[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

I am currently in Melbourne and quite frankly struggling to find a job to even apply.

Someone tried to get in touch with you, but cannot PM you. The message they get is

The following errors occurred when this message was submitted:

1. extreme_torque has exceeded their stored private messages quota and can not accept further messages until they clear some space.

Can you PM me with your email ID please?

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Someone tried to get in touch with you, but cannot PM you. The message they get is

Can you PM me with your email ID please?

Sorry did not realize my mailbox was full. Have emptied it now and also sent you a PM

Thanks

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

What is your profile? I am currently in Melbourne and quite frankly struggling to find a job to even apply.

I am working as a QA lead for a large software firm and my wife is a Dev Lead in Unix/C++ for another big company.

[athanedar]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Guys, how's the job market in Australia? Aftet doing a cursory research, i have chosen Australia (may be NZ too) as my country to work in.

Also, besides the mandatory ISE or some exam, are any other tests i need to clear before securing a job in Australia?

Just curious to know what factors you have considered while selecting Australia ?

[BinFord]

Hi Guys

In fact, from my experience to find a good job in Australia always takes time.I have arrived here on June 2013 and I got my first job on May 19,2014.I was so depressed and lost all my hope and even booked my return flight on May 17,2014.But some miracle happened and with God’s Grace ,I got my first job with Education Queensland on a temporary basis after the 11 th month of arriving here.

Then within 3 months ,I got the Permanent one with Queensland Police Service-IT as an Information technology Officer .

I did apply mainly on Public Sectors since that was the only one giving me a hope of getting an Interview call. I have been called for 8 Interviews and out of that I got offers for 4.All of them were public sector jobs and till date I did not get a single call from any private sectors.I am not sure about the exact reason behind this scenario .Also I heard the jobs advertised in www.seek.com.au,www.mycareer.com.au are not actual positions and seems to be duplicates and sometimes not exist at all. This is just to fill in the job portal and create an impression as the market is up to pull more business from investors. But the unemployment rate now in Australia is 6 % compared to 4.5 % in year 2013-2014.Australia is largely depend on Chinese economy and if China doesn’t buy more coal (mining is the largest industry for Australia) from them, it will have a widespread impact on Australian economy and Job Market.

Also there is a general tendency to give priorities to the locals .Unless you fall in that core skills or hold any skills which is difficult to find in Australia ,the job consultants won’t give you a call for Interviews. So all depends on your luck and the skills you got, especially in IT. I feel if you got a good job back in India and have enough money to live, no need to migrate to a foreign land unless you are looking for a better life style and other surroundings.

Anyway this my experience and it may differ from you and your circumstances. Always think twice before making a decision and talk to your colleagues and friends over here before jumping into conclusions.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

What is your profile? I am currently in Melbourne and quite frankly struggling to find a job to even apply.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by BinFord

In fact, from my experience to find a good job in Australia always takes time.I have arrived here on June 2013 and I got my first job on May 19,2014.I was so depressed and lost all my hope and even booked my return flight on May 17,2014.But some miracle happened and with God’s Grace ,I got my first job with Education Queensland on a temporary basis after the 11 th month of arriving here.
.
.
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Anyway this my experience and it may differ from you and your circumstances. Always think twice before making a decision and talk to your colleagues and friends over here before jumping into conclusions.

Damn that was close! Just wondering if PR is sufficient to land a government job or you need to be a citizen?

[BinFord]

Yes it was close .PR is enough,but if you want to work at Canberra,Australian Capital territory, you need citizenship due to security clearance.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Damn that was close! Just wondering if PR is sufficient to land a government job or you need to be a citizen?

[n_aditya]

Hello guys.

Need a bit of information.

I want to move to the USA and have many relatives (my side and wife's side) so sponsorship is not an issue hopefully.

Of my 16 year career, I have spent over a decade in customer service roles managing large accounts and large teams (non tech customer service) and currently in the Learning & Development field of HR for the past 2 years.

My current role involves training on leadership areas for mid and senior level managers in my company. I also design leadership training programs for the classroom and offline video based courses apart from regular classroom training.

What options do I have in the USA for applying for a job, considering my experience in these areas which I have listed?

I see many job openings in job portals in USA (and canada) which match my role and experience but looking for advice from the experts here on my options.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Hello guys.

Need a bit of information.

I want to move to the USA and have many relatives (my side and wife's side) so sponsorship is not an issue hopefully.

The US job market is doing good relatively speaking. I say make the move. I am sure you will get something.

[LTAutoMad]

Originally Posted by BinFord

Yes it was close .PR is enough,but if you want to work at Canberra,Australian Capital territory, you need citizenship due to security clearance.

Actually, it is not dependant on the location, but on the confidentiality requirements for that particular job. Most federal Government jobs nowadays require you to be a citizen (hence, most Canberra federal jobs) and may clearly state that you also need to have security clearance.

The rules have changed and now, even citizens can't just pay an application fee and be vetted for security clearance (as used to happen before). Now, your employer (i.e. federal government department) has to sponsor you; but to get employment, you first need to have the security clearance! So, a chicken & egg puzzle! So, if you are the ones already with a security clearance, your competition for the jobs is much less!

Permanent residency should be enough for most state government jobs.

[LTAutoMad]

A briefing on the situation in Australia, based on my perspective of 20+ years here:

Summary:

Australia is currently going through a very bad patch and is virtually in recession. Job outlook is extremely bleak. Be aware of the ground reality before you migrate!


Background:

Australia has had a dream run for the last two decades due to the massive mining boom and was one of the very few developed countries that were not affected by the Global Financial Crisis. So, while the European (PIGS in particular) & the US economies tanked, went into recession and in many countries, house prices crashed to a third or less and millions of fairly well off people suddenly faced unemployment/poverty, Australia enjoyed boom times.

Salaries in Australia (and consequently, cost of living) were/are among the highest in the world. The flip side of the high salaries was that almost all industries became non-competitive by world standards. (This happens to all countries where a mining boom occurs - it kills off all the other industries). And as you know, ruthless capitalism will always move jobs to where it is cheapest.

Now that the mineral prices have crashed and the mining boom has ended, Australia is in a very dire predicament. Australia used to manufacture a huge range of industrial goods (e.g. TVs, fridges, washing machines, transformers, electronics etc in addition to cars) and also had steel mills & oil refineries. But, due to the high wages, almost every manufacturing plant here has been closed down and production moved, you guessed right, to China.

First it was the cheap end like clothing & footwear and then one by one, the other industries also moved. The last remaining one, car manufacturing, will shut down during 2016-17 and most of the cars will be sourced from South Korea (Holden) and Thailand (Ford & Toyota). Most steel processing has moved to China. Most of the oil refineries have closed and petrol/diesel is imported.

My home state of Victoria used to be the manufacturing centre of Australia - now it the rust bucket!

So, Australia has effectively become what India used to be under the colonial masters - iron ore, oil, gold, tin etc are dug up out of the ground and sent overseas where the real value addition happens and the finished goods come back at a huge mark-up! Same with the dairy industry, just send wool offshore for processing.

What about the IT jobs? Gone to India!
Office jobs? Again, gone to India!

The Indian IT/BPO majors like TCS, Infosys, Wipro etc had a scant presence in Australia even 10 years ago, but once the rest of the world economy crashed, they all moved in on to Australia in a big way and have set up large offices here (mostly body-shopped staff from India on 457 visa). Most of the IT projects / support have been outsourced to these companies by the private sector as well as the government departments. Of course, the basic economic model of these companies is to get the work done cheaply in India - so they try to have minimal local staff on Australian wages and most work is off-shored home to India.

The politicians will fudge the figures to somehow escape two quarters of negative growth (i.e. technical recession), but the people on the ground know the truth: Australia is in RECESSION. Every day the newspapers are full of one company after another cutting jobs, even government sacks thousands. So, “real” unemployment is very high (as opposed to government figures, where someone working 2 hours / week is counted as employed!!!). There are huge numbers of people (not just migrants, but locals also) who are struggling to find a job.

So, in a nutshell, think really hard before you migrate. If you are in your twenties / early thirties and are willing to start again, its fine. But, if you are older, have family, kids etc or are already in a good job / position / salary in India, think hard about how you will cope with starting from scratch again. This is true for migration to any country.

I know of many people who have migrated here and done very well and also know of many people who are still struggling years after migration.

Let me end on a positive note - Australia is an absolutely fantastic country to live in, the quality of life is among the best in the world, the educational / life opportunities that your kids can get will be unthinkable for a middle class Indian in India, clean air, peace, silence, scenic beauty, lack of corruption in everyday life, lack of civil unrest/riots/strikes, much less incidence of street crime, obedience to law (especially for us petrolheads, rule of law on the roads!) etc etc etc!!

People are very friendly (compared to Europe or even UK) and sports-crazy. Now, the big R question: Racism? Well, when you step out of your own country, can you tell me ONE place in the world where you won’t face it? The US? That’s where the KKK & most of the neo-Nazis are headquartered. In Japan, you are a "foreign devil". The less said of how Indian labourers are ruthlessly exploited as slaves in the Gulf, the better. In our own country, as someone mentioned, the moment you move out of your hometown (even to another part of your state), you are an outsider. If you move states, then discrimination based on language, culture etc come into play. You have to be realistic and hardy to get out of your comfort zone.

No one can make the decision to migrate for you, only you can make the decision depending on your individual, personal circumstances. No one can tell you whether you will get a job, how soon, what level etc. Or whether you will love it or hate it, be homesick etc. It all depends on your individual (and family) outlooks & attitudes and ability to be flexible and adaptable in a new place.

Good Luck!

[athanedar]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Hello guys.

Need a bit of information.

I want to move to the USA and have many relatives (my side and wife's side) so sponsorship is not an issue hopefully.

I see many job openings in job portals in USA (and canada) which match my role and experience but looking for advice from the experts here on my options.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Are you saying you will directly apply for GC sponsored by your relatives who are US citizens / GC holders? If yes then that is great. No need to worry about H1 etc.

The job market is good in USA and your profile is the most sought after by companies. And your 16 years of experience will also help you get great salary.

My suggestion is make the move

[benbsb29]

I agree with the points mentioned by BinFord about the job scene in Australia.

Another aspect with regards to the IT jobs on Seek.com.au and indeed.com.au are that these are the same jobs which are put up by different job consultants. So don’t be misled by seeing just the number of jobs available. I made that mistake when I first started out. I searched for jobs based on keywords relevant to my technical skill area and was happy to see the positions available. A day or so into applying, and I realized that some of them were the same job position!

Also, consultants who put up these ads are not technical, and so wouldn’t know the details of the job they put up. This makes it a pain when you feel the position is well-suited to your skills, but the consultant who goes by keywords feels otherwise. Most of it is infact automated, so you see where I am getting at.

There appears to be a disconnect between the government who allows for more resident applications based on the in-demand skillset list, and the reality being that there is surplus local manpower available, just not utilized.

Outsourcing of IT jobs is another reality of the IT scene in Australia, so be prepared to see jobs disappear, just when you felt it was all sorted.

I have gone through the grind myself, having moved here, and thought it prudent to mention this here, considering this is not something which I had to face alone.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Hello guys.

Need a bit of information.

I want to move to the USA and have many relatives (my side and wife's side) so sponsorship is not an issue hopefully.

Can you elaborate a bit on that?
For sponsorship, if someone from your in-laws' sponsors you, then primary applicant has to be your wife.
Also,family sponsorship and work permit are two separate processes. You will still need to apply for a work permit (aka green card aka EAD, short for Employment Authorization Document). Following are the categories for family sponsored permits (Source: US Visa Bulletin for March 2015):
FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

First: (F1) Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens: 23,400 plus any numbers not required for fourth preference.

Second: Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents: 114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the worldwide family preference level exceeds 226,000, plus any unused first preference numbers:

A. (F2A) Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents: 77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;

B. (F2B) Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents: 23% of the overall second preference limitation.

Third: (F3) Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens: 23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.

Fourth: (F4) Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens: 65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences.

And then these are the current priority dates for these categories for Indian applicants:

Family-Sponsored
F1 01AUG07
F2A 22JUN13
F2B 08JUL08
F3 22JAN04
F4 15MAY02

Above means that those who filed under F1 till 01AUG07 are now allowed to proceed to the next stage of obtaining a green card.

That's why the quickest way to move here is to find an employer willing to sponsor your H1B.

Speaking of H1B, USCIS will now start accepting EAD applications for spouses of H1B visa holders from May 26th onwards. This is a move that has been long awaited.

DHS Extends Eligibility for Employment Authorization to Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses of H-1B Nonimmigrants Seeking Employment-Based Lawful Permanent Residence

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Can you elaborate a bit on that?
For sponsorship, if someone from your in-laws' sponsors you, then primary applicant has to be your wife.

Thanks for your post, Amit, extreme_torque and athanedar.

Amit, regarding your query, my wife's cousin would be the sponsor. They are US citizen's. What process would apply in this case?