Australian Diaries - Post 1

January 30, 2015 – I was confirmed of my Australian Permanent Resident status. I was offshore at that time. But joy knew no bounds. The fantastic landscape that I often come across on TV and the web was going to be a place, I would see it in real, through my eyes. For someone coming from India, the grass on on the other side looks green. I was no different, expecting Australia to be the land of my dreams. But will this dream remain a dream or will Australia match my expectations? That is something to be experienced and am sure, I will let my opinion out here.

Immediately after receiving the PR, my job search started. LinkedIn profiles were updated. Optimism was high and was running through the blood. Did I expect miracles? Well, I did. But now almost three months later, I don’t expect miracles to happen. Rather I am compounded by the ground realities, even before I land in Australia.

I have had numerous conversations with people who have experienced Australia. I have used my sales skills and business development skills to connect with cold contacts and obtain all requisite information. The web searches yielded a lot more of information and within a month’s time, I knew the transformation will not be easy.

For an optimist like me, it was a shot in the arm, for having realised the dark secrets. For once I felt, India is good. In fact I sometimes feel my job in the Middle East would have made me comfortable, at least financially, over a period of time. But then, I was never satisfied with the good. I always left the good, for the better. Hope, Australia will be better, over the longer run.

I realised no country is perfect. Pros and cons exist in every country. This calms me down in handling various scenarios in Australia. Now, what am I talking about? Well, its all about the job search for new migrants. Here is my short story and experience.

In a span of three months, I mastered the art of writing applications for government jobs. The long list of questions and the equally long sought after answers was something I enjoyed. In fact I sometimes feel, I was blessed with this trait of writing lengthy answers to demonstrate each of key selection criteria. I think, my English is something I have to thank. Never mind the fact that, I learnt  English in my - India! How do I quantify success in this area? Simple, it is - the number of interviews you get!. Till date, out of the three matching roles I applied, 1 went to the Interview and the remaining are in consideration for interview. I wish, I had my job with the very first interview had with a government agency in Sydney. I realised, me not being in Australia was a major negative point that deprived me of furthering my career within the Australian business. For the remaining, alas!  I wish I had divine intervention to accelerate the slow progress. For all the time we blame the Indian bureaucracy, try Australia. It is no better than India. :(

The private jobs are very scary in Australia, as most of the recruitment's are done only through recruitment consultants. I have heard stories wherein recruiters just follow a checklist policy. I wonder if they ever use brains. But that is something I don’t wanna write here. Who knows, if a recruiter finds this post and blacklists me for jobs! ha ha ha.....I know my opinions are not indifferent to the majority in Australia. Hopefully, one day, I will eventually overcome this hurdle.

I hope I grow to a stage wherein I start a recruitment company in Australia, which operates differently to the existing ones. Oh! I realised that..Australia is driving out in me the idea of entrepreneurship. Not a bad start, I guess. Let’s see how it works out in the future. Until that time, of course, I will still be on a job hunt for that elusive first job in Australia...............:)