Engineer going down-under

[going down-under]

Hi everybody,

First to the mod's apologies if my topic is in the wrong chapter. To me this seems to be the best place.

After a very long period of gaining our PR for OZ and selling our house, me and my wife are finally planning to move down-under in April or May.

I'm a LAME licensed on B737CL/B757/B767/B777/MD11 and trying to find a job ASAP.

So far I've tried the obvious airlines and companies

QF,J*,VA are really hard to contact 'cause they use their website for vacancies.

Does anyone have more ideas, or even better a contact person I can write directly to?
How about foreign airlines? Any of them have their own maintenance?

I've read your opinions on some companies, which I’ll take into consideration, but I just want to work.

Thanks in advance for your (serious) replies

[brisbane03]

Have you tried John Holland
http://careers.johnholland.com.au

[going down-under]

Yeah, well, I'll do this one last after reading many posts about JHAS

Thanks!:ok:

[mightyauster]

For really sh1t T&C's you could go to the revolving door at AMSA, when they get their new HR person....:}

[Propstop]

The old truism still stands in that it is easier to get a job when you have a job. It may mean you have to take a position which is just OK to finally, after keeping eyes wide open and mouth closed, to land the job you were after in the first place.
The sad thing is that airline jobs are not what they used to be and I am glad I do not work in that area any more.
Best of luck and I am sure you will succeed.

[onetrack]

GDU - If you are anywhere near a reasonably-able LAME, and don't have a track record of burning wreckage that you're personally responsible for... then, my impression is, you'll be highly sought-after, down-under.

My advice would be not to approach employers directly. Use a recruiting agency. Recruiting agencies head-hunt people that are in demand. LAME's are in demand, and you will almost certainly gain a head start by going to a well-known, and well-regarded recruiting agency, who have a far better ability to open the right doors to a decent job, as compared to trying to do it yourself.

In effect, recruiting agencies are seen as highly-satisfactory screening agencies by employers. When you get recommended by a recruiting agency, you immediately have your whole foot inside the door. As a former employer who has employed up to 100 employees at any one time, I know what I'm talking about.

Recruiting agency contact... Defence & Aerospace Recruitment Services (http://www.australiawide.com.au/defense_recruitment_services.php)

Recruiting agencies - Australia... Recruitment Agency Search: Aviation-Transport (http://www.acpeople.com.au/cat/xRecruit-Aviation-Transport_7.htm)

[MELKBQF]

You could try contacting these guys:


Aviation Labour Group provides permanent and contract personnel for the Aviation Job Market. (http://www.aviationlabour.com/)


They supply casual engineers to the airlines, many end up getting taken on full time (by the airlines) once they have proven themsleves.

[listentome]

JHAS is ok if you want to stick to line maintenance. There's heaps of politics in the hangar worth stearing clear of. But on the line they look after a plenty of reputable airlines.

[going down-under]

Many thanks guys! :ok: Your explanations and advice helps a lot.

BTW; are JHAS and AMSA really that bad? I thought of them as a stepping stone to get in and later find a better place, as some of you adviced.

[going down-under]

:) you can disregard my last question, listentome.....you've answered it before (while) I made the question :D

[listentome]

No problem, I guess theres always two sides to the story and JHAS does have a lot of good people working there. They've had a few changes lately which will make it even better, like others have mentioned you can always try before you buy. AMSA is probably bottom of the barrell though, mainly made up of imports from asia. I'm not saying theres anything wrong with that, but it keeps the conditions pretty poor through their connections to SIAEC. At least JHAS fosters and works with the national licencened engineer union which keeps the conditions relatively good. Like I said, the line crews are great to work with and the pay is ok.

[going down-under]

Hi everyone,

All your advice was well taken and it seems some people might want to employ me. Maybe even my current employer will offer me a place!

But what is a good salary to live from? Does it differ a lot in, let's say, SYD/PER/MEL?

I've got an offer (actualy 2 offers) from a recruitment agency which offers slightly over AUD 80k, in SYD.
I was looking for a min.of AUD 90k, so will AUD 80k do the job?

Edit: It's just the 2 of us, no kids (1 cat), will start renting, and eventually we'll be looking for a spacious house and garden :cool:

[ciscodiscocisco]

hi there sorry for the late reply... try NAS.....national aerospace services

[cone zone]

Is that the base rate without any allowances or penalties?

80k would be at the lower end of the market, specially for the licences you hold. You can get better than that in GA here. It would be enough to get by on and get your foot in the door but I would be looking for something paying closer to the market rate once you get yourself established.

[onetrack]

GDU - You will find that the Eastern seaboard is the cheaper place to live, with the cost of living lower, due to overal cheaper prices on food by about 10%.
The West coast has about a 10% higher living cost due to a sizeable freight component for about 60% of manufactured goods, that are shipped in from the major manufacturing centres in the East.

However, rents and property prices in Australia are high in comparison to many other countries. $80K seems a little on the low side for a highly skilled employee, unless there are substantial penalties, and other benefits.

You do get 9% extra, additional to your salary, contributed by your employer, to your retirement superannuation fund. This fund is managed by investment managers, and generally increases by more than the average interest rate yield each year.

The superannuation funds are only available to you on retirement, but are tax-free. You can choose a lump sum payment, or a pension from those funds. Any superannuation funding you receive will affect the amount of payment of any old age pension you apply for.

Investigate rental property prices and locations carefully. You will find that the more desirable locations are highly sought-after, and that rental rates are premium prices in these areas.
Land, surprisingly, is extremely high value in the cities (despite the fact we have millions of hectares of empty continent).
It comes back to the fact, that 90% of Australia's population chooses to live on the coast, in coastal cities... and coastal city land is exceptionally highly-valued.
As a result, the dream of owning a large block of land, with room to move, is one that is slowly becoming an impossible dream to many Australians.

A typical 2/3 bedroom rental will set you back around AU$450-500 week in most cities. Smaller apartments may cost a little less in rental, but you have less room, too.
Be aware that traffic congestion in the cities is high, same as any big cities worldwide... and Australia isn't known for good, comprehensive public transport systems. We are very car-oriented.