too true?

E mc kiernan

is it as good as everyone says it is?i'm thinking of heading for oz but unsure about all the stories that reach home?is the wages that good?how does the austrailians like the irish?if anyone who has "been there,done that" have any information on cost of living,wages,work etc i'd be gratful thanks

Mellor

Coming to australia is without a shadow of a doubt the single best decision I have ever made. There are so many reasons why is was a great thing to do for me, even before you consider the currently climate. Which of course made it even an even better choice.

I won't go through every post. But comparing wages is difficult.
It's not as simple as converting currency. You can't really compare.
30k euro in 2008/2009 was $60k
$60k now is 43k euro
The extra 13k is imaginary, it doesn't exist.

The same thing applies to people landing now complaining about how expensive it is. They just don't understand that converting back to the (pissweak) euro is stupid.

Look at it in real terms, I'm in my mid 20s, I've been in constant employment for the last 2 years (except when I chose to travel). I'm getting paid enough to pay for my food, solo accomdation, and go out for drinks every weekend. I regularrly go to events and such.
There is 0% of this happening in ireland.

Xavi6

Have to agree with Mellor.

I'm also mid 20s, have a cruisey 9-5 job, live 10 minutes from the beach and can afford to go on the piss every weekend and to every sporting event or gig if I want.

Meanwhile my mates back home are struggling in terms of having hours and wages cut leaving very little if any discretionary spending.

For me it's a no brainer and the best decision I could've made at this point in my life.

plonk

Lived there for 2 years working 4 months on and 2 months off earning 42k euro a year. Had to come home as visa ran out. However Im now completing my degree and hope to be full time back there by this time next year.

Work can easily found if your willing to travel, there are places outside the major 5/6 cities.

Its an awesome place imo, quality of life is second to none. My favourite thing about oz, probably the outdoors and the comfortable climate which it has for most of the year.

I would give a pinky to be back in broome.

Theresalwaysone

Same as the two boys.

Im actually able to save about 300bucks a week too.

Also, think in terms of REAL wages when comparing.

Two hours work at home in the same job will get me a crate of beer. Exact same here.* Same with many other things. People complaining about it being very expensive are usually scrotbags and/or economic retards.

*Only used alcohol because its one of the things I hear is very expensive all the time.

Mellor

Theresalwaysone wrote: »

Two hours work at home in the same job will get me a crate of beer. Exact same here.* Same with many other things. People complaining about it being very expensive are usually scrotbags and/or economic retards.

+1 esp the bolded part
I use beer as an example a lot, or food for the non drinkers

spunkymunky

Im the same. Landed a decent job, managing to save a fair bit (more if i really tried) and still going out at least one night of the weekend and then for dinner or something during the week.
Good standard of living. Melbourne public transport, in my opinion, is excellent. Very easy to plan around. People are generally nice and the variety of everything is astounding!!

I think beer is a good comparison.
Min wage here (OZ) 15 dollars, average price of a pint 8 dollars
Min wage Ireland - 7.65 (I think) average price of a pint - 5 euro

Comedy festival coming up. Tickets to Tommy tiernan or Jason Bourne - 35ish. Sounds good to me!

Theresalwaysone

Melbourne Public Transport for commuters is pretty good, yeah.

If it was on time it would be much better. Every morning my train is delayed. SOB train Drivers taking the piss.

Mellor

spunkymunky wrote: »

Comedy festival coming up. Tickets to Tommy tiernan or Jason Bourne - 35ish. Sounds good to me!

---

Jason Bourne

---

Jason Byrne

---

Zambia

The lads have covered everything.

It does not suit some people but one size does not fit all. There are bad piont's to it.

If I had to choose a place for my kids to grow up it would be here.

Slunk

Just got myself a new job in Melboune. Reckon i could save around 2-300 per week allowing for rent and a night out.
Was the same in Sydney. Afford to say rent, go out for meals and go to what ever events i wanted to.

Its just the in between that can seem ****. When your looking for a job, place to live etc it can be hard and seem expensivm when your living off savings. Just have to be smart in them times and cut back on the lifestyle your used to when working.

jank

Australia is a good place to come and live and work. Wages are high here but so is the cost of living. At the moment I can save somewhere between 2-3k a month and this is me spending money on rent on a really nice apartment, food, gym, going out, beers, blu rays, books, etc...
Of course one doesnt go over board buying this **** like I am not going to spend 300 a month on blu-rays for example

The only way I could do this at home would be to live at home with the folks....:P

But Australia is expensive to live in, there are deals of course but it reminds me of 2000's Ireland where costs for everything were running away. House prices for example are some of the most unfordable in the world. Beer even in liqueur stores is not the cheapest, much cheaper in NZ for example. Cars not cheap either well 2nd hand ones. I think it will take a crash for prices to get a hold of themselves. A mate of mine who has been living in the same apartment building as me has been here almost 4 years. The kebab shop across the road had pizza slices for 2.50 when he arrived, now there are 4.00 I think this is a good example of the price creep of Australia in the last 4-5 years. I remember my brother saying something similar, he was out here in 2000 on a whv, he was in Sydney for 2 days 2 years ago and he could not get over how expensive it had become. But wages are high and if you dont spend you save. That is my plan for the next 3 years. Save as much as possible and then go to NZ to buy a nice pad

seachto7

Mellor wrote: »

I'm getting paid enough to pay for my food, solo accomdation, and go out for drinks every weekend. I regularrly go to events and such.
There is 0% of this happening in ireland.

Rubbish. That's just not true. Everyone I know in Ireland (in my circle of friends and friends of friends are working, get paid well, and go on the beer every week if it suits them. Not everyone in Ireland worked on a building site. I heard the same auld tripe when I was over in Aus in January and I'm fed up of it at this stage.

A guy I know in Syd kept saying to me "oh the opportunities here are great etc etc", but the opportunities are in Ireland too (for what he does) and for what I do, he just never made the effort to go and do it when he was in Ireland.

I'm also tired of people in Aus who seem to want to constantly ram it down the throats of people in Ireland of how good it is in Aus, and how "they'll never come back", as if to justify being in Aus.

Aus is a fantastic country, don't get me wrong, and I could live there, but I'm a bit sick of people saying "there's f**kall happening in Ireland, it's a sinking ship" It all depends on what you are doing. It's all down to making choices too...

alfalad

Ok to give you a different perspective I landed here (Sydney) 5 weeks ago. I work in finance, I'm an accountant and I left a job at home before Christmas, I have friends out here who were living the good life so I decided to join them spending a bit of time traveling first.

When I got here I found out things were not as good in finance as I thought on the contract side. I know of a couple of people who have gone home after a couple of months after getting no work and getting themselves in a nice bit of debt. Everyone coming out of contracts is finding it hard to get another one straight away. Talking to recruitment agencies I was told by all of them that the market is very slow at the moment if not non existent and that the unemployment rate in finance is closer to 15-20% than 5%. Not what I had expected. But it seemed to change very fast and there are plane loads of people arriving every day looking for work.
People talk about not converting money back and comparing prices to home, well that's fine when you are earning but if your fresh off the plane it, matters and matters a lot as you are living of savings. Cost of living is expensive over here, that is very true especially accommodation, 350 a week for a room, that will eat your savings fast if you don't have a job. so you need a decent wedge when you land unless your walking into something. My cousin is in Perth at the moment doing the 1 year thing but equally can't get a job in what she is qualified for so is working at what she can get. But everyone in Sydney seems to think there are loads of jobs in Perth.
Thankfully both the girlfriend and myself have now got jobs and in the industry we want so we are laughing and yes once you start the money is very very good, we will be saving a lot while enjoying life here.

So here is my advice, try have as many things set up before you come over as possible, be able to stay with friends for a couple of weeks not days as it takes time to get a place to live, in Sydney anyway. Contact recruiters here and send your cv over, try to get a good picture of way the industry you want to work in is like. If you can set up phone interviews with them if relevant so that it saves you time when you get here. My first 3 weeks was spent meeting recruiters not employers. Unless you are very luck you don't walk off a plane and into a job, so be prepared for that unless again you have enough contacts that you can.

What I also find ironic is that even though I didn't register with recruiters in Ireland I'm getting phones about once every 10 days asking would I be interested in changing jobs in Dublin, I have to explain that I'm actually in Sydney. Talking to people in my industry in Dublin there are loads of jobs at home and good opportunities, which were not there two years ago. So depending what you do Ireland isn't all bad.

But again once you are sorted it is a nice life here and I'm looking forward to enjoying it.

mandrake04

alfalad wrote: »

Ok to give you a different perspective I landed here (Sydney) 5 weeks ago. I work in finance, I'm an accountant and I left a job at home before Christmas, I have friends out here who were living the good life so I decided to join them spending a bit of time traveling first.

When I got here I found out things were not as good in finance as I thought on the contract side. I know of a couple of people who have gone home after a couple of months after getting no work and getting themselves in a nice bit of debt. Everyone coming out of contracts is finding it hard to get another one straight away. Talking to recruitment agencies I was told by all of them that the market is very slow at the moment if not non existent and that the unemployment rate in finance is closer to 15-20% than 5%. Not what I had expected. But it seemed to change very fast and there are plane loads of people arriving every day looking for work.
People talk about not converting money back and comparing prices to home, well that's fine when you are earning but if your fresh off the plane it, matters and matters a lot as you are living of savings. Cost of living is expensive over here, that is very true especially accommodation, 350 a week for a room, that will eat your savings fast if you don't have a job. so you need a decent wedge when you land unless your walking into something. My cousin is in Perth at the moment doing the 1 year thing but equally can't get a job in what she is qualified for so is working at what she can get. But everyone in Sydney seems to think there are loads of jobs in Perth.
Thankfully both the girlfriend and myself have now got jobs and in the industry we want so we are laughing and yes once you start the money is very very good, we will be saving a lot while enjoying life here.

So here is my advice, try have as many things set up before you come over as possible, be able to stay with friends for a couple of weeks not days as it takes time to get a place to live, in Sydney anyway. Contact recruiters here and send your cv over, try to get a good picture of way the industry you want to work in is like. If you can set up phone interviews with them if relevant so that it saves you time when you get here. My first 3 weeks was spent meeting recruiters not employers. Unless you are very luck you don't walk off a plane and into a job, so be prepared for that unless again you have enough contacts that you can.

What I also find ironic is that even though I didn't register with recruiters in Ireland I'm getting phones about once every 10 days asking would I be interested in changing jobs in Dublin, I have to explain that I'm actually in Sydney. Talking to people in my industry in Dublin there are loads of jobs at home and good opportunities, which were not there two years ago. So depending what you do Ireland isn't all bad.

But again once you are sorted it is a nice life here and I'm looking forward to enjoying it.

Are you on a skilled visa or WHV?

alfalad

mandrake04 wrote: »

Are you on a skilled visa or WHV?

WHV, and I'm in my late 20's.

ellaq

Well, Alfalad, I think you did very well to get a job in your profession while on a WHV in just 5 weeks.

It costs a lot of money to set up anywhere in the world. Australia just seems expensive now to many people because it used to be so cheap here.

alfalad

ellaq wrote: »

Well, Alfalad, I think you did very well to get a job in your profession while on a WHV in just 5 weeks.

It costs a lot of money to set up anywhere in the world. Australia just seems expensive now to many people because it used to be so cheap here.

Agree that I was lucky and maybe the fact I have more experience helps. I'm delighted as my life here now starts. But from what my friends were saying last year I expected to be in a job in 2-3 weeks. So hence I say for people thinking of coming over, try do as much of the work from home as possible, be prepared to be out of work for a while or end up doing something that you don't want to, and make sure you have enough money to keep you going for a number of months.

MrMatisse

Is it the case that you also have the possibility to save money working in a WHV type job? or are you more likely to be to the pin of your collar with that type of work...

mandrake04

alfalad wrote: »

WHV, and I'm in my late 20's.

To be honest you did alright on a WHV, really you cant complain about struggling to find work on a WHV as its expected. Having PR makes a world of difference.

Interesting enough I changed jobs recently and at the time of applying I had been approved for citizenship (was just waiting for ceremony) so put on my CV that I was a Citizen, anyway talking to the manager over Friday beers few weeks ago about sponsoring/emigration etc.... he mentioned for me that was big advantage as it showed commitment to staying around for the long haul.

Not sure if most employers think this way but I thought its worth mentioning.

alfalad

MrMatisse wrote: »

Is it the case that you also have the possibility to save money working in a WHV type job? or are you more likely to be to the pin of your collar with that type of work...

That naturally depends what you work at. I'll be saving without a doubt but if I was doing something else I may not be able to. If you get lucky and have good experience you can get a good job but equally be aware that they are not plentiful in the financial industry, there will be some year end roles but not the amount there used to be.

6ix

Mellor wrote: »

I'm getting paid enough to pay for my food, solo accomdation, and go out for drinks every weekend. I regularrly go to events and such.
There is 0% of this happening in ireland.

Just to add my 2 cents, as someone in his mid 20's in Dublin - this isn't true. The pubs and clubs are still jammed at weekends to the point that a lot of the time I think 'what recession?'. When I look at my Facebook news feed, all my 'friends' are going out, going to events, going on weekend breaks etc. It's not all doom and gloom believe it or not. Of course the reason is simple - these people are out are in their early to mid-twenties and are not the people saddled with huge mortgages etc.

Anyway, while I'd disagree with that little bit of your post, it's good to read the rest of it, and indeed everyone else's opinions. The reason I'm reading this thread is that I'm planning to leave a relatively stable job in Dublin later this year, and do some travelling, which will include a WHV stint in Australia.

Interested to see your experience AlfaLad - my girlfriend is an accountant, and I was hopeful she'd pick up some work easily in Sydney. She has good experience (Big 4 and then another international finance company) but it sounds like it could be tougher than we thought. Like you said, there seems to be a fair few opportunities in Ireland for accountants. I'm in a completely different sector (TV/Digital media) so I've no idea what to expect in terms of jobs over there.

I know the WHV is not meant for 'proper work' but I'm at an age where I'd like to continue getting good experience and develop my career.

claire*

im here 5 wks now and really enjoying it. got a job after 2 wks, but only because i knew someone from home in my field. my advice to anyone coming out is gather as much contacts as you can before you leave- even if you dont know them very well (brothers friends etc). In my experience, I have found the Irish people to be incredibly helpful over here to newbies fresh off the plane. I know everyone says it but honestly save as much as you possibly can before you come out cos the money just flies out when youre not working. And apply for jobs before you leave if you are in a specific field because it can take the recruitment agencies alot of time to process your application form. indeed.com.au and seek.com are good ones.

alfalad

6ix wrote: »

Just to add my 2 cents, as someone in his mid 20's in Dublin - this isn't true. The pubs and clubs are still jammed at weekends to the point that a lot of the time I think 'what recession?'. When I look at my Facebook news feed, all my 'friends' are going out, going to events, going on weekend breaks etc. It's not all doom and gloom believe it or not. Of course the reason is simple - these people are out are in their early to mid-twenties and are not the people saddled with huge mortgages etc.

Anyway, while I'd disagree with that little bit of your post, it's good to read the rest of it, and indeed everyone else's opinions. The reason I'm reading this thread is that I'm planning to leave a relatively stable job in Dublin later this year, and do some travelling, which will include a WHV stint in Australia.

Interested to see your experience AlfaLad - my girlfriend is an accountant, and I was hopeful she'd pick up some work easily in Sydney. She has good experience (Big 4 and then another international finance company) but it sounds like it could be tougher than we thought. Like you said, there seems to be a fair few opportunities in Ireland for accountants. I'm in a completely different sector (TV/Digital media) so I've no idea what to expect in terms of jobs over there.

I know the WHV is not meant for 'proper work' but I'm at an age where I'd like to continue getting good experience and develop my career.

I agree on the Dublin is not all doom and gloom, as I when I left it was fine.

Guy I know had four years in the one of the bigger big 4 and went home couple of weeks ago, got himself in 10k of debt in the process and ironically within one week of landing had a good job sorted in London. It maybe worth your girlfriends while contacting people from the Aussie offices of the big 4 company she was in. That could be a way in.

Now again that's not happening to everyone but just don't assume you'll get sorted quickly, I had one interview and got it, but I know people who have gone to 5 over the space of 3months and got nothing. The market can change quickly over here as well depending on the time of year.

What Claire says is correct, get onto seek.com.au etc and get the ball rolling before you get here. It will save you time and money. Don't be shy about asking to stay on a couch, it will save you money and you'll get advice from just talking to people, someone knows someone else sort of thing.

Again, when you get sorted you are laughing and it will be a sweet life. I'm very much looking forward to my first pay cheque!

Mellor

seachto7 wrote: »

Rubbish. That's just not true. Everyone I know in Ireland (in my circle of friends and friends of friends are working, get paid well, and go on the beer every week if it suits them. Not everyone in Ireland worked on a building site. I heard the same auld tripe when I was over in Aus in January and I'm fed up of it at this stage.

A guy I know in Syd kept saying to me "oh the opportunities here are great etc etc", but the opportunities are in Ireland too (for what he does) and for what I do, he just never made the effort to go and do it when he was in Ireland.

I'm also tired of people in Aus who seem to want to constantly ram it down the throats of people in Ireland of how good it is in Aus, and how "they'll never come back", as if to justify being in Aus.

Aus is a fantastic country, don't get me wrong, and I could live there, but I'm a bit sick of people saying "there's f**kall happening in Ireland, it's a sinking ship" It all depends on what you are doing. It's all down to making choices too...

Seriously?
Can you not read? I suggest you go back ot my post are try again instead of calling it rubbish.

Mellor wrote:

Look at it in real terms, I'm in my mid 20s, I've been in constant employment for the last 2 years (except when I chose to travel). I'm getting paid enough to pay for my food, solo accomdation, and go out for drinks every weekend. I regularrly go to events and such.
There is 0% of this happening in ireland.

I'm
I've
My

I clearly talking about me and my industry (Architecture). Which is prob the worst hit area in Ireland. Every company has had massive lay offs. THere is no way I would of been in constant employment during the last two years. Anyone what kept a job was lucky, anyone that lands a temp 3 month role is very lucky.
Where did I mention how it relates to anybody else? or any other industry?

Theresalwaysone

Also, all Seachto has basically said was:

'There's opportunities everywhere if you try'- which is clearly ****etalk. Nice to believe and all, but not the case.

The part about people saying they'll never come back as if to justify them being there is also ****etalk. Its his perception of it. Which, similar to the rest of his post is not very well thought out.

I reckon there's no arguing with him though so...

jank

Think ye guys are a little harsh. Yes we all know about Ireland and the situation there at the moment but some sectors are much worse then others. I know that if I go back I would be able to get a job in a few weeks of trying.

If I was in a trade those weeks would be months years....
But yea Ireland is in a terrible state at the moment. A lost decade there in terms of general oppurtunity for all. Then again some people made their beds so they must lie in it.

Young people in construction should have thought their carrer choices through. If they really really wanted to be in the industry then fair play but too many looking for the quick buck and jumped on the bandwagon. Speaking from personal experience here.

6ix

alfalad wrote: »

I agree on the Dublin is not all doom and gloom, as I when I left it was fine.

Guy I know had four years in the one of the bigger big 4 and went home couple of weeks ago, got himself in 10k of debt in the process and ironically within one week of landing had a good job sorted in London. It maybe worth your girlfriends while contacting people from the Aussie offices of the big 4 company she was in. That could be a way in.

Now again that's not happening to everyone but just don't assume you'll get sorted quickly, I had one interview and got it, but I know people who have gone to 5 over the space of 3months and got nothing. The market can change quickly over here as well depending on the time of year.

What Claire says is correct, get onto seek.com.au etc and get the ball rolling before you get here. It will save you time and money. Don't be shy about asking to stay on a couch, it will save you money and you'll get advice from just talking to people, someone knows someone else sort of thing.

Again, when you get sorted you are laughing and it will be a sweet life. I'm very much looking forward to my first pay cheque!

Cheers.

Yeah, London would actually be a fairly 'safe bet' for both my girlfriend and myself in terms of getting work right now, but while we're young and burden-free we just want to do a bit of travelling and I'm hoping Australia would be a good place to rejuvenate the funds along the way... and maybe even progress the career a bit!

seachto7

Mellor, you said "0% of this happening in Ireland", which is not true, so yeah it's a rubbish comment. Now that you have said you work in architecture, it would make sense to say there is 0% of this happening with architects, as they don't have jobs. That's all I'm saying.

Sick to f**k of people sneering away "Ireland is f**ked, Ireland is this and that". I'm not f**ked. I'm doing ok. I could emigrate if I wanted to, but I don't need to right now. Only one of my friends has emigrated. Everyone else I know is doing fine. Maybe that's because they don't work on the buildings.

Jaysus, lads, ye went to Aus and got a job. Aren't ye great!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Theresalwaysone. There are indeed opportunities in Ireland (and Europe if you have a language). I don't know what area you work in, so I can't comment on what opportunities you don't have.
Again, there's a sneering attitude, (and always has been) on the Aus/NZ forum, from Irish people in Aus who seem to think they are somewhat better than those of us in Ireland just because they took a 2 day flight around the world.

They also take offence when someone points out how sh*t Australia can be compared to other countries. (I'm not pointing it out, as I think Aus is a fine country........)

mandrake04

seachto7 wrote: »

Again, there's a sneering attitude, (and always has been) on the Aus/NZ forum, from Irish people in Aus who seem to think they are somewhat better than those of us in Ireland just because they took a 2 day flight around the world.

They also take offence when someone points out how sh*t Australia can be compared to other countries. (I'm not pointing it out, as I think Aus is a fine country........)

Maybe the only people who think its a sneering attitude are the ones who don't have skills or minerals to make it. Sure didn't Gerry Ryan used to say that the Irish are awful begrudger's.

Personally I feel a lot of satisfaction knowing that I have the choice to walk into a job in Aus, NZ, Ireland or the UK anytime I want, I don't think I run around sneering at people.

I dont really take offence to someone pointing out how sh*t Australia if they actually made valid points, if there is something really sh*t about Australia I will agree its sh*t ......for instance the quality of TV, the standard of driving, the quality of sausages or the price of property.

But when you have people (most of whom were only here on a holiday) whinging that Australia is crap because they cant find a job, they don't like Aussies or that DIAC are now checking your farmwork for the 2nd WHV it tends to be a bit stupid rather than offensive.

seachto7

point taken

"Maybe the only people who think its a sneering attitude are the ones who don't have skills or minerals to make it."

Yeah, maybe, but I don't find that's the case. I have the skills to walk into Aus, but I'd rather live in France. Just down to choice and the fact I speak French.
But when I raise that point, some people in Aus I know seem to think I'm crazy "you mean, you wouldn't live in Aus??? Jeez, why not!!! How could you!! It's the land of milk and honey bla bla etc". A lot of those same people only ever lived in anglophone countries so aren't really in a position to spout on about how great their chosen country is over any other...

Plus you have a lot of people fresh out of college, landing in Aus, with zero real life experience, and all of a sudden everything is great! Wait till you're over 30 and an auld cranky cynic like me!

Anyways, gone off topic, so I'll leave it at that.