006 was pretty much the same

Actually theres a question if you wanted any job in Dublin at present could you get a Job? As in the sort of jobs you look for here.

brendansmith

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

seriously though, when i was in melbourne last year, you could walk around st kilda or downtown or richmond or anywhere really and WALK into a job in the service industry in a bar/shop/restaurant. I lived with some girls who would be offered 2 or 3 jobs a day in bars/restaurants etc. Met tonnes and tonnes of backpackers from all over and no one had a problem finding a job, I really don't know what you're doing wrong.

Things have changes man. There used to be hundreds of ads on the internet for my line of work last year , there aint no more.

Count yourself lucky that you are dug in

neon_glows

I came to melbourne in September.
I sat on Internet for 3 days 12 hours a day and applied to every (every recruitment agency in Melbourne). I even called alot of them and kept everything as personal as possible.
One recruitment agency called me back, took me in for an interview in september a few days after my internet spree.
I sat the interview, talked the talk, smiled, joked, told them I intended to stay the entire 6 months in Melbourne.
I am a college drop out. Was studying IT. Didnt have any relevent office work experience.
And since then I have worked in the head offices of a Major Bank, Large Logistics company and now a Top university. All admin stuff. My wages have been 22 - 24 dollars per hour and I have been super lucky.
None of my other emails were replied too.
Xmas was queit difficult to find work.
Temping is definately the way to go.
Good luck with it but i just think run up to xmas people were winding down.
And now there just getting there stuff together again.
Plus all the school and uni kids are looking for work too since its summer.
I was out in werribee the other day, theres a big shopping complex looking for staff. Very out of the way though.

nicker_s

Maybe I'm just lucky but I got a job in IT here in Melbourne after only a few days of looking. What I was doing was searching for temporary or short term jobs on www.seek.com.au and mycareer.com.au/ they both have search options for this, you may have to do an advanced search. Most of them would be 3 month contracts. I ended up getting offered 2 within a few days. Keep firing off CV's on those sites. I've 2 mates over here with me that couldn't get jobs since Oct (not in IT mind u).

BN123

I only search for contract work on seek/mycareer and still i can't get an interview. Had one interview with Di-Data which went very well but they've put the position on hold for the moment.

I get the impression recruitment agencies only want to hire Australian citizens?

hertz

I arrived in Melbourne in August and it took me about a 2 months to get an IT job, I did some data entry in the interim until I got an IT job. I sent out CV's to as many agencies as I could and kept ringing them every week or so asking if anything has come in. After a while I asked 1 recruitment agent what the job climate was like and he said a year ago I would have been competing with 3/4 other applicants, but this year I am competing with 9/10. I did get an IT job in the end, it was a 2 month contract and they wanted to keep me on for another 2 months but I decided to go travelling again. I did have to lower my expectations though, I went back to a IT job I did 4 years ago when I came out of college in Ireland.

Zambia

hertz wrote: »

I arrived in Melbourne in August and it took me about a 2 months to get an IT job, I did some data entry in the interim until I got an IT job. I sent out CV's to as many agencies as I could and kept ringing them every week or so asking if anything has come in. After a while I asked 1 recruitment agent what the job climate was like and he said a year ago I would have been competing with 3/4 other applicants, but this year I am competing with 9/10. I did get an IT job in the end, it was a 2 month contract and they wanted to keep me on for another 2 months but I decided to go travelling again. I did have to lower my expectations though, I went back to a IT job I did 4 years ago when I came out of college in Ireland.

Are you on a WHV or a PR ?

Zambia

Zambia232 wrote: »

Actually theres a question if you wanted any job in Dublin at present could you get a Job? As in the sort of jobs you look for here.

Sorry for bumping this but would really be interested to know the answer to this?

lady_j

BN123 wrote: »

I only search for contract work on seek/mycareer and still i can't get an interview. Had one interview with Di-Data which went very well but they've put the position on hold for the moment.

I get the impression recruitment agencies only want to hire Australian citizens?

Try agencies specialising in temps. I found officeteam http://www.officeteam.com.au/Site/showpage.jsp?p=HOME&s=OFT_AUS
and julia ross very good http://www.juliaross.com.au, They'll ring you with stuff a week here or there and sometimes 2-3 month roles.

One Cold Hand

Zambia232 wrote: »

Sorry for bumping this but would really be interested to know the answer to this?

I definately wouldn't be able to get the job I currently have in Ireland.

I could get a random job though...bar work or whatever.

The Sweeper

I think the upshot is this:

There is still a similar demand for specific skilled migrant workers. If you are applying for a skilled migrant worker visa, you should still be able to get a job in your field of expertise when you get down here.

Those of you on a WHV will find it more difficult than usual to get work in the current climate. If your dream was to try your luck for a year on the WHV and hope some company sees genius in you and sponsors you, thereby bypassing your initial need for a skilled migrant visa and allowing you to stay in Australia, that ship has pretty much sailed.

If you're coming on a one year working holiday visa, you have to accept that that's what you're doing - taking a year-long holiday that you can supplement, if you're lucky, with some work here and there. Thing is, a year's faffing about on hols is something people associate with boom times, not recession. It's in times of recession that the promise of the WHV misrepresents what the visa is actually for - this isn't a 'new life' visa, it's a 'bum around and see some sights before you return home to settle down' visa, and it always has been.

The nature of WHV work is contract - call centres, IT helpdesks, temp jobs, bar work, waiting tables and so on. In a time of recession, the call centres and helpdesks and bars and restaurants are the first companies to downsize and tighten their belts.

Additionally, at times like this, the people who take a nine week contract and piss off after five weeks do nothing for everyone else. Trust me - I remember this from last time, about eight years ago. I was still in Ireland, but one of my best friends from university had moved down here to Australia and started off in Melbourne. She couldn't get a job for love nor money. She was on a spouse visa, so able to take longer-term work, but eventually one of the recruitment agents admitted to her that they'd had their fill of Irish backpackers taking longer contracts that paid better, and pissing off a few weeks into them once they'd earned enough to continue their travelling.

That's not a personal attack on anyone, it's just an observation. My father keeps telling me that there's something ridiculous like 50,000 or 80,000 Irish have applied for varieties of Australian visa in the last six months, so unless everyone starts playing nicely, it's just going to get worse.

Australia still has the ability to be a highly jingoistic country, and if the Irish invade and don't behave, there'll be tens of thousands of them here who can't get jobs just because they're Irish.

One Cold Hand

Apart from the fact that they're Irish, the WHV means that they can only work for a company for 6 months. As unemployment rises here, there will be more and more Australians applying for any given job. A prospective employer is far more likely to employ someone that can stay beyond 6 months over someone who has to leave.

the dee

lady_j wrote: »

and julia ross very good http://www.juliaross.com.au, They'll ring you with stuff a week here or there and sometimes 2-3 month roles.

Julia Ross are good, they've got me temp work in Dublin, Brisbane and Melbourne. Mostly admin stuff and one customer service call centre.

When you're on the WHV you really have to take any work you can get. I was on that in 2006, before all the economic doom and gloom, and could still only find door-to-door sales work and tele-sales jobs. I got an RSA cert but didn't get a bar job because I had no experience. When you're back-packing you need to lower your standards and take back-packer jobs.

bugle

everyone should just panic and flee Melbourne. that's the best solution imo. ill stay here and look after the place while your gone. dont worry ill let you know when its ok to come back.

mrben86

Don't like the sound of this.. will be headin to melbourne in march.. im goin to remain optimistic though! Maybe, just maye they're desperate for web developers at the moment :rolleyes:

Zambia

mrben86 wrote: »

Don't like the sound of this.. will be headin to melbourne in march.. im goin to remain optimistic though! Maybe, just maye they're desperate for web developers at the moment :rolleyes:

You never know just bring funds