Struggle to find a job in Australia?
Australia has many skilled migration visas: For some of those visas like the Skilled Independent Visa 189
or the Skilled Migration Visa 190, you do not need to have found a job in order to get the visa. For other visas though, such as the TSS Visa (482) or Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) the person needs to have someone willing to sponsor them,
so the question arises: How to find a job in Australia?
How to find a job in Australia: Hidden job market
There are many jobs in Australia that are NOT advertised online. In fact, it is believed that about 70% of the jobs available are NOT advertised. You simply cannot find them on the internet or in the newspapers. So how to find or get a job in Australia if you don’t even know the company is looking for someone?
There are certain things you can do to still find a job in Australia:
- Networking: You can add new LinkedIn connections in your industry to reach out to the right person. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is professional.
- Directly approaching employers: it will depend on the type of the organisation, whether you should send an email, give them a call or approach them in person. It also depends on how comfortable you feel with the different communication options.
- Write a speculative (or blind) application to find a job in Australia: write an Australian resume and cover letter that are tailed to the individual companies or organisations you want to apply with. Find out who can address the cover letter and resume to. Also, follow up after a week or two if you haven’t heard anything back from the organisation/company. That shows you are sincerely interested.
How to find a job in Australia: Job Sites
While there are many jobs that are not advertised there is also a big number of jobs advertised. Here are some of the biggest and well-known job sites in Australia:
(You can post your skills here and will be contacted if a tasks matches your skills)
What you need to know when looking for a job in Australia:
Take your time. Not only are there thousands of migrants who are also looking for a job in Australia but there are also thousands of Australians looking for a job too.
- Be flexible: Because of the time difference, you will have to be flexible when it comes to organising a job interview via phone or skype. Maybe you will even be invited to Australia for a job interview. Make sure you grab that chance and arrange your priorities right so that you have time to attend the job interview.
- Take a step back: When you are trying to find a job in Australia, be prepared to take a step back. What does that mean? It means be ready to accept that your very first job in Australia might not be your dream position or a position you would have accepted in your home country. It is important you take the chance and have a foot in the door to gain that Australian work experience. That work experience is often required later for skilled migration visas.
- Make sure your cover letter and resume are according to Australian standards. Have a look at our Australian Resume template and conduct proper research on how to write resumes and cover letters. You can also contact us if you need help with that. Once you have a professional looking cover letter and resume, you can also upload it to the job sites and get contacted by employers. Seek offers that service for example.
- Search for “482 visa” or “sponsorship”: When you are on Seek, or Gumtree or Indeed or any other job site, you can not only put in your occupation in the search field but you can also look for “482 visa” or for example “sponsorship jobs”. This will also show you all the positions where Australian employers are able to sponsor you for a visa.
- Get in touch with recruiters: Make sure you submit your resume and application to recruiters in your field. They invest a lot of time calling employers to find the best opportunities. Recruiters can help you find a job in Australia by telling you what organisations are currently hiring and where the jobs are.
Answering the question “How to find a job in Australia” is never a quick or short reply. It takes a lot of time and effort to find a job but it is important to understand that it is not impossible. You will find many people telling you that it impossible to find a job from overseas but that is not true. Many people have found jobs from within their home countries. But if you can’t seem to find a job in your industry or would like to even change careers in Australia, you can consider applying for other visas first.
You can contact us if you have any questions on a particular visa or you can simply submit the free visa assessment form here. When you submit the form, we will get back to you informing you about what visa options are best for you at the given moment.