How and Why To Get A Job in Australia

How and Why To Get A Job in Australia 28 Paradise for vacationing… and for skilled job seekers? This a guest post by Rob Kiernan. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines. Australia is known as the lucky country, a phrase first coined by Professor Donald Horne back in the 60’s, although he did it with a sense of sarcasm at the time. But today, Australia really is regarded as a pretty lucky place to be. Moving forward about 35 years, Ben Southall won a competition and landed “the best job in the world” and was sent to the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Paradise, yes. But it didn't stop him from getting stung by an Irukandji. Ouch!eval There is much talk about Australia being a land full of venomous creatures, but it is also a country of great opportunity, because… Australia has jobs! As a rough guide, every year around 100,000 people come to Australia to work, having been granted Skilled Long Stay Temporary Business Visas. The government allow this because it's the only way they can solve their skills shortages.eval As a wise old Australian once told me, Australia has everything it needs, all the resources it could possibly want, except one… People! I recently did a comparison of vacancies between Australia and the UK. Given that the UK has a population of over 60 million people compared with just over 20 million people here in Australia, you'd naturally expect to see more vacancies over there. The experiment was simple. I chose three major online job search agencies for each country, I think I found the top three for each, and I searched for the most popular occupations common to both countries. Here are my results: Those numbers with an * next to them are highly doubtful. The search results pages said there were 5,000 vacancies, but looking through there were more like 500 to 1,000. That aside, I think you can see clearly which country has the most jobs. Man for man as a percentage, Australia is streets ahead. But what about the wages? I'm glad you asked. I recently did a salary comparison between Australia and the UK too. Here's what I found: After converting the great British pound into Australian dollars, I concluded that salaries here in Australia were at least 24% higher and more likely 31.7% more, on average, than salaries back in the UK. Yes, the money here in Australia is good. The Australian government produces what it calls its Skilled Occupations List on a regular basis, of skills that are in shortage here in Australia. It does this to encourage those with the skills this country needs to apply for work visas or permanent residency. Applying for permanent residency can be quite time consuming (worth it though) but many people have found a quicker way in is to get a job sponsorship. Put simply, you need to find an employer who needs your skill but cannot find it locally because of the shortage. You will find many will be happy to sponsor you. That usually means offering you a job for a minimum of two years and putting that offer in writing. Then it is a simple matter of getting your working visa and with good health and no criminal record, this is usually a rubber stamp job. Now you can work in Australia and at the same time find out what it's really like to live here. Enjoy the beaches, the barbecues, the outdoor lifestyle and of course, the glorious weather. What if you fall in love with Australia? Well, once you are working here on a temporary work visa, you have taken your first steps in moving to Australia. Because if you stay the course and stick with the job for your minimum period, applying for permanent residency is usually another straightforward application. Permanent residency means you can stay. Not only that, now you can pick and choose your own jobs, no need for sponsorship. It gets better. You are now closing in on citizenship. After four years of permanent residency, you will probably be able to apply for Australian citizenship. So if you fancy the idea of living in Australia, opportunity and a fantastic lifestyle awaits you. With more vacancies than average, higher salaries than usual and those drop dead gorgeous beaches, what are you waiting for? If you fancy a bit of life down under, why not extend your job search to Australia. Three of this country's top online employment agencies are: Seek.com.au Careerone.com.au Mycareer.com.au Happy job hunting! About the Author Rob Kiernan runs bobinoz.com, a website and a blog about what it’s really like to live in Australia. This article is part of the 4th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest, which was made possible thanks in large part to our Gold Sponsor, Jason Alba of JibberJobber. If you want Rob Kiernan to win, share this article with your friends.