Engineer seeking work in Australia

Greengekko

Hi,

can anyone give me advice on working in Australia as an engineer. The Working Holiday visa is primarily for seeing the country and doing a bit of work. However you can only work with one employer for 6 months. I know there is a skilled working visa but pricey.

Does anyone have experience in getting a construction company to sponsor you? Are they willing?

I have applied for loads of jobs hoping to line something up before I go but no luck.

Thanks in advance.

Noo

Unless you have a valid work visa and a timeline of when you are arriving in australia, employers wont be interested.

aido79

Greengekko wrote: »

Hi,

can anyone give me advice on working in Australia as an engineer. The Working Holiday visa is primarily for seeing the country and doing a bit of work. However you can only work with one employer for 6 months. I know there is a skilled working visa but pricey.

Does anyone have experience in getting a construction company to sponsor you? Are they willing?

I have applied for loads of jobs hoping to line something up before I go but no luck.

Thanks in advance.

Sponsorship is best avoided if you have another option. In my opinion it is one of the worst visas to be on in Australia due to the restrictions it places on you.
There has also been some recent changes to sponsorship but not sure if it would affect engineers as I haven't read into it much.
As said you won't have much luck applying for jobs from Ireland as employers much prefer you to be in Australia with a valid Visa.

Greengekko

aido79 wrote: »

Sponsorship is best avoided if you have another option. In my opinion it is one of the worst visas to be on in Australia due to the restrictions it places on you.
There has also been some recent changes to sponsorship but not sure if it would affect engineers as I haven't read into it much.
As said you won't have much luck applying for jobs from Ireland as employers much prefer you to be in Australia with a valid Visa.

Audi the restrictions is my biggest concern. I just not sure if it's worth the risk going on a whv and ending up getting a job that will not benefit my career. Its a risk at the end of the day

Noo

The big engineering and construction companies would be well used to sponsoring people so they wouldn't necessarily see your WHV as a major obstacle if they really wanted you, their HR would be used to it. This of course is in relation to the old 457 system, im not sure how the latest changes have been impacting employers and companies.

pete4130

You can easily come on a WHV, get a job for the first 6 months and submit your application for skills visa and easily pay for it with your savings in those first 6 months.

You can do your rural work for 3 months and guarantee your 2nd year WHV and still have 15 months left in Australia while your skills visa processes and (should) get granted to you. So Career wise it might be a side step but its a means to an end.

Your other option is to come on a WHV, get a job for 6 months with an employer and see if they are willing to sponsor you. Once sponsored there is nothing stopping you applying for your skilled visa while you are on the sponsorship visa. When the skills visa comes through you can go and work wherever you want to.


You will find it very unlikely that any recruiter or company will even entertain your application unless you are in Australia and have working rights, whether on a WHV or PR visa.

AngryHippie

Spot on advice there Pete.

Get a WHV, see if you can get something lucrative for a 6 month contract, do your farm-work for year 2 then push hard for an alternative vise after that. There are many avenues. (Self-Sponsor -not sure if Engineers are eligible, rural migration - you may have to live out in woop-woop for a bit, company sponsorship - they will own you, de-facto sponsorship -OH will own you) there are many pathways and a company sponsorship is probably the worst one from your perspective.

Roll the dice on a WHV, it will cost you a year of your life worst case, but more likely will be good fun and a crossroads in life where you learned things about yourself and made some big decisions.

Try before you buy.;)

krustycustomer

Currently 3 months into a Engineering role on a WHV, met with HR recently, told they wont sponsor as the cost of the TSS which replaced the 457 last month has tripled and the construction project is only 12 months remaining. Having submitted my expression of interest with 60 points last september, I highly doubt I'll receive an offer to apply for the 189, there has been zero invitations for EOI's on less than 70 points. 

Regional work is the only option to stay another year of which I can only expect the same issue of an employer unkeen to offer a competitive salary offer and then another 15k to sponsor within a 6 month probation. TSS rolled out to favour local labour, can't really complain.

Any engineering regional work worth applying to? I'd appreciate it!

Neon_Lights

Have you seen the 476 Visa, and are you eligible? If so you're a lucky bastid, and definitely might be a way to buy more time at least.
i.e. do farmwork, do 2nd year whv, get 476 if its still available, get sponsored / more points for perm residency
https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/476-

Greengekko

Krustycustomer can I ask what area of Engineering, location you are and how long/difficult was it to land a job?

Reading up yes government have made a drive to hire Australians over foreign workers but I'd imagine if you landed a job with a bigger contact and the company see you as a valuable member of their team they would be willing to hire you. Is it and Irish or Australian company.

I wasn't concerned with residency, just wanted to work in civil Engineering but the 6 month rule isn't attractive for employers.

krustycustomer

Sure, 
Within 2 months i got 4 interviews Mech Eng work, during nov dec which isn't ideal timing.

Got 2 offers, 1 small fit out design consultant gig in the city. Offer took a few weeks due to the "visa changes" 
Took a tier 1  ozzie construction company further out of Sydney, 1 hour commute from Eastern Suburbs. 

Salary's vary huge here from speaking to different recruiters. I imagine its rare for anybody to get the TSS without Oz experience, you would have to get approved within a few weeks in order to work longer than 6 months for an employer willing to pay 15k to process the visa and prove no ozzie can do the job which includes having to advertise the job. 

Best option is work in regional areas off the plane to get the 2nd year WHV. Contracting pays better

Neon_Lights

Recruiters are shocking here though, absolutely dreadful.
@krustycustomer where are you getting the 15k figure from, it only costs about 3k 1150 for the visa, 1250 for the skills fund, and about 500 to become a standard business sponsor. If you want to pay 12k to a migration agent to do it for you then great.

krustycustomer

Until you've physically seen an awarded TTS receipt breakdown of total costs i think I'll stick with what my employer told me about the cost. Every single site gives different costs.  

https://www.future-you.com.au/blog/facts-457-tss-visa-guide/

Suggests around 10k including levy each year. I assume legal fees add up to 5k on top. 
I've spoken to many recruiters  (I agree they are toxic cretins) and companies and the only replies I hear are that nobody knows the extent of the visa change. Considering the additional cost of the new visa, the attraction of seeking a career path here seems unpromising via the WHV + sponsor route. 

I would recommend building a sponsorship consideration into interview conversations as it suggests candidates commitment acknowledging salary expectation of X-TSS cost 
Anybody thinking about going to OZ - start the research early, submit an expression of interest (EOI) asap.