Australia-A word of warning.

BraziliaNZ · 22-12-2009 05:57PM

I found Canada hard to find work in. Anyway in Oz, I arrived there from NZ in Feb 08, had a job paying $25 an hour within a week for 6 months, and then moved city and got another job paying about $34 an hour within a couple of weeks. This is on a working holiday visa.
I have a good CV and am good at interviews and have skills that are required. You can't just go down with nothing to offer and have everything handed to you on a plate. I thought it was easy to find work there, as did my European housemates and my brother. My Dutch flatmates both had 2 jobs, they were working to save up for backpacking Asia for 4 months on way home.
Oh and the OP has posts in the Oz/NZ forum going on about how much he hates the country etc, and how much better Ireland is. He should really come home, he doesn't deserve a job there.

Raytown Rocks · 22-12-2009 06:09PM

To be honest, it doesnt sound like things have changed much since I was there 15 years ago.

I did the backpacker thing too.

I installed fibre glass bats in roof spaces in Melbourne in the summer ( fcuk me that was the worst job ever)
I worked on a building site.
I also put up marquees.
I picked fruit ( Oranges) in Bundeberg for about 5 weeks, made more money there than anywhere else.
I also picked ginger ( poxy job), and tomatoes, ( not so bad).

Now I know it was a long time ago, but these are the tasks most backpackers have to do, and most will do.
Im sure things are tighter there now then when I was here, but work is work.
Do what you must to survive and enjoy the time you spend there

Oh I also won their state lottery before I left too, that added a Very big smile to my face when I was eventually deported for overstaying........Ahh the exuberence of youth.

Jumpy · 22-12-2009 07:21PM

chef wrote: »

I installed fibre glass bats in roof spaces in Melbourne in the summer ( fcuk me that was the worst job ever)

That sounds like a horrible job. Itching and Sweating. Aaaaargh, it makes me uncomfortable even imagining it.

-Trek- · 22-12-2009 07:26PM

I don't get the attraction to Australia, ffs being Irish if you stay outside longer than 10 minutes you end up looking like this. --> :mad:
But that is just my opinion

4zn76tysfajdxp · 22-12-2009 08:10PM

Patricide, try to refrain from using racial slurs like "abbo" in After Hours again. That goes for everyone else too. Consider this a warning.

economignorant · 22-12-2009 08:13PM

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Currently in Aus and would just like to give some advice to people who are thinking of coming out here on a 1 or 2 year visa, my advice is dont bother, im currently staying in a hostel and the place is inundated with people/backpackers looking for work, many people including myself have been looking for months for work and ive only about 10 days work in 2 months, many other backpackers i have spoken to have told me of the same problems. Firstly Aus employers do not even want to hear about you if your a backpacker and a couple of them have told me this, the only work going for backpackers is back breaking fruit picking and even that is hard to get with the numbers applying, as i said in the past few weeks ive met countless backpackers who have had to go home after only a few months here because there is no work, that and Aus is defo not what its made out to be, sure there are some lovely people but they is a underline racism here that is hard to believe even against Irish people. The macho culture feeds into this here in Aus and you see this macho attuidude from common thugs to peole in power.
I think Aus has lost the run of itself a bit like Ireland did during the celtic tiger, many backpackers will not have fond memories of Aus and i think this will affect tourism here in future years.
I personally know of 3 backpackers who right now are homeless, living in a tent and who are too proud or are unable to ask for help for there parents, i expect there are a lot of Irish backpackers sleeping rough out here going by the grapevine and many others have booked flights home.
Its very simple really where would people rather be sleeping rough at the other side of the world or back in Ireland where at least you can get the dole.
Sad but true folks, sad but true and a cauntionary tale.

Aren't you ther muppet that brought up fordenirs after the budget?

TheZohanS · 22-12-2009 08:22PM

economignorant wrote: »

Aren't you ther muppet that brought up fordenirs after the budget?

Goodbye re-reg.

!_Brian_! · 22-12-2009 08:39PM

Two of my firends came back from a year over there about a month ago and they too said about the racisim and general ignorance of young people in Oz towards back packers. They travelled the lenght of the south and east coasts and said it was pretty much the same everywhere they went.

dr.bollocko · 22-12-2009 08:43PM

I was in Australia for a year. It sucks for backpackers IMO. The job situation was good there for me and that, so money wasn't a problem. Everything else was the problem. The culture, media, most of the people, the terrible food everywhere, high prices, ridiculous insects and numerous horrendous acts of god. If you are there and don't like it leave and go to S.E. Asia if you have any cash to spare at all. On the other hand the coffee's good. I'll never set foot in that place ever again.

T-Square · 22-12-2009 08:53PM

Its astonishing how many people will post about, this person, that person, me brudder, me sister,
and yet nobody asks the simple questions

To those that are getting jobs
1/ What qualies do you have?
2/ How much relevant job experience do you/they/it have?

Without this information, pretty much ever thread is just so much gas baggin

kumate_champ07 · 22-12-2009 09:00PM

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

I personally know of 3 backpackers who right now are homeless, living in a tent and who are too proud or are unable to ask for help for there parents,

camping? thats not exactly being homeless, Im sure their parents would take them in

If all you want to do is meet other backpackers/travelers and have the craic why not live in an Irish hostel and have a good job here and not be struggling to feed yourself, or just take the dole and drink cans with the foreigners in the hostel common room every night

hostels are generally the same all around the world. Australia has the weather and beaches, but is that worth all the grief?

John Mason · 22-12-2009 09:06PM

LOL I was in australia 9 years ago (:eek: I cant believe its that long ago:eek:)

anyway, it was the same situation then.

i have 3 friends/family out there at the moment who are having a brilliant time and have jobs

op, you are talking about engineering jobs, that is not a backpacker job, a backpacker job is bar work, setting up events, cleaning toilets, handing out leaflets etc.

stop moaning and over dramatizing things

if i had a choice i know where i would rather be

Killaqueen!!! · 22-12-2009 09:19PM

When I finish college I was planning on maybe going to Australia to live and work, if the job situation is still bad here.

It would be different to backpacking obviously, and I'm not gonna complain about how hard it is to find jobs

But...are the people really that bad? I've heard from various people about the whole racism/ignorance thing and I couldn't believe it! Really kinda puts me off going there..

All the Australians I've met here in Ireland have been so sound I'd never think that they were like that

Jumpy · 22-12-2009 09:21PM

Trekmad wrote: »

I don't get the attraction to Australia, ffs being Irish if you stay outside longer than 10 minutes you end up looking like this. --> :mad:
But that is just my opinion

The ones I saw were more like this.

RoyalMarine · 22-12-2009 09:24PM

Deleted User wrote: »

That's my plan.. Save for the next 12 months, Do Tefl, Land in Thailand/Laos/Vietnam for six months and then teach English in South Korea.

be careful and plan it right. times are changing really fast over that part of the world, and you will find a lot of the legit/decent paying jobs will require you to have a degree. Having a degree will get you a nicely paid job with plenty of spending money for everything you want.
If you want a very very high paid job, then get an education degree first.
id strongly suggest you do the tefl over there as it gives you plenty of time to get to know the culture differences, and most tefl courses run language classes after hours for free.
I picked up a lot of thai doing the tefl classes.

and for god's sake go to pattaya in thailand

!!!!

-Trek- · 22-12-2009 09:26PM

Jumpy wrote: »

The ones I saw were more like this.

That will be after the skin peel so.

G-Money · 22-12-2009 09:26PM

I'm not criticising the OP or anything, I'm simply going to post my own experience.

I went to Oz from 2002 to 2003 and I didn't have much trouble finding work. I admit the world economy was a lot better back then so if I went now, it's possible I might find it harder to get work.

I work in IT (software testing/engineering etc) and I was going over there with the thought in my head of getting some sort of sponsorship and staying longer if I liked it. I arrived in August 02 and I took it handy for the first month or two, then I started looking for work.

The first job I got was working in an office doing filing. Yep, I was working in this company and I was just manually filing papers into folders all day long. It was a very short term job (by design) and I was there 2 weeks. I still remember there was a woman I met there on my first day and I'll be honest, ice queen doesn't do her justice. But at one point she asked me where I was from or something and when I said Ireland, she opened up and started telling me about how she'd travelled here. I left that place after 2 weeks and she'd put me in contact with someone she knew who might have work. Unfortunately the contact didn't have anything suitable but I was quite happy that she'd even put me in contact with him when she could have said nothing and I'd have been none the wiser.

My second job was a software testing job that ran for 3 months. During the interview I told them I was on a working holiday visa and there was a 3 month work limitation on it, but it didn't seem to bother them. It turned into one of the weirdest places I've ever worked in my life and I hated it. Looking back now though, it's kind of funny.

I left there and went to Melbourne for the Grand Prix, came back to Sydney and within a few weeks I'd got another job, testing a mobile phone network. It was pretty easy work and they gave us all the overtime we wanted.

I'm not saying things are as good economy wise now and I could very well struggle to find work if I went there now.

I had a good time in Australia and I don't regret going, even though I left a secure permanent job here in Ireland to do so.

I've lived in America as well for 3 months but that was a different thing and I was just transferred over for work for that time. I'd love to go back there but getting a job and a visa for the US is almost impossible.

Jumpy · 22-12-2009 09:33PM

Killaqueen!!! wrote: »

When I finish college I was planning on maybe going to Australia to live and work, if the job situation is still bad here.

It would be different to backpacking obviously, and I'm not gonna complain about how hard it is to find jobs

But...are the people really that bad? I've heard from various people about the whole racism/ignorance thing and I couldn't believe it! Really kinda puts me off going there..

All the Australians I've met here in Ireland have been so sound I'd never think that they were like that

Judge for yourself, we are a nation made up of Asians, Lebanese, Greeks, Germans, French, Aboriginals, English and of course Irish, not to mention pretty much every other nationality in the world (except Kiwis *shakes fist*).
If we were as racist as a small few here claim we were then we would be constantly fighting in the streets (SHUT UP - Russel Crowe is not a good representative of this).
We have slang names for everything, I dont know if thats where they picked up the apparent racism.

A percentage of you guys that go across have a bad time, sometimes its your fault, sometimes it isnt. Big fish syndrome seems to be a fairly common cause of it.
It is a small percentage though, most Irish I have met that have been there loved the place.

Bandit12 · 22-12-2009 10:08PM

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

I dont think you understand the competition over here and the fact that most employers will not hire a backpacker because they can only be hired for 6 momths. I bet thats not how it was in the states now is it?

No it was'nt, it was worse.

23-12-2009 12:32AM

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

be careful and plan it right. times are changing really fast over that part of the world, and you will find a lot of the legit/decent paying jobs will require you to have a degree. Having a degree will get you a nicely paid job with plenty of spending money for everything you want.
If you want a very very high paid job, then get an education degree first.
id strongly suggest you do the tefl over there as it gives you plenty of time to get to know the culture differences, and most tefl courses run language classes after hours for free.
I picked up a lot of thai doing the tefl classes.

and for god's sake go to pattaya in thailand !!!!

Well I have a Commerce degree from NUIG but I don't think that's what you mean.. You mean a teaching degree?
Won't be worrying about a tefl for a right few months yet so I might have questions for ya then!

My name is URL · 23-12-2009 12:36AM

My sister is just back from Aus. She's a backpacking vegetarian type, but works hard for her trips

She said she didn't really enjoy being there, with the exception of Perth

Apparently there's beginning to be some resentment towards Irish people who are going over and taking jobs.. sure I thought that only happened to Polish people =/

markok84 · 23-12-2009 12:57AM

Some Australian studenty dude just came to my door selling candles, I bought one off him (lavender) and we had a nice little chat. He'll go back to Australia and tell all his friends about his positive experience in Ireland thereby lessening any anti-Irish sentiment.

Derek B · 23-12-2009 12:59AM

Jumpy wrote: »

A percentage of you guys that go across have a bad time, sometimes its your fault, sometimes it isnt.
It is a small percentage though, most Irish I have met that have been there loved the place.

This.

The_B_Man · 23-12-2009 01:06AM

I'm here too. I'm in IT. More in the support area. I had a problem in january i perth getting a job. but that was it. i lived in sydney and had no issues. im in melbourne and got a job within 10 days.
travelling around, i had the best time. Australia is a lovely country. Especially queensland.
i suppose im one of the lucky ones who hasnt had the issues the OP had.

ToniTuddle · 23-12-2009 01:15AM

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

my advice is dont bother,
ive only about 10 days work in 2 months.
Firstly Aus employers do not even want to hear about you if your a backpacker,
the only work going for backpackers is back breaking fruit picking and there is a underline racism here that is hard to believe even against Irish people.

Have you gone about all over Aus or stuck to the same route nearly every backpacker has gone on?
Why don't they hop on a flight over to NZ if there really is no work going in Oz?
Alot of employers don't want to hear about backpackers because they are living in hostels and can easily up and leave. If these people were in some rented flat/house I'd say more people wud be willing to give them work.

As for the racism....what do you expect! There are soooo many Irish out there. That's the reason I didn't go near the place.
Not only that there are plenty Irish out there doing some serious damage to our good name. The Oz folk are sick of it and rightly so.

Why don't you and them other backpackers head for another state in Oz somewhere off the beaten track and give it a go there. Either that or hop over to NZ.

* Oh and everyone I know that has gone out there has work. That's the majority of young people from my local town.
Plus few other friends from various towns. One lad found it difficult finding work for months but that was because he was stubborn and only wanted IT work and wouldn't open up to the idea of taking any job going.
Eventually he got work in a bar and loved it! Then got his IT job too!

JONJO THE MISER · 23-12-2009 05:22AM

!_Brian_! wrote: »

Two of my firends came back from a year over there about a month ago and they too said about the racisim and general ignorance of young people in Oz towards back packers. They travelled the lenght of the south and east coasts and said it was pretty much the same everywhere they went.

Excatly but some of our Aussie posters dont want to hear that, Aussies are by far the most racist people i have ever met. Where im living at the moment there have been many unprovoked attacks on chinese and indian students.

Mr Benevolent · 23-12-2009 05:39AM

I'm in Australia and haven't been able to get a job at all, nor have plenty of people I know and at least a few Australians. I'm going home in January and will have been here 4 months. Overall I really enjoy it here, but it's very warm which is a pain with no air conditioning. I'd definitely recommend it but don't believe the hype about it being super cheap - it's about the same as Ireland expect for eating out, and even the better resteraunts are the same price as Irish ones. I didn't have the money to go places so didn't get to see all the stereotypical places, but I've seen enough. The one really impressive thing about this country is the thunderstorms, but I prefer colder weather overall.

Australians are more civilised and polite than the Irish in general, but there are a lot of crazies around, and they more than make up for the lack of beggars. Overall a nice country, I'd recommend it to anyone but personally prefer Europe as it's far more accessible from Ireland and a lot more varied in weather and cultural terms.

Xavi6 · 23-12-2009 07:07AM

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Excatly but some of our Aussie posters dont want to hear that, Aussies are by far the most racist people i have ever met. Where im living at the moment there have been many unprovoked attacks on chinese and indian students.

Whereas the people of Ireland of course love foreigners and welcome them with open arms. Given your sweeping generalisations and overall negative attitude I'm not surprised you haven't been hired.

Patricide · 23-12-2009 07:31AM

One thing i cant stress enough from reading this thread is this. If your going to aus, get a job straight off the plane. When you get there, regardless of your qualifications dont be a snob. Get yourself any ****ty minimum wage job that you can. When your settled you can try for a better job if the opportunity presents itself. If your not going to take anything other than what your qualified, expect work opportunities to be slow.

Also word of advice, tooheys (teds) extra dry is the nicest beer ever made so make the most of it.

shane86 · 23-12-2009 08:43AM

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Currently in Aus and would just like to give some advice to people who are thinking of coming out here on a 1 or 2 year visa, my advice is dont bother, im currently staying in a hostel and the place is inundated with people/backpackers looking for work, many people including myself have been looking for months for work and ive only about 10 days work in 2 months, many other backpackers i have spoken to have told me of the same problems. Firstly Aus employers do not even want to hear about you if your a backpacker and a couple of them have told me this, the only work going for backpackers is back breaking fruit picking and even that is hard to get with the numbers applying, as i said in the past few weeks ive met countless backpackers who have had to go home after only a few months here because there is no work, that and Aus is defo not what its made out to be, sure there are some lovely people but they is a underline racism here that is hard to believe even against Irish people. The macho culture feeds into this here in Aus and you see this macho attuidude from common thugs to peole in power.
I think Aus has lost the run of itself a bit like Ireland did during the celtic tiger, many backpackers will not have fond memories of Aus and i think this will affect tourism here in future years.
I personally know of 3 backpackers who right now are homeless, living in a tent and who are too proud or are unable to ask for help for there parents, i expect there are a lot of Irish backpackers sleeping rough out here going by the grapevine and many others have booked flights home.
Its very simple really where would people rather be sleeping rough at the other side of the world or back in Ireland where at least you can get the dole.
Sad but true folks, sad but true and a cauntionary tale.

What in the name of Jesus are you sh1ting on about? Ive been working 6 days per week for the past month now, the gaffer asked me for more lads for his sites and I litreally couldnt come up with any, everyone I know is working. Had a few rough weeks in November but pretty much since I arrived back in Sydney in August from an awful attempt at slave labour (fruitpicking) Ive been working. Oz went through paranoia about a recession that never happened in early 09 and then there was **** all work, but right now there is loads. Even the dreaded Christmas building slowdown doesnt seem to be happening. As for homelessness, shop around and cheap rent is easy to find in Syd over Xmas.

Australia-A word of warning.

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