Hey all,
I want to spend up to a year living and working in Australia and after reading all the available (often conflicting) information online, I'm hoping someone is generous enough to provide their input.
My plan is to spend the next couple of years working in different countries around SE Asia and Oceania, for a year each, starting with Australia. I'm a Programmer/Analyst and I'm hoping to continue building my career in that capacity in the form of short-term contracts. My first question is whether this is even feasible? I feel this is going to be very hard to do, but it's what I want to do while I'm still young.
I think I have pretty solid experience working 3 years in the industry, but have no contacts in Australia; so my job search is limited to online resources. When I'm searching for contract jobs online, the postings are mostly written by recruiters. From what I gather, recruiters (and clients) don't want to deal with visa sponsorship for contractors if there is local, capable talent already available. On top of that, I have no current plans to permanently migrate. This brings up a couple questions:
* Should I head over on the Work and Holiday Visa (Subclass 462) and then try to find work or apply at home and wait for a hire? - I could either be in the country burning up the duration of my visa looking for work, but at least being physically in the country ... Or I could be waiting who knows how long for a job offer across the pond. (I really want this ASAP)
* Is it more effective to rely on recruiters for work considering that I'm a foreigner looking for short-term work? I've had bad experiences in the past using recruiters when looking for my first job, but I think contract work is often (if not, always) passed to recruiters.
Thanks for the help 
Finding contract IT employment under which visa?
Hi S, You seemed to have sort of answered your own questions in your post! But, I wanted to post a few things in regard to your inquiries.
Based on my experience here, and with other 'foreigners' I talk to on a daily basis, companies generally will not sponsor an employee UNLESS you have an advanced degree, such as a doctorate, that is in very high demand and they are literally scouring the earth for someone -OR- if you already work for the company in another country and your skills are needed here -OR- if you have a connection with someone (like family or a close family friend) who is running a business providing a service that is in high demand, like a cleaning or janitorial service (seriously). In most cases, you have to have a connection with the potential sponsor in some way as sponsorship is not often for unknown people unless the demand for the skill is very, very high. So... if you want to use your degree and be sponsored, you need a strong connection with someone in Australia in your field that is willing to do this for you.
But... if you were granted the working holiday visa, you could come into the country and register with local temp agencies and they could match your skills and qualifications to a temporary position. If you currently see many vacancies online in a particular city in Australia for what you do, you could make that your working holiday destination and register with employment agencies in that area and hopefully you will not have to settle for something different.
Good luck with your search. I'm sure someone else on this forum will have even more info for you!
Thanks Joe.
Yup, looks like I'm not banking on visa sponsorship. It turns out that my former employer has offices in Sydney; so I'm hoping for something to happen there, too. What about IT contract jobs? Any 'expats' out there had luck with finding short term jobs in the same field? How long did it take you to find legitimate work? I really want my Work and Holiday Visa to pan out.
Here in Canberra there are a high concentration of government offices and I know of one person that has been here a few years who was getting short term IT (software support and hardware upgrade) contracts, although there were gaps of several months between his work. He now has something somewhat longer-term at the moment.
My work is currently unrelated to my studies, but generally, I have not found it difficult to find work in this city and I did find a job a few days after I arrived here. Temp agencies also seem to work well in Canberra, but you need to be prepared to call them everyday until they place you in a position somewhere. Also, as this is a city of about 350,000 people, Sydney and Melbourne may be able to offer you more choice, but maybe not as many of the relatively recession-proof government-related job options that are offered in Canberra.
Articles to help you in your expat project in Australia
On the whole, Australia is a welcoming country for expats looking to start a business. The Australian government ...
Once you have a visa that allows you to work in Australia, the next step is finding a job. Perhaps you were lucky ...
Melbourne or Naarm is Australia's second-largest city, after Sydney, and is actually on track to grow even ...
The City of Sails is Australia's economic and business hub. A bustling, modern city, Sydney is full of ...
Finding a job in Australia from abroad If you are interested in moving to Australia to work, there are two ...
Boasting some of the best beaches in the world, astonishingly diverse wildlife, and sophisticated cosmopolitan ...
