The insecurity of not getting a job is a normal feeling you will get, especially on your first working holiday days, even before you leave your home. Hundreds of question will screaming in your head. How can I get the job? What kind of job I can do? Am I capable of doing that? What if I couldn’t get one? And yada yada yadadada ~
I’m not gonna preach you, that you should never give up and keep trying. Because you already know what you gotta do. But here I got a lil bit tips to find a working holiday job, particularly in Australia.
Where to find a job ?
1. Gumtree
This classified ads portal became my fave place to find a job since I first arrived in Australia. I don’t remember how many applications I sent through Gumtree, maybe hundreds. I even did post an ads about myself looking for a job, which made me got a good offer to work in the countryside! though I also got a lot of scum bag calls to my phone.
Oh, my suggestion here, if the advertisers showed their phone number on their post or profile, it’s better for you to just call them straight away and ask about the job – except they mentioned they only want to be contacted via text. Also, I’d much preferred to apply via text than email. Pssst, through all the applications I’ve made, I observed that the probability for you to get reply usually bigger if you apply to a fresh ads (just in hours or minutes ago posted!)
2. Facebook Group
Join a community on a Facebook like : Backpacker Jobs in Australia , where people share their job info across Australia. or you can also join a Facebook Group of the people in the same nationality as yours. People from the same nationality tend to help each other, including in getting the job. For example, the famous Facebook Group for Indonesian in Sydney is ‘The Rock’. Actually this group is more for sharing. But mainly they use it to post job opportunities and sell foods or anything.
It also happen to my Colombian and German friends, they got similar Facebook Group for the people from their country where lots of job opportunities are posted.
3. Friends
Don’t be shy to ask your friends if they have any information about the jobs. You will never know that apparently your friend’s job need extra people! Besides, the advantage of knowing the opportunity via friend is they also can recommend you to their employer, so the chance for you to get the job is bigger than other candidates.
I got a friend who always get a job from friends. He never apply via Gumtree, nor Facebook group. Sometimes your luck is on your friends, so be kind to them and ask around! 😉
4. Door to Door
It’s a classic style to get a job, go spread your cv door to door in any shops in Australia. Its kinda common in here, so don’t be afraid to get rejected. If you’re lucky you will get the trial or even get the job straight away!
This happened to my housemate, she likes to leave her resume door to door. One time, she got into a shop, left her resume, and the owner asked her for a trial in the same time, because they were actually need people but didn’t have time to find one. And she got the job!
Tips applying jobs from me!
Prepare your resume. A good resume consist of compact information about yourself. No need to mention your education, unless it related to the job. And no need to mention your corporate job experience if you only want to apply for casual job like waitress, etc. Do tell your experiences that related to the job you applied! If you have related experiences, also explain the task that you’ve done in the previous job.
Use decent english and straight forward application letter. Straight forward means, your name, your origin, your experiences, and your personality strength. Even though it’s only for casual job like cleaner or customer service, please still apply it in a proper way. I once asked my employer, what made him pick me from hundreds of application he recieved on gumtree. He said, other than randomly pick, he also consider the way we speak english on the letter/text.
Show them that you have a can-do-attitude, both on the application letter and in the interview.
Don’t be late for the interview! Some employer really care if you could manage to come on time or not. While some others just don’t care, as long as you inform them that you’re gonna be late. However, interview is the first chance you get to impress the employer. Don’t lose a chance to get a job for a silly reason!
Just be honest. If you were not really familiar with the job, just tell them. But, say or show that you are really really keen to learn. They will appreciate you more.
In finding your first job, don’t bother to the money you will get. Especially when you got no skill at all. Experience is more important at this stage. Later on, you can have more bargaining power if you already have experiences.
My Experiences
I was as worried as you are before my leave to Australia. So many what Ifs are in my head. I didn’t have any skill and experience in casual work, I could not cook, I was sucks at cleaning, I was not a fast person, my english level was just so so. But, since everybody said – ‘you’re gonna be okay!’ so I believed I’m gonna be okay.
I spent my first 4 days scrolling on Gumtree, until on day 5th – I got interview invitation, it was Airbnb cleaning, I told my employer that I never cleaning anyone houses, though I did cleaning my own house. She said okay, she’ll teach me how to do it. Then, I got the job straight away. Yay! This was my first physical job ever! How was I going on my first day of work? Awful! I took a long time to cleaning one bathroom. LoL! And I passed out soon I get home, didn’t know that cleaning few rooms can be that exhausted.
During my #WHVLife I had done 10 jobs in a year
1st job was airbnb cleaner, got paid $20/hour
2nd job was kitchen hand/waitress in countryside restaurant, got paid $18/hour
3rd job was all rounder in asian restaurant, got paid $10/hour
4th job was waitress in asian restaurant, got paid $12/hour
5th job was housekeeping in 5 star hotel, got paid $18/hour
6th job was waitress in a coffee shop, got paid $15/hour
7th job was airbnb cleaner. got paid $25/hour
8th job was office cleaner, got paid $22/hour
9th job was kitchen cleaner/customer service in take away shop, got paid $18/hour
10th job was gardener/farmer, voluntary work
Not bad, right? There were lots of job out there I wanted to experience. My most wanted job was : selling ice cream on the beach. But, haven’t got luck on that.
Anyway, I’m so happy that I can experience all these jobs. So that I know how is it working not in the office. Any job has its own difficulties and pressure. It’s all the matter of how you enjoy it and take it as learning steps in your life. Never underestimate someone’s job until you do it by yourself. Appreciate more is the key 🙂