Considering the move to Australia (pros and cons)

Aloreth

Aloreth

Aloreth

Associate
Joined
16 Aug 2005
Posts
1,372
Long story short I am a recent graduate from Warwick with a 2.1 in a maths based disciple ........and cant get a decent job for love nor money. Im fed up with this country judging me on my A levels - I have had enough and im thinking i might move to Australia. Already hold dual nationality so getting there wouldn't be a problem. Had a couple of banks over there saying they would be interested in employing me as well....

I was wondering if anyone might have some points/advice for me? Anyone made the move and loved it/regretted it?

Any thoughts and ideas apprecaite - i know some OcUKers are posting from Oz already, where abouts do you live? Is it nice?

Mike
 
I live near Adelaide, Its probably the most thought out City in design then any other down here :)

Its easy to navigate and find your way around and the roads arnt overly crowded like Sydney and Melbourne.
There is a lot of really nice buildings around Adelaide and the hill and a fair bit of heritage stuff if thats what your into aswell as a lot of good clubs and places to eat and go to at night.
Theres some really nice sites to see aswell Eg. on one side of Adelaide you have hills and mountain ranges surrounding it, on the other side you have the see and beaches.
Separating the actual suburbs from the City are the parklands, A huge amount of green parks that circle the Actual City of Adelaide.

Plus the people are nicer here then they are in Victoria :p

If you do venture up in the hills around where i live it is a wonderfull place, i never used to think much of it until i started to travel interstate more and now when im over there i cant wait to be home and appreciate it so much more then i used to :)
 
I have never been abroad so im not realy qualified to comment on this but.....

Don't burn any bridges in the UK and get on the next available flight :p

An opertunity to live and work in Oz is something most of us can only dream of, I would grab it by the scruff of the kneck.

Do you have any comitments here? anything making you hesitate.

OT/ Zip nice thoughtfull sig, I like it.
 
Zip said:
Its easy to navigate and find your way around and the roads arnt overly crowded like Sydney and Melbourne.
Click to expand...

You've never been to the UK have you?
When I was in Sydney I couldn't believe how quiet it was compared with London :p

I'm seriously considering going over there at some point. I know a couple of people in Sydney and it does seem like a much nicer place to be than most of the UK.
 
Hmm perhaps a little more info - graduated last year with a 2.1 in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Integrated masters) from Warwick (5th best uni in the country). During my Masters I had some of my work published in the Journal of the American Chemical society and also through work experience contributed to a number of massive patents. So far I have applied to: Deutche bank, BP, UBS, PWC, Deloitte, KPMG, IBM, Unilever and BAE systems to name just a few. Each and everyone hasn't even bothered to interview me as I only have 3Cs at 'A' level - i understand I didnt work then but is that really going to ruin the rest of my life?

I cant express how much I hate this country - each of the above job applications takes many hours to submit (the BP one in particular required 3000 words of essays). I have been working in a dead end job for a year with no prospects just because my A level grades are poor.

Leaving the country seems like my only option!
 
Aloreth said:
Hmm perhaps a little more info - graduated last year with a 2.1 in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Integrated masters) from Warwick (5th best uni in the country). During my Masters I had some of my work published in the Journal of the American Chemical society and also through work experience contributed to a number of massive patents. So far I have applied to: Deutche bank, BP, UBS, PWC, Deloitte, KPMG, IBM, Unilever and BAE systems to name just a few. Each and everyone hasn't even bothered to interview me as I only have 3Cs at 'A' level - i understand I didnt work then but is that really going to ruin the rest of my life?

I cant express how much I hate this country - each of the above job applications takes many hours to submit (the BP one in particular required 3000 words of essays). I have been working in a dead end job for a year with no prospects just because my A level grades are poor.

Leaving the country seems like my only option!
Click to expand...
Seems to me that you're applying for positions that aren't within your field of interest. Why would IBM, PWC, Toilet & Douche, KPMG, et al be interested in hiring someone with a chemistry background?

Fair enough, you went to Warwick (ps - according to the Times it was rated 7th not 5th, and the Grauniad voted it 8th ;)) but you have a chemistry background not an IT or finance background, at least that's my understanding from the posts you've made so far.

I also think that if you're primary reason is to further your career, then going to Australia isn't the best option. No offence to any Australians reading this (tis a truly great country) but you'd advance your career much further by emigrating to the US rather than Australia.

Lastly, working for a "big name" corporation isn't always all it's cracked up to be... don't be fooled by the name, always take the best job you can find - even if it's with a small time company rather than a huge multi-national. In the past I worked for one of the Big 5 IT consultancy companies (the one which changed its name after divorcing from Arthur). I stuck it out for a few years before I realised that I wasn't enjoying the job, I only got enjoyment from telling people who I worked for.
 
Aloreth said:
Hmm perhaps a little more info - graduated last year with a 2.1 in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Integrated masters) from Warwick (5th best uni in the country). During my Masters I had some of my work published in the Journal of the American Chemical society and also through work experience contributed to a number of massive patents. So far I have applied to: Deutche bank, BP, UBS, PWC, Deloitte, KPMG, IBM, Unilever and BAE systems to name just a few. Each and everyone hasn't even bothered to interview me as I only have 3Cs at 'A' level - i understand I didnt work then but is that really going to ruin the rest of my life?

I cant express how much I hate this country - each of the above job applications takes many hours to submit (the BP one in particular required 3000 words of essays). I have been working in a dead end job for a year with no prospects just because my A level grades are poor.

Leaving the country seems like my only option!
Click to expand...

I'm in 4th year at uni and currently looking at graduate oppotunities myself. I too find it incredibly frustrating how companies view A levels with such high regard. How can they judge who I am now at 22 based on the results of a myself as a careless 18 year old. :@
 
The chemical industry in this country is slowly dying - GSK + AZ + Phizer between them recruited the square root of all chem grads last year. All of the grad recruiters specify that they dont care about subject your degree is in.....

Small companies - know of any smaller investment banks? / Asset Management companies? I know i dont :/

I was wondering if anyone works as a recruiter at all? Any tips suggestions?
 
Also they don't have coffee in Australia.

Marge: I'll just have a cup of coffee.
Bartender: Beer, it is.
Marge: No, I said "coffee".
Bartender: "Beer"?
Marge: [slowly] Coff-ee.
Bartender: Be-er?
Marge: C -- O --
Bartender: B -- E --
 
I moved the whole family out here to deepest darkest Darwin just over a year ago and have never looked back.
Nowhere near as densely populated as anywhere in the UK.

Although, im sure one of the larger cities would suit a single guy (Darwin only has 100,000 people), it doesnt have anywhere near the amount of nasty wildlife that you would imagine it would have. All you have to watch out for here is crocs and the occasional snake. We dont have the dangerous spiders etc up in the Top End, we leave them to the southerners :)
Australia in gerneral seems much more laid back than in the UK, the whole pace of life is different. Granted, technologically its a bit behind in many ways.. ADSL sucks here compared to what i had in the UK.
If i think of anything else then ill let you know
 
Pros - The pm is very strict with letting immigrants in

Cons - there is none that outweigh the above
 
Gavin said:
Pros - The pm is very strict with letting immigrants in
Click to expand...

Depends on the immigrant :) I went through on a sponsored 4 year work visa and it took me just over 2 months to get it. Just getting permanent residency now.

The OP has dual nationality anyway so getting in isnt a problem, and i really cant see that getting a job would be that hard.
 
Aloreth said:
Each and everyone hasn't even bothered to interview me as I only have 3Cs at 'A' level - i understand I didnt work then but is that really going to ruin the rest of my life?
Click to expand...

Some of those companies are going to have hundreds of applicants all with 2.1s/firsts from top universities, so A Levels have to be used to help filter people out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom