Anny Chih

Just so you know, the ‘Background Info’ portion of this post is more journal-y than travel blog-ish. So, if you’re not into that, scroll down for ‘Tips for Working Travellers in Oz’

Background Info

My First Day in Brisbane

Some of you know this, and some of you don’t, but my first week in Australia was actually very stressful for me. Why? To put it simply, I had budgeted x amount of money for the period of time I would be looking for work. I had already spent more than x amount of money in the first three days just on accommodation, phone, and food, and I hadn’t started job hunting yet. I had asked the guy at the hostel job counter where I could find work and he said the only work available was fruit picking in Bundaberg (Lies!*). I phoned Australia’s Harvest Line and the curt woman on the phone gave me one number for Bundaberg and said that was the only place that would have work (more lies!). When I phoned, the guy seemed really nice so I thought things were going to start getting better. That was until I looked his place up online and found posts from tons of backpackers who had been tricked into going there, staying at his shit hole of a hostel for the price of a decent hostel in the city, not having any work (the guy arranges the work for backpackers), being hit on by this guy (if they were female) and finding that if they didn’t reciprocate he’d make their lives hell. Needless to say, I was scared out of going there. I phoned a few other hostels around the area and they said there wasn’t enough work for the number of backbackers in Bundaberg and the two decent work hostels there were booked full.

One day as I was having breakfast in the hostel kitchen, I met a girl who was also in Brisbane on a Working Holiday Visa (from the UK) who was telling me that there was no work in Brisbane and all anyone had been able to find was work as telemarketers.  Yeah, things were looking pretty grim.

Here’s where I learned one very important lesson: Don’t just take someone’s word for it. You are not them, and they are not you. Where others fail, you can succeed and the same goes the other way around, but you’ll never know unless you try.

I dedicated a day to preparing myself for a day of job hunting, and set out with fresh CVs the next day. It wasn’t as bad as the girl in the kitchen made it out to sound. I handed out about five CVs that day and got call backs from two. Of the five online applications I submitted, I got call backs from three.

Tips for Working Travellers in Oz:

1. Prepare your CV in A4 size paper — they don’t use letter size here
2. If you’re applying for a position in hospitality, keep the CV to a one-page maximum
3. You shouldn’t pay more than $0.35 per page for CV printing. Some hostels will print for free.
4. Dress to impress — Sure, you can dress casually to apply for a server position, but that’s what all the other backpackers do. Bring one really nice interview outfit with you and wear it when you apply for jobs to stand out.
5. Don’t just ask the guy at the job desk where to find work. Talk to the guys at reception to find out how they got jobs, talk to your bunkmates, and sometimes even just talking to random people on the street will get you somewhere.
6. Most popular job sites for backpackers in Australia: Seek, and CareerOne.
7. Try applying for jobs through hospitality recruitment agencies like Zenith Hospitality. Not only will they find you work, but they’ll train you and give you tips on how to work in Australia as well.
8. If you’re looking for work as a server, you will need an RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certification to work in a place that serves alcohol. Each Australian state requires a different RSA and it costs between $60 to $100 AU to take the course. If you’re a student in Brisbane, the cheapest place to get certified is through Queensland Hotels Association ($60). If you’re not a student, you should be able to find a place that can get you certified for $80 (ex. Peter Pans Adventure Travel advertises that it can arrange for an RSA for $80).
9. Be persistent and confident. Oftentimes, recruitment agencies and hiring managers will tell you that there’s this or that reason why they can’t hire you (ex. ” you don’t have any hospitality experience” or “you don’t have an RSA certification”). Tell them you’re a fast learner, book your RSA course if you haven’t already and tell them the date of the course (legally, they can hire you so long as you take your RSA within 30 days of working), reinforce the message that you’ll work hard, and keep your word.
10. You’ll need a bank account for your workplace to deposit your pay. Companies in Australia typically don’t write paycheques that you deposit manually. It takes less than a half hour to set up a bank account and they can send your bank card to the post office in the city if you don’t have a mailing address. The main banks in Australia are ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB, and Westpac.

*I’ve spoken to several backpackers who have spent months working on farms picking fruit and none of them worked in Bundaberg! The majority of backpackers were able to find fruit picking work along the Sunshine Coast about an hour West of Caboolture and Gympie North. This time of year (Winter) is good for strawberry picking in Queensland.

True Stories to Make You Feel Better if You’re Looking for Work

1. A bunkmate named Clarisse from France found work as a waitress in the city within three days of arriving. How? She spent all three days walking around the city handing out her CVs. She was persistent.
2. I met two Taiwanese girls who had spent the last 12 months working in Australia. They didn’t speak English! If they can find work, so can you.
3. I took two kiwi bunkmates with me to a server training session at a new place I was working and even though they didn’t even have CVs with them that day, one was wearing flip flops and neither of them had RSA certification, they were hired that day and started work the next day. They’re still working with the same company and love it!

Good Luck! <3

Post Update (written December 10, 2009): I received a message through my website from Francesca at Job Rapido asking if I could include a link to their job search site as well. I haven’t used their site to find a job for myself now that I’ve already left Australia, but judging from their initiative to contact me with a decent pitch (I’ve received others that actually misspell my name even though they send it through annychih.com — I’ve just ignored those ones), I think they’re worth a look if you’re interested in finding work in Oz. Here’s their link: www.jobrapido.com.au