Jobs in Australia for Overseas Migrants

4790ausbargain on 24/04/2018 - 14:52
Last edited 24/04/2018 - 15:24 by 1 other user

Hey OzBargainers, how's it going?

My missus is currently looking for admin jobs in Melbourne. She has studied law overseas. But since she would have to study here to get a job in legal, we thought of trying to get an admin job (part time/full time) to get her foot through the door.

As most of us would do, she was looking to get some help from recruitment agencies. But came across a few pricks where they would upload fake job profiles and call her for interviews. Get all the details and then vanish. Wouldn't pick up calls or answer to emails.

Any kind of advice from you guys would be greatly appreciated. What would be best way to go about finding admin jobs? Are there any short courses for administrative assistants that will help her get a job? We wouldn't want to go for a year or 2 year course as we are currently not in a position to shell out that much as she would have to pay international student fees.

Please advise.

Education & Work

Comments

  • QW3RTY on 24/04/2018 - 15:00
    +1

    While some recruitment agencies can be okay when trying to source super-entry level positions, I wouldn't bother too much with them.

    The best way to do this is to get your CV and face out there. Upload the CV to Seek/Indeed/CareerOne and put the feet on the pavement.
    Most likely she'll receive calls from recruiters who have pulled her CV from these online sites anyway. Best of luck.

    We had a law graduate who would stand outside Wynyard train station in Sydney for a few weeks last year with a giant "HIRE ME" sign, dressed in a suit with a folder full of CVs. While it was very unusual, he definitely got a lot of attention and I saw him hand out his fair share of CVs. Maybe a bit extreme for your scenario, but it goes to show the importance of getting yourself out there — he wasn't there any more after two weeks!

    • 4790ausbargain on 24/04/2018 - 15:19

      Thanks mate. She has uploaded her resume on Seek/Indeed/CareerOne. You are right it's a waste of time going to recruiters for a super entry level position. But a great example of the law graduate at Wynyard station. Sure would have been hired.

      • DarthAntz on 24/04/2018 - 15:26
        +1

        recruiters also use LinkedIn, so make some professional profiles online, being searchable for employment only. Word of mouth is the best way to get employed, ask all of your friends and family. Read 'What colour is your parachute' (Richard Nelson Bolles), available from the library or search for information on it online.

  • Hybroid on 24/04/2018 - 15:15
    +2

    Applying directly to companies on Seek is probably the standard route for admin jobs. Might be a bit competitive with the amount of holidayers and temp workers applying for those roles to keep the Visa valid though. Good luck!

    • 4790ausbargain on 24/04/2018 - 15:21

      Yep after knowing the dodgy work that recruiters do now a days applying directly for companies through seek is the best option. She is on a provisional permanent resident visa so it is valid till she gets a permanent residency visa. Thanks.

  • Randxyz123 on 24/04/2018 - 15:29
    +1

    She should apply for legal assistant or paralegal jobs. May as well stay in the field she is familiar with the basics.

    Recruitment agencies are useles. Apply first through seek. Set up alerts. If there’s a local firm in your area, get her to drop her resume in there.

    Make sure her LinkedIn is current, add a photo etc.

    Where did she study ? Is she able to get anything recognised?

    • 4790ausbargain on 24/04/2018 - 15:56

      She has studied legal in India so it's not valid out here. Victorian board says she would need to asses her degree, complete the course that she needs to do, then finish her internship for 6 months and then she would be able to
      apply for legal jobs. But since she would have to pay international fees we are trying to avoid that option.
      We have tried applying for legal assistant & paralegal jobs but the company's require either local legal degree or work experience in a legal firm.

      • Randxyz123 on 24/04/2018 - 16:03
        +1

        All job ads say “previous experience required”

        In reality it’s preferred but not always required so don’t let that discourage her.

        Any sort of legal assistant/legal secretary would look good for applying for legal jobs in the future. He’ll keep trying the paralegal jobs. A small firm might hire her

        • Randxyz123 on 24/04/2018 - 17:20

          He’ll should be “I’d”
          No idea why that was auto corrected

  • [Deactivated] on 24/04/2018 - 15:53
    +1

    Yeah I have a job for her.
    She can do data entry for me

    • 4790ausbargain on 24/04/2018 - 15:57

      More than happy to take on that job. Could you please PM through the details?

    • coxjon on 24/04/2018 - 16:48

      Are you outsourcing your OzB comments?

      • [Deactivated] on 24/04/2018 - 20:52

        yes.
        need to overtake JV

  • ProBoDoBo on 24/04/2018 - 17:05

    Gumtree!

  • bobbified on 24/04/2018 - 18:02
    +2

    The best way to get a job would be through networking. Friends and friends of friends.

    Unfortunately the paperwork to hire non-residents is a pain and where employer's have a choice, they'll automatically go for a local resident simply to avoid the process.

    I work for one of the world's largest HR consulting companies and even they rarely bother with that paperwork. The rare exceptions are when they find someone with a special skill set.

    I've had many international student friends volunteer to work for free to get experience that's required for their PR application and most of them get rejected for the same reason.

    • xiabonan on 28/04/2018 - 23:20

      The OP's wife isn't an international student. She has a provisional permanent resident visa which allows for unlimited study, work, and travel rights within Oz. That's basically a visa that means "okay we as the government know that you are the spouse of a PR and we will give you PR but it needs some processing time and there are lots of people queueing before you so we'll give you this P plate first"

      For employers, they don't need any kind of additional process to go through for hiring OP's wife, as compared to say a citizen. Actually, even if OP's wife is a student or on a Temporary Resident visa, employers don't have to go through any additional paperwork either (albeit students can only work a limited amount of time per week). They only need to do this for the 457 visa, meaning the employer is willing to sponsor whoever works for the company for the purpose of permanent residency. If the visa that a prospective applicant holds already grants working rights, no other process needs to be done.

      Unfortunately, for people with these types of visas, it's hard because nobody knows all the visas and what working rights are attached. So employers just say "PR/Citizen" only to avoid having to look through if that applicant has an appropriate working visa. They can't be blamed either, there are simply already enough locals looking for work, why bother?

      • bobbified on 28/04/2018 - 23:52

        Employers also don't like to hire "temporary visas" because they're investing money at the start into training that person up to do a job and there's a higher risk (than hiring a local) that that person will simply walk out the door in a few month's time.

        It's a tough call, but it's understandable why businesses are reluctant.

  • Well Wasted on 25/04/2018 - 13:27

    become an australian citizen… otherwise people will just think your here for the money.

  • Dont Care on 26/04/2018 - 07:29
    +1

    plenty of opportunities to be a taxi or uber driver.

  • MrCAMEL on 26/04/2018 - 12:36
    -1

    Sounds like my Mrs. She studied law in her country too. She knows her English isn't good enough to work in law here. But we don't know how to get her a job.
    We've been applying for everything. First step was to not exclude anything. Nothing.

    She has done a 3 month kitchen course at a Tafe, which included a food safety certificate which everyone wants, she has done volunteer work in cafes, as well as hotel work and restaurant work in her country, but we have moved to Melbourne and can't even get a reply.
    Her English good , much better than all her friends in other places in Aus, and they all can get jobs wherever they go. But no one would know, because we cant get a reply.
    SHe has done so many "training and employment, vocational, resume courses" in Aus, she is a great worker, but we can't get a reply. We even used an English name on her resume, but it didn't work either.

    The biggest thing is, we don't know anyone here and that's the biggest problem.

    If your Mrs is coming from a partner visa, she might be able to do Tafe courses at a domestic rate. Mine was able to when she was a temporary resident. Then she could do a cert 2 or 3 in Business and Accounts Administration and it wouldnt be too much.

  • spook290 on 27/04/2018 - 13:38

    As others have said, apply directly through Seek.

    Don't see a lot of value in doing a course, I'm sure she would find the role easy enough.

    Look at a business called 'WePloy', they're new and do a labour hire model, once you're on their books its whoever responds first gets the work, I've used them in the past for staff and its worked well.
    It's a good way to get some experience on the resume while looking for something more stable.

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