Job Discussion Forums

[juliebk]

I am thinking about getting a working holiday visa to work in Australia or NZ. I know that with the visa I would be able to work legally, but I was wondering if it is still easier for Australians/Kiwis to get work there? Is it possible to secure a job from abroad? I am just nervous about going all the way there and having trouble getting a job. Oh, and I have a Trinity CertTESOL, but not much work experience.

[JosephP]

Here you go...

[Sierra7200]

I got a one year working holiday visa for Australia and was there in 1999 - 2000. I didn't get a job pre-arranged before arriving.
Sometimes and in some places it was pretty easy to get work, while at other times and places it was difficult. Sydney at the time was not difficult, but Melbourne was difficult. Getting work for the Christmas holiday season on the south coast resort towns was very easy.
You might have to take the jobs that are left over because no non-foreigner was willing to fill the position.

I delivered yellow pages for a while (with a team comprised completely of foreign backpackers), and did some really extensive job searching in Melbourne before accepting a job in a bakery that was bottom of the barrel, and had a reputation of paying the least and hiring the craziest imaginable individuals who got fired from all the other bakeries. That was a tough gig.

I also bussed tables at a club med resort on Lindeman Island in Queensland. That was OK.

You can often find temporary fruit/vegetable picking jobs as well. I didn't do that, but I heard that it was tough work.

[Sierra7200]

Oh, I should mention that at the time I was not looking for EFL teaching jobs. I was just looking for general work. I must have spaced out and forgot I was on an ESL forum.