A Singaporean In Australia

what a coincident. I was browsing through nursing type of courses today and saw Diagnostic Radiographer diploma which is sponsored and with a $900 monthly stipend. The problem here is time, 3 years course and 2 (or 3?) years bond. That's 6 years in total. Need some serious thoughts.

Got to check if qualification and experience here meet their requirements. I check through such courses in AU and they were degree courses while ours is diploma.

Mr N, maybe you can email me?

Nix, I think there is a new migration law via Expression of Interest from 1 July 2012 onwards. The old system does not apply anymore unless the visa application was before 30 June 2012. Please take note if you are keen to migrate to OZ. Check it out here http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm

Cheers,
Paul

1st July: EOI before they invite you to apply for PR. Note that you can get state sponsorship for additional points, without obligation to stay in that state.

266 jobs in Australia with Business Continuity roles. http://www.seek.com.au/JobSearch?DateRange=31&SearchFrom=quick&Keywords=business+continuity . One could narrow it down to cities for work/salary/life balance. BCP is a big deal especially in IT companies, and that's thriving in Syd/mel.

Hi Mr. N,
If youre looking at this comment. Please be advised that healthcare in Australia requires strict licensing procedures. You need to have a relevant degree that is recognized by their licensing authority. So if you're thinking of becoming a diagnostic radiographer or medical technologist and converting to a Australian one. Do not do it this way. Take up a relevant degree instead. You can also try to get a job with your current degree. I'm not sure if the last one would work out.

regards
tommy

Also for the WDA NYP diploma, It starts april 2013, you will only graduate in april 2016. After adding a 3 year bond, it will be april 2019

tommy

My 2 cents.

Landing a job in Australia may not be easy (especially in the field you want) even though you may have experience and qualifications.

So be prepared to be flexible and be prepared for the long haul in job hunting. Of course, you may be lucky and land a job immediately upon arrival; that would be very welcome indeed! But, as the boy scouts say - always be prepared.

a lot of fts are making their way to oz, they use sg as stepping stone, do you think if u move there, you will be free from foreigners?

Racism experienced in Oz is often a result of over-sensitivity on the part of the "victim". My husband (who is an Indian by race) was at work the other day and overheard a colleague saying, "That's what happens when you're a curry boy". He stiffened and was about to tell the colleague off for being racist when he realized from the ongoing conversation that the colleague had actually said, "That's what happens when you are a Kurri boy". It turns out that the colleague was from a place in Oz called Kurri Kurri and was talking about himself.

Oftentimes, we perceive offence when none is intended. It doesn't help to walk around with a chip on the shoulder and assume the worst of people. In our 3 years of living in Australia, we have encountered only kindness and goodwill from the Australians. Maybe it's because we don't live in large cosmopolitan cities like Sydney and Melbourne. All I can say is that from our personal experience of life in regional Australia, far from being racist, people here have looked beyond cultural and race differences and have extended to us their hand in friendship. Moving here has been an eye opener and a blessing.

Stay tuned. . . the poor student here shall attempt to answer soem of these questions tonight. yes I want the lemons -- they are expensive here!
YC

Sorry, i could only help out with the bus driver question. Bus drivers here are paid AUD 25 to 35 per hour and yes, the 1.5X or 2x OT applies. Do take note though, drivers work split shifts. Some like it because this means they get enough rest, while others find it annoying because they have nothing to do in between shifts --ie waste of time, and not being paid for these hours they are not working.

Each bus driver covers a variety of routes in a single day, unlike our drivers in SIN who pretty much covers just one route, and on a long-term basis. It's not that uncommon for the bus drivers to miss a turn/go in the wrong direction over here, and the passengers are usally cool about it. And the shifts/working hours could vary considerably from one week (or a fortnight) to the next.

It's a criminal offence to abuse bus drivers here. Spitting at bus drivers is a big no no, and offenders could be jailed. Most passengers are pretty polite to begin with. . .

It's quite common for bus drivers to move on to driving trucks at mining sites. If you're single, you could consider a mining job (the fly in, fly out work style pretty much kills social/family relations). Oz allows travellers to take up short-term employment (6months?), so you might also want to check to see if SIN citizens are eligible for the scheme. Hope this helps.

YC

Here's also my take on the perceived 'racism' issue. I would wholly agree with an earlier poster (Anonymous) about sensitivity levels of the victim. I have been here 11 years now and haven't had any issue.

I read about people complaining that they can't find jobs just because they are Asians, but I truly believe that's not the case! Many of them have low confidence level, horribly inarticulate and are really inept when it comes to interviews.

Bosses here do not care about the colour of your skin as long as you are qualified and is capable to do the job. I deal with people (face to face) from all walks of life on a daily basis and I don't see that they treat me any differently (I'm a tax accountant BTW). My workplace is like a UN, we have an equal distribution of migrant Europeans, migrant Asians, Ozzie born Asians and Caucasians alike. To the contrary, my workmates embraces the diversity that we have and are always interested to know about the quirks and what nots about other cultures.

The perceived lack of tolerance comes from the mentality of the 'victimised' person. Also, it does seem that people who come from the SEA region tend to be very cynical and negative as opposed to the Ozzie "you'll be alright mate" attitude. So that doesn't help.

I think Nix's reply is very honest. Oz is not a everything-so-green place. It can be as bad as any other country. My wife always complains she works as hard if not harder than before. But in general, family time is definitely more than before.
From my circle of friends, some are fortunate in finding good jobs in their original industries, while many don't. Recently I met someone who is here (Mel) for almost 2 years and still yet to find a job.
Racism can be subtle, just remember that culturally we from different places are just different. Hence do not expect people of different races to mix fantastically well. Again, there are exceptions...
Foreigners (as in PRC or from South Asia sub-continent) are aplenty. So one cannot run away from them. But at least here, proximity is not as close as in sg.
So to cannothear, do come (if you finally decide to come) with open eyes and do not expect things to be always plain sailing for you. I am not trying to be discouraging, but just be prepared rather than disenchanted later.
All the best.

i'm actually quite surprised at the number of replies and the people who contacted me on this subject. I honestly did not expect so many people out there having similar plans, i thought i stuck out like a sore thumb among my friends. Just that a lot of my friends are kind enough to endure my frequent rants and attitudes.

i have my fair share of racism when i was working in alaska. My approach? smile and walk away, or pretend i didn't hear anything. i was complimented frequently for speaking good english - i altered my tone and accent to suit their ears. (American english has a higher pitch than British english, the Brits didn't have an issue with my Sg english.)

见人说人话，见鬼说鬼话。

Alaska taught me how to think on your feet - try taking a nap in the stop bays along a busy stretch of Alaska highway and wake up to find a depleted car battery, because i forgot to switch off the headlamps. Would you wait for rescue or would you walk 15 miles to the next inhabited areas? I lost my starhub sim card shortly i arrived in Ak.

it's going to be a long and arduous journey to get there, with a timeframe of 3-5 years. I do not intend to try to migrate there. I want to get it done the way and the standards i want it.

I am rather tired of people believing that Aussies aren't hardworking and one can relax on the job. All the migrants I know all agree that within the first 3 years (at least), we probably work harder than we did in SG. The reason is simple - firstly, except for a few lucky people, we can't find permanent full time jobs at least within the first year. Even for locals, the bastion of the permanent full time job has long disappered. Most of us work contract or even casual jobs, as do their locals. The only difference is that locals can probably find such work more often and faster than we can (due to our lack of network and 'local experience').

I work 2 casual jobs and I work 7 days a week. The only 'up' side is that I don't work nights and I work from home. Working from home alone is a huge huge benefit, because it means I save 2 to 3 hours of commuting a day. A lot can be done during this time. In Aust, people travel huge distances to work, even across state lines. I see my husband 2 days every month because he works in a different state. Can't find work in this state despite looking for a year.

All recent migrants agree that we work harder now at work than we did in SG/Malaysia. Simply because in Asia, work is a social thing. We take 1 hour lunches and chat as we work. We go for coffee breaks, smoke breaks, etc. We hang out for dinner and/or supper. So people end up working long long hours. Nothing wrong with that - socialising and 'relationalism' is ingrained into our Asian culture, we need to build networks and guanxi.

Here, no one chats. People take 1/2 lunch breaks, often at their desk. They work uninterrupted during work hours, and then go home on time. Everything is professional and business-like. Who stays back? The Asians. We are still doing 12 hour days, but feeling a lot more ragged because it's a full-on 12 hours now. (btw, it is illegal to work beyond 12 hours, and tradies have mandatory rest periods/tea breaks).

Do I regret coming over? Absolutely not. The bosses are more appreciative and no one expects you to work during non-working hours. That's the big difference - the expectation. Yesterday, my vendor even apologised profusely to me for calling me during lunch time. More importantly too, working as a casual, I don't have to deal with the office politics that also emerges out of all this socialising and guanxi.

One down side for casual work, other than its 'casual' nature is that I earn far less in Aust than I did in SG. No thanks also to the taxes. However, I find a lot less need to spend on 'luxuries' like holidays, eating out and shopping in Aust. I spend most of my money on daily neccessities and improving my home. I derive great joy from my garden, including the manual labour like a farmer. Perhaps in SG, we feel so cooped up in our chicken pens that we don't enjoy our homes, and we need to go out for food, movies, shopping, holidays.

Racism - hot button but I firmly believe you can find it anywhere if you look hard enough. What matters is the attitude - whether you choose to feel like a victim, or not. I attribute most of it due to cultural differences and ignorance. I have not been discriminated against (at least overtly) in the 2 years that I've been here, although by govt surveys, I am in the most racist state in Aust. Speaking good English (and slowly!) makes a difference. Coming out of my shell does too.

To Mr N,

This story was posted almost 10 months ago. Perhaps I could drop a simple comment, hope it helps.

Singapore -> Australia.

1. Uprooting is not an easy decision. Think carefully.

2. Nobody guarantees you a better living in Australia. Consider more job options, if you cannot find the one you are most experienced and trained to do.

3. If you fail in Australia, do you plan to return to Singapore? I think you should not because we must learn to move on and overcome. If everywhere you go, you are injured and move elsewhere, forever you are bruised and you will never succeed wherever you go.

4. Make new and more friends. We need to open up our network in Australia. Don't drag yourself thinking your friends in Singapore are the only ones. That only makes you feel negative for as long as you stay in Australia, only to lead a very miserable life. Then your purpose of migrating to Australia is a complete failure because you fail to adapt to local culture and adjust your expectations.

In all, it is easy said than done. We all know. Then do more, worry less. You only worry because you know you have to compromise something good for something uncertain. Then it narrows to how much you are willing to take. If you want to keep it, stay in Singapore. If you want to leave it, be brave and take that risk.