Moving to Oz!

Cupcake. · 05-06-2011 2:29pm #1

Hello!:)

Just found this part of boards - wow! Amazing info!

I'm moving to Melbourne in two weeks!! Very excited about it - it's been a long time coming!!

Specific question - I am a chartered accountant (ACA) and have just completed my tax qualification (AITI)....However all my experience is in tax. I've worked in one of the Big 4 for the last (almost) 4 years. I'd love to hear from anyone who had a similar background and moved to Oz - what kind of jobs were you eligible/not eligible to apply for. Is coming from a tax background a big disadvantage or does Big 4 experience overide that?

General question - Is it a better idea to apply for jobs yourself or should I just go through an agency?!

I've just booked 5 days accommodation for when I arrive and then I'm hoping to get straight into apartment searching when I arrive - Is this wise or should I try to sort out accommodation before I go?!

Thanks a million in advance!:)

hussey · 06-06-2011 12:22am

Welcome.

first thing - BRING WARM CLOTHES - melbourne is very cold at the moment.

For accountancy usually the big companies go through agencies, esp if you are working on a temp visa (you never said)

accommodation - 5 days is fine, there will be plenty of options in winter, don't book too far ahead in case you hate it etc

Cupcake. · 06-06-2011 12:42am

Thanks a mill Hussey - If I'm honest - I was so busy finishing up work I hadn't even thought to check the weather - lots of repacking to be done so!! Great tip!

I'll be on a WHV, I spent four months in oz four years ago and LOVED it there (but in saying that I was on a pure holiday that time and who doesn't love a holiday).This time I want to see if I still love it when I'm getting up on a Monday morning and going to work! If I'm still as impressed - I'll see about a sponsored visa.:)

I'll start looking into agency work so - I'm half thinking of trying banking (if I'm qualified enough for them)!

Would you recommend any areas to live in?Last time I stayed in St.Kildas and thought it was fantastic but I'm willing to look elsewhere!

Zambia · 06-06-2011 12:58am

+1 Bring warm clothes

When renting its worth paying a little more for a newer house, you save the difference on heating costs. It also pays to have a newer house in summer its easier to cool.

Avoid St Kilda if you are going to live here then you need to move away from the back packing scene. It will be fun for a while but for what a room costs you in St Kilda elsewhere will get you a house. I would look into somewhere like Northcote.

A good tip when looking at areas is cars the more cars parked on the nature strip especially old Holdens the worse the area.

If you are going to stay decide early and look for employers that can help you with this. Month 11 is not the time to decide you want to stay.

Best of luck.

Doc · 06-06-2011 6:17am

Just in relation to where you live it really depends on what it is you particularly like or don’t like. Personally I don’t think I would like to live outside of the inner suburbs of Melbourne even though I actually work a good bit out to the East. Sure it would be cheaper and I’d save on travel time but I can walk into the CBD (city center) from where I live and all the best places are nice and close. It also sounds like it would be likely that if you get a job doing what you want you would be working in the CBD.

I personally love living in Richmond its got great bars and amazing Asian food as well as good transport links. If I didn’t live here I would probably like to live in Carlton or Fitzroy because a lot of my friends and the places I like to go are in these areas but it all depends on what you like yourself a bit more info would be good.

I like St.Kilda. It has the beach and a lot of pubs cafes and restraints. It also has a relatively high Irish population and attracts backpackers from all over but because of this it is very expensive to get a place there; many places are being rented out with 2 or more people to a room. You could easily have 10 people in one house.

Cupcake. · 06-06-2011 9:19am

Zambia & Doc -Thanks so much for the helpful hints!! You're star bars.:)

I've scratched off shorts and have added woolly jumpers to my packing list! Zambia - will bear the newer house point and the 'old holdens' (haha love that benchmark) in mind when looking for places.

On St.Kilda - valid point re the backpackers scene, I just really liked the bar/cafe laid back vibe but I can see how drunken backpacking behavior can get tiresome in the longer term.

Doc - you're reading my mind on the criteria. My ideal is somewhere I can walk (or cycle) to work from and I have a thing for city convenience over space. I'm kinda looking for the Melbourne equivalent on Ranelagh?

...I can see I've a lot of reading up to do over the next two weeks - Would you recommend trying to get a job before getting over or at least interviews set up?

Are there any particular places that are good for meeting new people? I've seen alot about joining GAA teams but me + a hurl = accidentally black eyed team-mates

...so other suggestions welcome...would like to meet some ozzies as well as irish.

lima · 06-06-2011 10:16am

Hey Cupcake,

Are you traveling by yourself? I am arriving in Melbourne by myself on a WHV on July 20th, would be gerat to keep in touch so see how you are getting on with finding accommodation/ making friends etc.! I'm not an accountant but I have a friend in Sydney who is so I could prob find info for you... If you happen to know anyone in telecoms that would be great for me!

For an area to live, I think it would be great to live near enough the beach so that I can go running, or near albert park.. but would rather pay more to live in a pad than a backpacker house (I'm a flashpacker these days!).. so thinking Prarhan possibly, been to Melbs before and stayed in a hostel on Chapel St, really cool area with bars and eateries and only a few min on a train to CBD..

Does anyone know how much one would expect to pay for a double room in a nice apartment/houseshare? I'm thinking $200-$300 a week.. I'm currently living in London so I'm used to paying high rent for low quality so that needs to change

Woo so excited!!

Cupcake. · 07-06-2011 1:44pm

Hey Lima!

Traveling over with my OH...he's also an accountant - but we're not that boring I swear ;-)

Defo - will keep in touch - at the moment I don't have many practical tips but I'm sure once I move over and have to figure things it it will all become clear!! I'm just getting back into running after a long while but would be great to have a running buddy once we're settled!

I'll let you know what sort of prices I'm finding for size/area once I start looking :-) Very exciting!

Oh - one very random tip from a friend of mine in Brisbane - black tights are apparently quite expensive in oz so stock up if your a black tights kinda gal!....I hear shopping in Melbourne is pretty good :-)

lima · 07-06-2011 1:55pm

Cupcake. wrote: »

Hey Lima!

Traveling over with my OH...he's also an accountant - but we're not that boring I swear ;-)

Defo - will keep in touch - at the moment I don't have many practical tips but I'm sure once I move over and have to figure things it it will all become clear!! I'm just getting back into running after a long while but would be great to have a running buddy once we're settled!

I'll let you know what sort of prices I'm finding for size/area once I start looking :-) Very exciting!

Oh - one very random tip from a friend of mine in Brisbane - black tights are apparently quite expensive in oz so stock up if your a black tights kinda gal!....I hear shopping in Melbourne is pretty good :-)

I'll take note of the tights thing, however I'm a guy

Cupcake. · 07-06-2011 2:01pm

Haha oops

...OH is also a guy...he didn't find that a helpful hint either! He'll be looking for a five-a-side or something like that in melbourne

...lots to look into over the next 13 days...eek

lima · 07-06-2011 2:23pm

haha, that's cool though I'll be looking for lads to play football with.. I also know some Irish girls going over so can put you in touch and you can talk about the crazy prices of tights

Princess_N · 07-06-2011 4:57pm

I'm not a huge tights fan but reading that my mind went into panic about how I better pack some anyway lol, Holy effort of packing, I'm dreading it!! So much to do so little time, maybe I'll just stay here :eek:

E.E.T · 07-06-2011 6:24pm

I'm moving over in 23 days!!! Ahhh!!
Actually getting bit stressed as I'v lots of work related stuff to get done not to mind trying to get sorted for Oz!

Thanks for the black tights tip cupcake! Will add it to my 'to get list'
I also heard that underwear is very expensive so must give trip to dunnes/pennys!
Damn my 20kg weight limit!!!

statina · 07-06-2011 11:25pm

Also, bring over lots of socks and underwear! they are crazy prices over here, really missing penneys!:p

Cupcake. · 08-06-2011 9:15am

Haha thanks for the replys....I now have images of getting stopped at customs with a suitcase full of underwear and little else!!;)

On rentals - a friend of mine sent me some links as follows:

http://www.hockingstuart.com.au/

http://www.noeljones.com.au/

http://www.fletchers.net.au/

http://www.marshallwhite.com.au/

http://www.woodards.com.au/

EET - I know the feeling with finishing up in work - handover meetings/notes, telling clients...ugh...but then it's done and you'll be freeeee

universe777 · 08-06-2011 11:26am

If you are into city living consider the area of Southbank (5 mins walk to the city), it's on the southside of the river, opposite the city. Heaps of apartments of varying quality. Personally I recommend Eureka tower (great gym) and 1 Freshwater Place (great gym too). Close by is a a great running track, just over 3km circuit.

Offices in Southbank - PwC (if you are into that sort of thing), CPA, Heinz, Exxon Mobil etc etc
A lot of restaurants along the river, easy access to South Melbourne for food shopping (3 supermarkets in close proximity) and DFO (clothes factory outlet mall - not as cheap as outlet malls in USA).

For renting apartments have a look at micm.com.au (real estate agents, very good to deal with) and have a look at realestate.com.au & domain.com.au (both real estate search engines).

Steer clear of Dingle Partners (real estate agents), very bad to deal with.

endabob1 · 08-06-2011 11:42am

OP I Lived in Melbourne for 18 months(ish) in 2003/2004 & am also an accountant (CIMA).
My advice is to imediately join either the CPA or the CA institutes and start looking into completing their qualifications, you will get a lot of exemptions. I assume you are on PR so would have had your skills & quals assesed by one of the local bodies, whichever one did it I would join them.

It's not easy to get work, I struggled and I have an excellent CV (not bragging here) but I've worked all over the world & I struggled most to find work in Melbourne. Register with the Agency's but also look hard yourself, a lot of companies recruit directly. I got a job through direct recruitment, they advertised in the Age, check their website it has a link to their Job advert portal.

Without Australian experience you need to show willing and prove that your their for the long haul, getting the local Quals is one way of doing that. My Mrs has an Accounting Diploma and her qualifications were not recognised, she really struggled with work.

As for Renting, we stayed in South Yarra because it was central enough and on the tram line, without knowing where we would be working, I would recommend it but it is among the pricer areas. The public transport is excellent, stay close to a tram line if you can.

Another +1 for warm clothes, we arrived in July and the first things we bought were gloves, scarves & hats!!!

One other thing on accommodation, we had a week booked in advance and then had a lot of stress trying to find a furnished place, in the end we got an unfurnished place and bought the essentials until the rest of our stuff turned up, from memory I think we seen 1 or maybe 2 furnished places in a week of looking, things may well have changed on that front but we calculated we were better off buying stuff and renting unfurnished, than paying inflated rent for a furnished place.

Cupcake. · 08-06-2011 12:00pm

Universe777 - thanks a mill for the renting advice!! Will bear it in mind for sure when looking. I'm ex-PwC - not sure if I could wake up t the sight of the building everyday

Endabob1 - I'll be on a WHV for the 1st year (and just finished 8 years of exams so not overly keen on doing another set straight away!)...I totally see where you're coming from though, I'm sure prospective employers will be keen to see some level of commitment before investing in a newbie. Once we are settled I'll need to do a lot of further digging into the sponsored visa route/recognition of qualifications etc. Thanks so much for the heads up on that!!

On the furnished/unfurnished point - I would really hope to get a furnished place - me and ikea have not faired well together in the past!! I have been told that unfurnished is more common though so if I must I'll go down that route!:)

universe777 · 08-06-2011 12:33pm

Cupcake. wrote: »

On the furnished/unfurnished point - I would really hope to get a furnished place

Good luck with that one, furnished places probably account for maybe 1% of the rental market and the quality of the furniture is akin to the stuff people put out for the corpo to collect once a year in Dublin... junk!
You could pay $100 a week more for a furnished place compared to an equivalent property wihtout furniture. Much better to buy your own stuff, plenty of different furniture places around Melbourne.
Unfurnished means you get nothing at all, no appliances or white goods, no fridge, washer, drier etc. Also if renting find somewhere with aircon, free standing units can be very costly to buy yourself,

Cupcake. · 08-06-2011 12:56pm

Hmmm...I had the same problem when I lived in the states...shudder when I think back to the first week of house hunting over there!! If that's the way it's done in Melb, I'll take your advice and look towards unfurnished! With all the people that seem to be coming and going from oz I may even find a bargain on some of the stuff! Cheers for that.

endabob1 · 08-06-2011 2:21pm

Walmart, Big W & Ikea are good bets for cheap stuff (assuming they're all still going & still cheap!)

If you're on WHV you'll find it tricky to get anything substantial in Accountancy, you're going to be looking almost exclusively at temp work which is pretty much 100% agency.

On the plus side Melbourne is an awesome city, try not to get too bogged down in work/accommodation issues and enjoy it as much as possible, Brighton & St Kilda are great in Summer, there's loads of cheap byo Asian places on Victoria St & Lygon St is like being in Europe, the Melbourne Cheap Eats was like our bible.
Fawkner Park is a great place to kick back with a bottle of wine and watch some local league cricket, as are the botanical Gardens, there used to be a moonlit cinema in the gardens in Summer which is worth going to with a nice picnic.

frag420 · 08-06-2011 2:28pm

HI Guys,

Dont mean t Hi jack thread but I am looking at Oz or NZ for after next xmas on a semi perm basis.

Are you all under 30? If not how was your application for visa if you are 30+??

cheers

frAg

Cupcake. · 08-06-2011 7:16pm

Endabob1- most defo -the lifestyle is a big part of why I'm going so will defo be soaking up everything the city has to offer!! I'm sure accommodation/jobs will work themselves out - I'll just do the research I can do from home and then hopefully with a bit of effort things will fall nicely into place!!

Frag - hijack away

I'm no good to you on that one - I'm the younger side of 30 but I'm sure others on here will have experience!

Durrr · 16-06-2011 12:08am

Hi cupcake, I came on here looking for advice and guess what?! I'm travelling at roughly the same time as you to melbourne and our plans seem to be almost identical. Weird or what? Flying on monday 20th. I also will be looking to use accountancy experience to get a job over there....need to start working quickly tho as my self and the missus are saving up for a wedding....exciting times...would defo be up for meeting up with u and the other half over there....What date you flying? do you know anything about the likelihood of being sponsored?

lenn · 16-06-2011 2:36am

Hey great thread btw, on the subject of agencies and getting work, can anybody recommend any reputable agencies or agencies that specialise in specific accupations (science engineering), not just temping agencies. i just arrived myself but unfortunatley i wasn't as organised and just assumed that i would literally walk into work off the plane.

Cupcake. · 16-06-2011 11:33am

Durrr - that's actually very very weird

- we're flying on the 20th too!!! We're going through Amsterdam - are you on the same flight?!!

Would defo love to meet up!!! I'll send you a pm with my contact details and hopefully there'll be more boards beers to get involved in:). I haven't done much research on the sponsored side of things - I've looked at the test and with our age profile/'skills' and speaking english etc it looks promising!! I suppose once we're over there I'll get proper advice on which companies are likely to be interested in sponsorship.

Lenn - I've been putting a list together of different agencies. I've contacted some already and arranged to meet them! Most of the ones i've contacted are specialised in accounting/finance so no good to you but the websites generally list the areas they recruit for. Happy job hunting!!

Oh on a separate note - one tip - I've set up my bank account and applied for a tax number using this website - http://www.jobs4travellers.com.au/ it's a free service and simple to use. Saves me two hassles! The bank is commonwealth and from a little bit of research they seem to be a good bank to deal with.

ammo123 · 21-06-2011 2:43am

On the tights issue-yes you defo need them, tis very chilly here, but they really aren't that expensive if you go to places like K-mart or Big W.

I'm here a month and still looking for somewhere to live, but really haven't made a proper effort as just hate house hunting and have been busy with work.

Dorm living is getting old though and havent had an undisturbed nights sleep in quite a while!

Are there really hostels where a single room is around dorm price? Please let me know if ye have seen some as I haven't

thanks

Cupcake. · 25-06-2011 6:33pm

Finally made it to Melbourne

- apart from jetlag I'm loving it already - great buzzy city!

Just a couple of quick questions -

1. Any reccomendations on where to buy good reasonably priced laptops?
2. Any reccomendations on a good hairdresser?
3. Any reccomendations on a good reasonably priced nail bar?

My main priority is finding somewhere to live but once that minor detail is sorted would love to find the above!

Ammo123 - thanks for the tip! Hope your house hunting is coming along nicely.

Thanks

Munster_Gal · 25-06-2011 6:44pm

Hey guys

Great thread. Myself and a friend are heading to Melbourne in Sept/Oct (as soon as we have enough funds in our accounts to support the WHV)
Please keep us updated on finding accom etc It'll save me doing it when I get there.

cupcake - you will defo have to let me know how you get on finding a nail bar and hairdresser

If you're looking for entertainment - my mate is a magician and he's working in the Mail Exchange Hotel - unbelievably talented! - tell him Pam told you to drop in

ammo123 · 27-06-2011 12:07am

Thanks Cupcake, actually just found a place and moving in on Saturday

I would think hairdressers might depend on what area of the city you are in, but I went to one near me which I'm pretty sure is a chain, called Hairhouse Warehouse, good cut and reasonably priced at $55.

Have nothing to add on the nail front though, last time I got mine done was Vietnam, let me know if you find a cheap place though.

Cupcake. · 27-06-2011 1:58am

Ammo123 - Congrats on finding a place! And thats a mill for the hair reccomendation

Will update once I find a nail place.

Munster gal - I'm happy to be the guinea pig - will let ya know what I find.

On laptops - I found good enough deals in Harvey Normans - 1/2 yearly sale - although sales people there are like sharks - went in looking for a laptop, almost came out with mobile broadband, laptop accessories, extended warranty, antivirus etc!

Moving to Oz!

Comments