Hi,
I'm pretty new to Perth, been here 6 weeks and still looking for work. My partner is Australian and unskilled and had work within a few weeks. I am 28 and a qualified Graphic Designer with 4 years experience. I have been searching for any work, to pay the rent really. I have experience in hospitality and assembly line work too.
I am becoming increasingly despondent with the work situation here. Especially recruitment agencies. In my personal experience, they don't have a clue what they're doing! I am definitely qualified for a number of jobs but they only want people with x amount of experience in a specific role. Any decent agency would be able to see that having skills in one job often translates to and benefits an other job. they seem so closed minded to me.
I had a bad experience with one particular agency. I applied for a job in the WA for process workers. No recruitment agency mentioned in the advert. I have experience and the job suited my hours etc. The recruitment agency guy rang back and insisted I signed up with their agency and i'd have a job. FINALLY A JOB!
He rang early the next morning, giving me half an hour notice to get to an Eastern Suburb from where I live near the CBD, for an interview. I ended up being 10 mins late, although I did call to explain I was stuck in traffic. The "interview" was 6 people standing around in tracksuits. I was way overdressed, cv in hand etc. the recruitment guy said not to worry as they needed 10 people anyway and only 6 turned up!
I knew that they took one look at me and thought "she won't hack this place" so I lost out. I'm so frustrated at the way it all went, I know I would have been able to do the job and been reliable. I have heard nothing from them since. I really need to find work soon my savings are running out.
Have any other ex pats had good/bad experiences with agencies? Also do you feel that not being australian means you loose out on a lot of jobs.
Bad Experiences with Perth recruitment agencies??
Hi spicesmices!
Welcome to Expat.com and thanks for sharing your experience, although bad.
Hope other members will be able to give you some tips. Meanwhile have you tried having a look at the Perth jobs section?
It might help!
Good luck
Armand
Hi spicemices
I know the frustration you are feeling. I tried for about the same amount of time to get a job through recruitment agencies/ job sites. It was very frustrating, so I decided to take things into my own hands, made a list of companies that I'd like to work for and started calling them and asking for meetings. Some knock backs of course, but so many wonderful and gracious people took meetings with me.
I was a producer for many years in London, so created an up to date portfolio to showcase the best shoots. It took time for anything to happen, and I was fortunate to pick up admin work to keep me going. I got that interview through a friend, not a recruitment agent.
I'm really aware of how thin on the ground design/ creative work is, and I would recommend networking yourself. Screenwest run fantastic programmes, so sign up for their newsletter. There day courses are usually free and are chock full of incredibly interesting people, not just film makers.
It's a tough one, but from experience, I know it is possible.... I wish you a lot of luck.
Ps. Don't see the fact your not Australian as a negative. You will have a lot of fresh approaches coming from a different background and people will love that. 
Hi
Have you managed to find work yet? You mentioned that you have experience in Hospitality - I might know of something. Let me know if you are interested!
With regards to recruitment in WA, there are a few agencies that lack professionalism. The good news is that if the interviewer is lacking, that gives you time to shine.
If they know what they are doing, they will possibly use the STAR technique.
STAR
Situation-Task-Action-Result
They will ask you to describe a situation and then tell them how you overcame it.
Mining companies love them. For example:
While walking across the workshop I saw a safety problem, so I removed the hazard, informed the supervisor and added a process so that it could not re-occur.
If the recruiter is clueless-then take the initiative and tell them all the STAR initiatives you have done.
Best of luck....and always give yourself plenty of time to turn up at the interview.
Hello
My name is Hannah just wandering if you had any advice on jobs around Perth. I seem to be in the same boat as you. Hope you are getting luckier !!
My experience with recruitment agencies is, they do not know what they are doing?? They will get a JD From the client, to find a suitable candidate......my understanding is
they will take every keyword in JD and match with the résumé, if the keyword do not exists they will simply discard the résumé, welcome.....I'm on the same boat, .......I wish you all the best...
My experience with Student Job Search was good. I landed on a decent job.
Hi There,
Really sorry about your frustration but to be honest with you, market is pretty tough here in Perth. I work with a rental car company and it took me 2 months to find my first job and that too at a fairly low rate. My suggestion, don't get frustrated, its a beautiful place which will absorb you after a while but as they say in Auto industry, this place takes time to kick-start. Try out apprentice position, work without salary, that will give you some aussie experience which generally all the companies prefer. Keep your search on, i am sure you will soon get a good one. Cheers, Ajay
It is pretty hard to find the job in Perth ,especially for the people like us who just settle down in here,but if you guys got local experience it will make you easier to the job no matter what's your qualification are . The best way to get the local experiences is involved your self to do valunter thing.Good luck guys .
Articles to help you in your expat project in Perth
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 ...
