Civil Engineer emigrating to Perth

d.pop

Hi all, new to this so go easy on me...
I recently got full residency (skilled independant 175 visa) for Oz and am planning to head over to Perth, WA, in next few months to get set up and then for wife and kids to follow on later next year, after the hot aussie summer passes (kids are small). Have family in Perth hence the location.
My question relates to work for site/civil engineers in the perth area. I am a civil/structural engineer with 5+ years main contractor experience on site but am can't seem to find any corresponding roles on WA websites;
Is the Ozzie equivalent to an Irish site engineer a civil project engineer? Does anybody know what the job situation is actually like on the ground in WA? (The internet can at times be a bit misleading as the same job can be advertised several times on the same site..)
I see a lot of job specs require WA experience, is this really a must?
Anybody out there who can offer some advice? Would be greatly appreciated.

Lu Tze

Not very helpful right now, but i am heading out in three weeks, civil engineer, have been in consultancy/design mainly for 4 years. I'll let you know what its like when i get out there as i'll be looking to get some site experience.

cormaclynch

Hi OP,

I arrived in Australia at end of June as a civil engineer on the 175 visa. The good news is that employers seem to love this visa and all the agencies seem really impressed when you mention it to them. So basically you are an Australian citizen for employment purposes.

I applied for a job online 2 months before I arrived in Australia and heard nothing back until I arrived in Australia. Got an interview and got the job. Took about a month after initial interview to get confirmation. You might be lucky and get a place straight away.

I found the recruitment agancies very hard to deal with here. Never returned calls etc and I had to keep hounding them for info and updates. I got offered another job through a recruitment agency. They asked me on a friday what salary I was looking for and they said they would get back to me on the monday....Still waiting to hear from them!

I have 5 years site experience from Ireland. I was initially confused about what role I should be applying for. I think the general rule is after 5/6 years you ggo from a site engineer to a project engineer. So looking at you're post you should be looking at a project engineer. Also some companies have a rule that site engineers are not entitled to a company vehicle as part of their salary package while project engineers do.

Not sure what elso to tell you but if you have any other questions let me know.

Cormac

d.pop

Thanks Lu Tze, best of luck with move, hope it's to your liking...looking forward to updates.

d.pop

d.pop

Hi Cormac, thanks for that, just knowing that somebody in similar circumstances got work at all is encouraging. I've been watching Seek, Civil jobs and West Australian newspaper etc for about 6 months and things looked positive so it's good to get that confirmed from someone. Might bounce a few more queries off you if you don't mind?
Are you on site or consulting at present? How is it, busy?
Any tips on paperwork etc to get sorted as soon as arrival? I guess there is Aussie equiavlents of Safe passes etc to get sorted?
Did you find the transistion from Irish Regs and British Standards/Euronorms difficult or would it be safe to say that the Aussie standards are similar? (Trying to pre-empt questions that employers might pose)
Don't mean to put you on spot personally but any idea what the typical salary expectation should be, basic take home pay? Reason i ask is our house here is in negative equity (same as every other Irish homeowner....) and therefore can't sell before moving, going to have to service the loan for a year or 2 while in Oz. I have a fair idea of what is needed to survive in Oz on a week to week basis and would really appreciate some ball park figures to work with. Worried that the salaries posted on internet are inclusive of superannuation, bonuses etc and your actual salary is significantly less than first impressions.
Any thoughts on FIFO? Though it might be worth a look when i arrive first as will not have family with me and might suit financially.
Thanks for your help.

d.pop

cormaclynch

PM sent

d.pop

cormac, thanks, think i sent reply via PM, maybe even twice.