My trip in Australia

When I arrived in Australia I had no doubt I will find a job easily. Indeed, Australia had the reputation to have a lot of positions available (the rate of unemployment is very low, about 5% in January).

Nevertheless, that was maybe true some years ago, but it's not really still the case now. There is a huge competition on the labor market and I'm not on the best place to apply.

Indeed, tuition-fees to study in Australia are very important. In addition, the number of lesson hours per week is low. Consequently, students often look for a job in order to finance their studies. If employers have the choice between them and me, they would choose them. The reason is that Australian are patriots, and so they help each other when they can. An Australian employer would prefer to hire an Australian student that a foreign one, also because he speaks a native Australian English and could be more efficient than the overseas student.

In addidtion to this, the population of Sydney include a huge proportion of people from Asia, notably from Corea. These people own the majority of the small businesses or are the managers. Moreover, Asian hire only other Asian. They are very interdependent and help each other at every time. When an Asian leave his position, he always have a friend to get the position instead of him. They also have their own recruitment website, only for them. Asian managers will recruit on these website, without making any hiring offer on regular recruitment website.

For instance, with a friend we saw a new KFC which was just opening. Consequently, the manager (from Asia) had to hire all the staff (i.e. a lot of people). We applied with some other people from Asia. One week after, without any news from the manager, we came back to follow up with him and we saw the employees... exactly the same people that had applied with us. We were the only two applicant from Europe and we were the only two applicant that the manager didn't hire... Asian restaurant or shops would like to hire Asian applicants to speak their native language and because it's normal, for example, to find an Asian staff in an Asian restaurant. On the contrary, in French bakery, you also find an Asian staff, maybe because the manager is Asian or because French don't have the same reasoning (French staff is better for a French bakery).

Last, I was in competition with other foreign applicants with a working holiday visa. They can work at any time without having any dependance on an university timetable and they can work more than 20 hours per week while I can look only for part-time or casual jobs. They also can move to get the location where the job is. I can't do the same because I must stay in the area of my university. Furthermore, they are more numerous in Sydney this year because of the disasters in Queensland and Victoria had reduced the number of positions available in farm, notably to work in "fruit picking".

On the other hand, most of the positions availables are cash-hand paid and I couldn't accept.

In these conditions, find a job in Sydney is a big challenge !

There are several way to find a job.

First, it's possible to check the recruitment website on internet (seek.com.au ; careerone.com.au ; mycareer.com.au ; gnjob.com.au ; gumtree.com.au ; seasonalwork.com.au ; jobsearch.gov.au). However, there are more people looking for a job than people looking for hiring somebody. The jobs I can do in Australia don't require any qualification. Consequently, to be hire you have to be lucky and be the first or almost to apply for the position, which is probably not the case. I have applied for many positions on internet and I never receive any answer, even negative, even when I had applied for an internship position without remuneration. Sometimes, the hiring offer is false and hide another job that the one which is described. For example, some people try to launder money by your intermediate. They could offer to pay you to make some international money transfer for them.

Second, there are some hiring offer on the job locations, on the electricity pole in the street and on newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald (Wednesday and Saturday). They could be a good way to find a job but you have to call the employer asap because it's often the first one who call who is hired.

Third, the word of mouth it's, in according to me, the best way to find something. You must explain to everybody you know you are looking for a job. Like this, you will learn that an acquaintance of a friend of you will leave its job or that the company for which your acquaintance is working for is hiring and that you can apply directly to the manager's email adress. I find all my jobs like this !

Last, you can join a placement agency which can link employers to job seekers. The problem is that you have to pay for that. The agencies often offer you to pay only after they find a job for you. However, some agencies only want to make money. They give you a job for a long time, but after some days your employer makes an end to your contract to hire another people from the agency. Otherwise, the jobs are casual, not regular.

During my research, I noticed that in Sydney it's often easier to a woman to find a job. Indeed, the hospitality industry (waiter jobs, bartenders, kitchen staff...) is a very attractive option for working. Some employers are only looking for hiring women (above all with nice looking) because they think it's better to lure customers. In "The Gaff", for example, if you would like to have a chance to be hired, you have to be a woman with a very nice looking. I also have the experience of an employer who refused to take my resume because I'm not a girl...

On the website "Gumtree" you can find some offer ending by "to be eligible to apply for this position you must have an appropriate Australian or New Zealand work visa" or "excellent communication skills both written and verbal are necessary". They are example of the barrier I could meet by looking for a job. My French accent was disabling to find a job. Other barriers are the certificate you must have to work in some industries. For example, to work in a bar, a pub, a restaurant or a nightclub you must have your "RSA" (Responsible Service of Alcohol) that is an evidence that you know how to deal with alcohol and consumers (for instance, you can't serve people under 18 years old or drunk people). This is a formality and everybody who try to have it success. In my case, the official paper was signed before my exam was corrected. In brief, you must pay to have the right to work.  The RSA cost between $50 and $90. Often, employer refruse to take you resume if you don't have your RSA. A lot of people lie, telling they have it and pass it after having the confirmation to be hired when they must show the certificate... In the same idea, to serve coffee, you should have a certificate named "Barista" and to work in the construction industry (it will be soon the case of the labour industry too) you must have a "White Card" that cost around $90. It's possible to pass these certificate on an specialized agency or on internet. However, on internet you must be careful because some certificate are not reconized or are not valid in another state. So, if you have your RSA from a Queensland's website, you should check it would also be valid in New South Wales...

During one semestre I had given many resume everywhere, looking for every kind of job at every time (above all jobs in the hospitality industry). I applied online to Apple, MacDonald, Hungry Jack's, the Australian Post, the Westpac Bankling Corporation and a lot of other companies. I was very lucky when I had an automatic negative answer. In many case I never had news about my application... I paid to be in an agency which never tried to find a job for me. I had some interviews but only thanks to myself.

I find anyway some casual jobs. First, I heard about the agency "First choice placement" on a Thursday and I had an appointment at the office of Bondi Jonction on Friday morning. As soon as I was there, the boss gave me the papers to fill in (tax file number declaration, formal declarations and contract to sign). Just after I finished to fill in these files he gave me a map and a file about the job to do and told me I have to leave asap in order to join a supermarket in the area of Paramatta (NorthMead) quickly. I must read the file in the train to be ready to work as soon as will be arrived. The file explained I will realize the stocktake of all the supermarket product with other people and explained how to proceed to make a good job and to respect the rules. Then, I arrived to the supermarket and began to work without having time to have lunch. I work during 5 hours and a half in the supoermarket , counting the products leaving on the shelves. It wasn't a good job but I earned money in the same time I had a work experience in a foreign environment. I learnt how a supermarket deals with its stock and how it organizes its products into the shelves. I also saw how it's possible to hire and train very quickly a new staff for only one day of work.

Second, a friend find a casual job in the company "Show support" thanks to his agency on a Thursday. He gave me the details of the company and I called it in the case it needs more labour employee. It gave me a positive answer and I left Sydney on Saturday with the company's bus in order to join the EnergyAustralia Stadium of Newcastle (2 hours from Sydney). I had work there during 3 following shifts (24 hours) and I came back to Sydney on Sunday. This labour work had consisted in assembly and dissasembly all the equipment such as motorbike and bike jumps for the Nitro Circus (of Travis Pastrana) Australian tour. It was a big reponsibility because motorbiker had risked their lifes on these equipments.

Casual jobs have some disavantages. The jobs are always for a few hours and you have to wait to be contacted by the company to work. Sometimes, you know there is some work available but the company never give you any work. THis kind of company have often a huge number of employees and a big turnover. Nothing is regular, the work timetable always changes. I think this kind of companies that offer casual jobs use "disposable employees". Indeed, no qualification or experience are necessary to work and the number of people willing to work is important. If the wage is less than $450 for a month the employer mustn't pay money into a superannuation fund on the employee behalf. For this reason, I suppose companies prefer to stop do give work to an employee before to pay him more than $450 a month... Another problem of casual jobs is that you always must invest before to work. Indeed, you must buy the company uniform, required tools and others by your own way. Sometimes, the first time you work for a company only let you covering these costs. You have to be patient with casual job companies. I have also joined two others: "Crew on Call" and "ShowCall" but for the moment only one offered me to work one time. Unfortunately, I couldn't because it was in the same time I had an eximanation at the university.

I find several employer willing to hire me, but always with cash-hand paid. In Sydney, i's a common way to pay employee without qualification, above all in the hospitality industry.

I also find some good job, such as French teaching, but too late. As far as regular jobs (part-time) are concerned, employers often prefer you stay a long time, at least 6 months. The one of French teaching keeps a bond on the wage in case of his employee (the teacher) decides to stop to work for him before a minimum of some months. Consequently, shorter and shorter my leaving time in Sydney was, smaller and smaller was my chance to find a regular job.

To put it in a nutshell, to find a job in Sydney for a student is not so easy that I had thought. It's not impossible but it's often cash-hand paid or casual. Casual jobs are better than nothing. By doing them I could meet other people and keep contact with some of them. I had worked in hard working-conditions as a labourer and had seen how these kind of companies work and are organized (notably recruitment and training process). To work casually, patience is important and it's very difficult to realize a lot of hours in a few time. I had only done about 30 hours in all my semestre and it was during the same period (maybe the busiest one).

For the third year, Vivid Sydney takes place in the city. Since 2009, Vivid has grown into Australia's major festival in winter. Last year, it had attracted about 300,000 people. It's designed to entice Sydneysiders and visitors to stay outdoors after dark and see the city through new eyes.

Indeed, every day between 6pm and midnight, since the 27^th of May until the 13^th or June, 40 light installations, including 24 light art sculptures, and 30 live music performances change the atmosphere of Sydney and show the vitality and the creativity of the Australian artistic life.

This year, the Sydney Opera House was illuminated by French collective "Superbien". The other main illuminated building is the Sydney Cove Building where is the librairy.

The lights are wonderful. It's very impressive ! You must see that to understand. It's not possible to describe how amazing are these lights effects ! I try to give you an idea with the following movies, but it's not as beautiful as in the reality, notably because of the colours (above all green and blu) which are not exactly the same (less shiny).

Canberra is the capital of Australia. It's a recent city, founded at the beginning of the 20th century, of only 300 000 inhabitants. There was a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne to determine which one will be the capital. That's why, Australia decided to create a new town, as far from Sydney as Melbourne, in order to be the capital and satisfy the two cities. The name of Canberra was chosen because it means "place of meeting" in aboriginal language. However, a new state was created as well as the new city: the Australian Capital Territory, and this state was part of New South Wales and is included into it. Consequently, Sydney has a little more influence on it than Melbourne.
Its organization is special: the heart of the city is a big artificial lake and the streets are arranged in concentric circles around the lake.
The city gathers a lot of important national institutions including the Australian Parliament, the High Court of Australia, the National Gallery, the National Library, the National Museum of Australia and the Australian War Memorial.

Bridge on the Lake and map of Canberra

Friday, 18 March: I arrive in Canberra with a friend after more than 5 hours of bus.

The only youth hostel of the city, the YHA Canberra City hostel, is very close to Jolimont Centre where the buses stop.

For our first day, we just had taken a look of the city, the center and some suburbs. By walk, you can go from the center to the bush around the capital in about 25 minutes. We had gone out of the city and had begun to climb the hill behind the Anzac War Memorial. On this occasion we saw some huge anthills and wild kangaroos. That was nice ! We came back to the hostel at the sunset. My first impressions of the city are the followings. It's a small city, with not tall buildings, a lot of vegetation. It's lost into the wild. It seems boring with not a lot of people, not a lot of places to go out such as pubs and nightclubs. Everything in Canberra is close early like the Canberra commercial centre which close at 5pm and 4pm on Sunday. I've also been marked by the fact that we can see trolleys everywhere in the street, in the front of every house. Indeed, people can go back home from the supermarket with the trolley or keep it to use it again. I saw an employee charged to find trolleys, only from his supermarket, in order to gather and put them in a trailer before to bring them back to the supermarket. Yes, this is a job !!!

Me with 3 kangaroos

19 March: We had rented a bike for $12.5 a day, that's a good way to move in Canberra. Thanks to it we went quickly to the Anzac War Memorial (picture below). We had spent about 2-3 hours in it to see the history of Australian involvement in wars. I found that interesting but we were weary after that. Australian are very proud of their soldiers. They had copied France by building the tomb of the unknown soldier killed during the WWI. However, the overall n umber of Australian soldier killed in operation is lower than the num ber of French soldier killed only during the WWI. That why, we  can tell French people have got a lack of pride toward their soldiers. (On the right: picture of the famous Silver Star)

After we crossed the lake on a bridge and went to the Royal Australian Mint. I liked seeing where and how the coins are made. I made my own $1 coin and had seen the museum collection. That was memorable !

Then, we went to the famous Parliament House of Canberra.

We were late, about 30 minutes before the closing and we began to seek for the entry after had parked our bicycles outside. Less than 5 minutes after we left them, while we were already near the entry, a policeman interpellated us. Indeed, because of terrorism, it's forbidden to park bicycle outside a specific area. We didn't know that and after had apologize we asked the policeman if it would be possible to take a look inside the parliament before to move our bicycle. We hadn't the time to move them and come back to the entry before the closing, so we would miss our visit of the parliament without have another opportunity to see it. He was very understanding, above all because we didn't look to be terrorist (I think !) and allow us to move the bicycle in the next 30 minutes. Unfortunately, he caught us a few time after. His boss didn't agree with him and would like we park our bicycle in the right place right now. Hopefully, the enforce law of the parliament is very kind and a police car catch us in the front of the parliament entry, to bring us where we had parked our bicycle (free taxi !). Like this, we didn't loose a lot of time. At the end, we had time to park them in the right place and come back into the parliament about 20 minutes before the closing. Thank you ! The Parliament is a very secure area, everything is under surveillance.

After we took a look of the outside of some buildings: the Old Parliament House, the National Library of Australia, the Treasury building, the High Court of Australia and the National Rose Garden.

It was late on the day and we came back to the hostel. On the evening I saw a lot of bats in the sky. There were a lot of people gathering on the edge of the Lake Burley Griffin. Indeed, on the evening, there was a firework on the lake to end the Canberra Festival. It took place from the 11th to the 20th of March. We were in Canberra during its annual festival !                                                                                                                                           

                    A sky full of bats:                                                 People waiting for the firework:

20 March: The only activity we had done on Sunday was to go to the Royal Botanic Garden of Canberra. We had a guide, only for three people. She was a ranger of the garden for about 10 years and she had explained us a lot of secret about the garden's vegetation. For example, we learnt some medical or cooking using we can make with some trees, roots or flowers. It was interesting, the guide was very kind and loved French. Nevertheless, I was scared about seeing some snakes. Indeed, the garden is full of the second most dangerous snake in the world. The guide told us that one time she almost tread on a snake. It's possible to see some everywhere, even at the bus stop or at the coffee terasse.

The Botanic Garden                                                       Snakes into the garden

21 March: We began the day by seeing the National Dinausaure Museum (see picture bellow) in Belc onnen... A joke !!! Australia can't say it have someting to show about dinausaure. I saw some copy of dinausaur e, in plaster. The only real fossils that I saw were not exceptional. I've got some of a similar quality and I know some French collector who own a collection, much better that the one of the National Museum of Australia. Its nicest fossils are in the shop. The shop is bigger that the museum and contains more real fossils. It's a shame !!! Everything is business in Australia, knowledge is marketing...

Hopefully, after this disappointment we went to the Cockington Green Gardens (on the right, the garden's house and its miniature), also in Belconnen. It was very nice ! To let you know what the Cockington Green Gardens is, I put here the description of its website:

"Cockington Green Gardens offers its visitors an experience you will not find anywhere else. Venture into this delightful and fascinating display of meticulously crafted miniature buildings set within beautifully landscaped gardens to make your Canberra visit complete.

Opened to the public in 1979, Cockington Green is one of Canberra’s landmark attractions, being a winner of an Australian Tourism Award and many local tourism industry awards in this time."

It's fascinating how reduced houses and trees seem to be so real. The garden is colorful and the atmosphere enjoyable but, unfortunately, at the end of the afternoon it was very rainy.

The entry of the garden                                                      The garden

Examples of miniature buildings:

On this day, just before midnight I got a bus for Melbourne. Goodbye Canberra !

In Chinatown there is a special market called Paddy's Market where everything is cheaper. It is open from Wednesday to Sunday, from 9am to 5pm. It's composed by an area with stands of fishes and sea food, an area with stands of fruits and vegetables and another with stands of various items such as souvenirs, clothes, games, accessories...

The area of various items

In the latter, it's possible to negotiate, above all if you buy several items to the same seller. However, we have to be careful because a lot of stands are pretty similar, selling the same items, but at a different price. Thus, I bought an item $6 while I saw it for $8 in another stand (and $24 in the city) and the difference can be higher. You can also find a lot of different kinds of cheap boomerangs but just one stand sells genuine ones (in the city they are two, three or more times more expensive). Moreover, in according to me, the sellers are not very friendly and often totally unprofessional. For example, they don't want to give me the permission to take a picture of some items, to show them to somebody (French people) in order to let them choose the one they would like I bring back to them. I explain the sellers I can't buy an item without knowing if the French people is interested by it and it doesn't matter for the sellers. They can't tell me the reason why they don't want to give me this permission because there isn't any one.

The area of fruits and vegetables

The areas of fishes and sea food and of fruits and vegetables are almost in the same location, just next to the various one. In the first one you can buy some meat for two time cheaper than at the supermarket. However, meat, fish and sea food are not always fresh, we have to be careful again. I think it's better to buy fish and sea food at the Fish Market in Pyrmont (one of the biggest range of the freshest sea product in the world). I buy all my fruits and vegetables at the Paddy's Market. Indeed, almost everything is at least two times cheaper than at the city's supermarkets. For instance, you can buy tomatoes at $2-3 per kilo instead of $6-8 or eggs in a range of $2 to $3 instead of a minimum of $4 elsewhere. The best time to go shopping is on Sunday after 4:30pm and until the closing. It's less interesting on the other dqys but always better just before the closing. Indeed, the market is closed on Monday and Tuesday, that's why every stand put some fruits and vegetables into some boxes with knockdown prices before the weekly closing. Just the ones which can't be preserved until Wednesday are concerned by these knockdown prices. The most commons items we can find in these boxes are bananas, apples, plums, pears. On the contrary, it's difficult to find tomatoes and carrots. For that, you must be at the right place at the right time. Generally, every box is sold for $1, but for some stands specialized in items such as mushrooms, lettuce the price is often $1.5 or $2. The atmosphere at Paddy's Market is very special at that time. The market is very crowded and you always hear sellers shouting something like: "one, one, one dollar the box, one dollar !". At that time, often the price of vegetables which aren't in the boxes are also decreased (about $0.5) In the market I discover some fruit I didn't know in France. It's the case of the Dragon Fruit which has got a sweet taste and a flesh like the one of kiwi, but white or red. This fruit is expensive but the price can be very different between a stand and another. The less expensive price I found was $6 per kilo and the most expensive one was $12, as in the supermarket.

The area of fishes and sea food

Everyone working on Paddy's Market is Asian, and generally cash-hand paid for an amount of $10 per hour for hard working conditions but they can take their food there for free or for cheaper. They success saving money in these conditions.

Dragon Fruit

ACU's North Sydney Campus

Today, Thursday, 24 February and yesterday, on Wednesday, I had got my two first class days, which are also my first class week. Here there is the sequence of my week :

Wednesday:

10am-12am: Lecture of "Financial Institutions and Markets" (BAFN205) by Mr. Brett White

This lesson was interesting. The teacher showed us the journals and references we can use for our researches. Then, we had spoken about the financial markets, their evolution, their instruments, institutions and functions of a financial system. He also had defined the financial terms and the lesson had then spoken about the assets, notably financial ones and had introduced some financial topics.

We can take contact with the teacher for any question on Twitter.

1pm-2pm: Tutorial of "Principles of Finance" (BAFN200) by Mr. Mark Hopkins

This lesson was boring because the teacher had just reminded us some basis of Excel. That's why, I think this tool will be useful on this subject.

The teacher looks like nice.

2pm-3pm: Tutorial of "International Marketing" (MKTG301) by Mr. Gerard Lanzarone

The teacher is interesting and had made this lesson interesting. It was very interactive. We had answered together to some questions, almost geopolitical ones such as: "Why international business is much more complex today than it was 20 years ago ?"

3pm-4pm: Tutorial of "Financial Institutions and Markets" by Mr. Brett White

Not really interesting, a little boring. I had prefered the lecture. We could ask any questions about this one and we had spoken about financial newspapers. We have to pick a stock and follow it during the week to speak about its evolution on the next tutorial.

4pm-6pm: Lecture of "International Marketing" by Mrs. Beatrice Jetto

The lesson was about the different kinds of marketing. We saw some example of problems we can meet by exporting a product or a brand in an or several foreign countries.

Thursday:

10am-11am: Tutorial of "Marketing Research" (MKTG200) by Mr. Jose Sakakibara

A very friendly teacher ! We hadn't seen a lot of things in this lesson because it was the first one. I had already learnt how to make a marketing research in France, and it seems pretty similar here. The only difference is the English Terms. A good way to remind me some concepts or principles.

12am-2pm: Lecture of "Principles of Finance" by Mr. Don Ross

I had got some difficulties to understand the teacher in this lesson, maybe because of his way of speaking. That's why, I found this lesson hard to understand. However, I think it wasn't so difficult that I found. For the moment, I haven't really know what we had spoken about.

2pm-4pm: Lecture of "Marketing Research" by Mr. Alistair Marshall

The lesson was boring because of the important number of powerpoint slides we had seen and the fact I already know a part of them but the teacher is very nice. He made the lesson easier to follow thanks to his humour.

During this first week of class I saw a lot of differences between the French and Australian way of teaching. The Australian have got a less number of lesson hours per week (about 12-15) and a small number of different topics (about 4-5). The teachers are sometimes very friendly with the students, joking like no teacher would dare in France. I saw a student answering "Yeah man !" when the teacher was taking the register. Here students always keep their hats in the classrooms. The doors of these ones are always open and the students come and leave at anytime they want to without any reason. Sometimes, a student comes just before the ending of the class to sign the register or leave it just after had signed it. Others come into the classroom, stay for 10-15 minutes and leave or go out to smoke and come back after. It doesn't matter for the teachers who make their lesson for the people present. It's also common for a teacher to end the lesson earlier.

The behaviour of students would be unacceptable in France. I saw some student liying their naked foot on a chair. Moreover, a lot of them answer to their phone during the tutorial or the lecture.

I don't know how Australian can have good knowledges while they have only 8 different units (not studied more in details) every year during only 4 years. At ESDES we're studying for 5 years with between 20 and 30 different units every year...

ACU's North Sydney Campus