By Tina Sancheti

1. Short and concise CV

2. CV should highlight roles / responsibilities/ skills / achievement

3. Highlight your skills in line with role. It will reflect how you will add value to the company

4. quote relevant and good examples of your achievements.

5. Cover letter should not be very detailed but in brief should catch attention that someone wants to look at your CV.

6. if there are specific requirements asked – like questions to answer – please answer them carefully.

7. Behavioral type question are key ! How well you communicate and how positive and open minded you are in considering view points is important

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By Tejas Gabani

As we see too many people in this group requesting for help with their initial job search, I thought of putting some pointers together that may help those who have recently immigrated, people who are planning to immigrate and those who are on student visa. I have also tried to highlight the key differences between the recruitment process in India and here. Some of the thoughts below can be more applicable to non-IT fields than IT related fields.

* In India, your degrees need to look good (e.g. MBA, B.Tech., CA), your colleges need to be premier (e.g. IITs, NITs, ISB, IIMs) and CV needs to look versatile and comprehensive. If you have all of these, then getting a well paying job is a cakewalk. If you have some of these, then too you are set for a good career ahead. It’s because these are the easiest filters for Indian companies to differentiate better candidates from thousands who are available in the market at a time. Unfortunately, none of these is relevant when you arrive here, so it’s important that you set your expectations right and act smartly before and after you move.

* Remember that you are moving to an English speaking country. Sharpening your verbal and written communication skills is the very least that you can do as the first step. We all see so many posts in the groups with numerous spelling and grammar mistakes. Well, no one expects us to be like Shakespeare (thankfully!) but we should be able to speak/ write clearly and correctly before we call ourselves ready for a job. It may not apply to some IT jobs where communication isn’t much important but it’ll definitely help you crack a job and progress better in the job. A certain score in PTE or IELTS doesn’t prove that you have mastered the art of conversing with people because no one checks your score when you go out in the market. It may sound harsh but this is the most important skill one should have because you are going to compete with native English speakers and others who are much more aligned with the Westerners culturally.

* One CV doesn’t work for all jobs or even similar type of jobs. Employers don’t want to know what else you can do, but they are more interested in knowing how well you can do precisely what has been asked in the job description. This is opposite of how it works in India. So, it’s important to customise the CV a bit to address each job position. If your skills or profile don’t match with the role/ requirements, then don’t waste your time applying – you will not be shortlisted. Invest that time to improve the quality of applications for more relevant positions.

* Absurdly long CVs or CVs showing much higher level of experience don’t work. No point in showing your group delivery management skills when applying for a position of an entry-level tester. Adjust your CV level in accordance to the job you are applying for. Apply with a goal of winning that job – forget about anything else.

* Work smartly. You are investing your precious time, money and energy in your initial phase here, so make sure you use them efficiently. Try to give an international/ Australian touch to your CV, cover letter and language in general. If your documents or email themselves suggest strongly that you are new to the country, then your chances of getting shortlisted will worsen. In most of the fields here, applicants to jobs ratio is already very high so you don’t want your chances to go further down. e.g. Avoid “Dear Sir/ Madam”, write friendly yet professional emails, personalise cover letter to talk about company/ product, etc. Good personalisation can sometimes touch the hearts(!). Fifteen mins of quick research about each company you are applying to can improve your application quality by a great extent (only if you wanted to!).

* Your communication with HR or recruiters shouldn’t suggest that you are in desperate need of a job. Maintain your dignity and don’t oversell yourself. In India, recruiters often chase you for the new positions but don’t expect the same here. They may not even call back at times because there are many applicants for a position and the recruiter won’t get back to each one. Unlike India, this is not a fast-growing economy so jobs are limited and 10 good applications just won’t cut it unless you are simply lucky or have good/ local experience in a niche area. In many cases, submitting even 50 high-quality job applications is not ‘enough’ and it may be quite early for you to conclude that you’ve tried too hard. Always give a higher priority to the jobs posted by employers/HR though they are less common. Recruiters will push those applications which are more likely to convert (as they have their commissions linked to it) and newbies in the country don’t fall in that pool generally unless the skill is rare.

* Most of the non-executive positions here require hands-on skills, not degrees or management experience. Try to demonstrate your skills in your CV and interviews. Educational merits or length of work experience don’t help without enough skills even though they do in India. e.g. A marketing manager with hands-on graphic design or ERP experience is much more valuable here than a brand manager with advertising and ‘talking’ skills. When you feel frustrated about rejections, try to think why should someone hire you and not the locals – and then act/ improve accordingly.

* Do enough research about job market in your fields much before arriving here. If the market gives you a shock after your arrival, then it’s you who must be blamed. No excuses at all. This is even more applicable to students who come here to study. Come with aspirations to study, succeed and then settle. But, if your aim is just to get PR ‘somehow’ then you are wasting your time and money and that of your family. No fun in studying a 4-yr degree to end up working in a restaurant at not-so-legal wages. It clearly means that either your research about course, college, job market, or visa requirements wasn’t good enough or you didn’t acquire enough skills during your degree to find a suitable job. Both situations will disappoint you and your family. There are always some graduate jobs in the market for you to grab if you are good enough.

* Keep a strong focus on jobs within your skill area – don’t deviate. You can start casual jobs if needed but always have a fixed/ final aim. At the same time, develop a strong understanding of the job market in your field. As soon as you realise that it’ll be very hard to find a job in your area (because jobs almost don’t exist), then try to upskill/ prepare yourself to enter any other relevant/ new field in which more jobs exist and your interests lie. Always be ready to learn and adapt quickly. Ideally, if you were to change the field then it’s always better to learn the new skills in India before you move here. Training is much cheaper and easily available there. If you are living in a large city in India (particularly in South), then there are a number of training institutes that can train you (even remotely in some cases) on various technology areas. If you decide to do a course after coming here, it’s not a bad choice either but it will be more expensive. Of course, there are some exceptions where you will need local certifications only, e.g. childcare educator. But, there are also professions for which one can get trained in India very easily and just complete a short course here to polish their skills and get a certificate, which can save your time and get you started sooner, e.g. salon artist or Indian chef. No matter what you decide to do – it should be backed by thorough research and planning in advance. If you are entering a new field, then target unpaid positions or those with a low salary – they will be easier to get and may get you started with the new experience building exercise sooner. After you have some good experience and skills, it will not matter as long as the market has enough jobs in that field.

* Try to work on some basic traits/ skills that are more valued in the Western/ Australian work culture than in India – attention to detail, accountability, punctuality, reliability, sense of humour, local language peculiarities, awareness of local issues/ news/ way of life etc. Voice your opinions but avoid a vague or uninformed talk – some cultures back home embrace it, but it may not work here. Sydney has very multi-cultural workplaces, so try to develop your awareness about other countries, cultures, etc. It will help you mingle more with others. Assimilation into the local culture is very important (doesn’t mean changing your values) and it can be very challenging for mid-age immigrants and their families but one should try their best. If you are a student, then try to spend maximum time with local students and those from other countries. All this is much more important than it sounds.

* Keep looking for paid/ unpaid internship positions – literally everywhere, including Gumtree. You never know where you may find your luck. It will help you get into the local workforce and start carving your path while learning for free. No harm in writing to your ideal employers about opportunities (paid or unpaid) if you feel that there’s a very strong match between your skills and what they do. Don’t copy/ paste and send the same email to multiple people though – customise it wherever possible. It shouldn’t look like spamming, else it will easily stand out. No job is a bad job as long as you know that it was your best effort (which is often not!).

* Lastly – observe, learn and improve. You learn so much unknowingly just by observing things and people around you. Even a well-written email from someone can silently give you a couple of nice tips. If you have 5+ years of work exp, you won’t need someone to teach you how to make a CV or how to act in an interview. You know it all – just trust yourself but never stop your self-learning and improvement journey. You’ll get there eventually if you knew where you want to be even though the journey may look unpredictable initially.

Hope this helps people who are in need! Wish you all the best.

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SBS

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/tips-on-finding-your-first-job-in-australia