Australian Diaries - Post 3

23 May 2015 – One week to go for our Australian journey. We are super excited. The very thought of landing in Australia makes us feel anxious too.  Irrespective of the outcomes, the journey in itself is sure to give us more than a couple of lessons.

Packing is in full swing. I can never think of a time, where we have been so much concerned about the baggage limits. Blame it on the horrendous costs for the extra baggage; we are better off having a couple of kilos less in our baggage. So much time spent on optimization, we were using our professional skills to enhance our personal lives J. Finally, we decided to barge in the remaining stuffs through a cargo service from Doha at a later date.

Our mobile phones are now loaded with the apps – ranging from Australian banks to travel guides. Not to forget the app of Melbourne transport. Planning the first week has been complete, more or less. With winter settling in Melbourne, we had all our winter wear up and running, considering the fact that it has been more than 2 years since we used them here, in this part of the world.

The first weekend in Melbourne is planned to scout for permanent accommodation. Casual search on the internet serves a reminder of the large Indian settlements. Plenty of rooms are available on sharing basis, especially for females. Reading through those messages would sometime give a feel that you are actually in India and not in Australia. Albeit the large presence of Indian community, you can still feel and sense the typical Indian feeling. No offense directed, but sometimes you feel like running away from the exemplified attitude of my countrymen. I hope I will be able to find some good accommodation quickly.

The first week day after our landing is planned at the Central Business District (CBD) area. Our bank accounts need to be activated and yes, we need to get the much awaited debit cards. Then, we have to walk around 350m from our Bank to register for medical and centre link services. This done, I also need to visit an Australian post office to register for a tax file number. I am sure; this would call for a delicious Indian lunch. Will I be able to grab one? This is something I cannot tell you now.

The second weekday – it will be time to move out of the booked accommodation. I am hoping success would have prevailed in our weekend search. Else, the contingency plan will be to extend the stay at current place or move into a budget hotel.

Third weekday is a time to hit up and run to the recruiters. Meeting the recruiter would seriously bring out the best of our sales skills. Experiences till date indicate it is all about selling our capabilities. This is where I will have to use my Middle East experience.  I am hoping the holy angels are up waiting for me. Ha ah ahah

I am laying my fingers to rest at this moment; but my mind is nowhere resting – as it continues to run countless trips to Australia, without any air tickets!!!!

Australian Diaries - Post 2

07 May 2015 – Sometime in the afternoon, my ‘highly smart ‘phone notified me of an incoming mail. I unlocked my screen and noticed I received a mail, into an email address which I use it for professional purposes (read – job search!). As I opened and read through my email, I was delighted. By now, you might have known me as a highly optimist person. The inner traits took control over my mind and I was hoping that the opportunity this mail presented was the one I should grab. Did I grab? Yes. But then as typical Indian movies, that have been successful theatrically, there was a twist. Here is an update on this incident, which I personally encountered.

The mail originated from Australia. The company is a reputed project controls expert serving high caliber clients. Now, how did I get here? I am unfolding the background here - I used my business development skills (again!) through LinkedIn and approach a higher level manager in the UK branch, for positions in Australia. The gentleman from UK was kind enough to have replied to me - stating that my resume would be forwarded to an Australian branch if I was interested. Not the one to hold back, I immediately provided a positive response with a request to forward my resume to the Australian Branch. A couple of days later, the Regional Manager of the Australian branch sent in the subject mail I highlighted above. Joy knew no bounds when the content of the email, extract derived, read “……….I would be keen to do a telephone interview tomorrow……….”. I felt my hard work would eventually bring me happiness. I was already dreaming of leaving Qatar. But destiny said, not so fast, my son! There is more to go!!!!

Now coming back to the subject email, I responded to the email with high energy. I was hoping I would get a confirmation for the telephone interview within a reasonable time (not more than 60 min). But, alas, the response never came. I spent the so called ‘tomorrow’ looking at the phone, hoping there would be a telephone interview (again, optimist in me beats the realist). The day ended and I was reminded of the tagline – “Tomorrow never dies”. Rather, for me, the tomorrow I was looking for, never came. L

You might be wondering, why am I disappointed? Well, there are several reasons. For one, not many know in my circle know that I have published a couple of articles on project controls expertise. I am of the opinion that my skills would have been the best fit for the potential role I missed out, oops!..rather never had a shot at. Two, I could have completed writing my book on project control expertise and used it to sync with the role of training the industry personnel. I lost out on the opportunity, at this moment, to earn the name and fame J Three, the role would have given me chance to travel and use my skills at multiple locations, enabling me network better. Four, experts are paid ‘more’. And I missed out on a heavy pay cheque, for a start, in Australia.

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My wife keeps reminding me that I am unique. My wife continues to say, that, less than 1% of the people in the world are sincere like me – adhering to timelines, commitments, accepting statements made, even if it was wrong and more importantly having 100% trust on the ‘other’ person. The world is not the same, I am told always and repeatedly. I have always argued with my wife, that, as humans – ‘trust’ in its basic sense is eternal and privy to human kind, for, that’s the only element, the human kind is differentiated. I now have the unfortunate history of such scenarios repeating over time and again. But no matter what, I still yearn to be different, irrespective of the consequences. Professionally, I am a strong advocator of ‘change management’, but personally, looks like I am not ‘managing to change’ some of the elementary characteristics developed in me, throughout my life cycle till date. What are the risks and consequences? This is something I have to wait and watch.

I have always believed life teaches us more than the books. For a fact, I do not remember, much of the civil engineering subjects nor the mathematics I studied at school nor remember even the science experiments that I used to hate. All I have used in my life is the basics of English, the 26 alphabets, the jugglery of which constitutes my ability to communicate with people in life. Events in life have taught me more. Some of the events make me feel stupid, whilst the vast majority gave me the confidence in reiterating my thoughts that my intellectual capability is far higher than the successful people. It is just a matter of time, when the luck around the corner has to creep and crawl into my life. For this, all I need is the fruits of the ‘good karma’.

I guess I will have more to write as the days pass. For now, I can’t wait to unravel my experiences as and when I experience the experience :). I am just reminded that Tourism Australia has a tagline – “There is nothing like Australia”. Well, with my experiences, I can’t disagree with this tagline, right?

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...............:)