Working in Australia is something most backpackers do when they get there. It is an expensive place to live so it it important to keep your bank balance healthy in order to do all the amazing things Australia has to offer. We arrived in Brisbane as it is the cheapest airport to fly to, out of the main cities, so we worked here as we needed money sharpish after our 4 months of traveling already. This is the experience we had with jobs in Australia
Firstly, find yourself somewhere to stay that will motivate you to job hunt. The first hostel we stayed in involved sharing a room with three guys who were also on the job hunt. Saying that, they didn't get out of bed until 2pm everyday, so the room was constantly in darkness! And without wishing to judge people we don't really know, they didn't seem too focused on getting employed. They were nice guys and we spent 2 nights socialising but after 3 days we moved hostel in search of a more productive environment. Make sure you are up early to hand CVs around or you will quickly become a bed dweller which is easy to do when the people surrounding you do the same.
The most obvious outgoing when you get to Australia will be your accommodation.
Firstly, find yourself somewhere to stay that will motivate you to job hunt. The first hostel we stayed in involved sharing a room with three guys who were also on the job hunt. Saying that, they didn't get out of bed until 2pm everyday, so the room was constantly in darkness! And without wishing to judge people we don't really know, they didn't seem too focused on getting employed. They were nice guys and we spent 2 nights socialising but after 3 days we moved hostel in search of a more productive environment. Make sure you are up early to hand CVs around or you will quickly become a bed dweller which is easy to do when the people surrounding you do the same.
The most obvious outgoing when you get to Australia will be your accommodation.
One way to get round this is by...
Housekeeping
Housekeeping is a job neither of us thought we would do, however most hostels have a 'work for accommodation list' which means you get to stay in that hostel for free, as long as you carry out some jobs for the hostel. We stayed at Base Embassy in Brisbane, where 15 hours a week housekeeping was required. These were broken up into shifts from 8am-1pm for the room changes (changing beds), 3pm-5pm and 8pm-11pm for general tidying of the hostel and kitchen cleaning. You would do one full day and one half day housekeeping shift, and that would be it for the week which was easy to work around any other job, should you want one. This job was easy, however you need to have a very strong stomach as you will most likely come across bed bugs, sick, mouldy plates under beds, cockroaches, and the worst... warm wet patches on the bed sheets! Eventually you get over it though, and after the initial fear of waking up hungover people in the mornings with henry the hoover, it actually became second nature to us and saved us HUGE amounts of money. There is often a long waiting list to get WFA so make sure you sign up asap. You also get moved into a room where all the other WFA backpackers are, so it is nice to be with long term stayers who are in the same boat. You tend to respect each other especially when it comes to sleeping as you know someone in your room will be up early to do the job. Some of these people became really good friends that we made future travel plans with.
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The best way to find the work we found was through face to face interaction. We had absolutely no luck with job sites, so wasted about a week filling in online job applications to rarely even get a reply from any. Be proactive and don't be scared to go straight to the source.
Retail
We found in Brisbane, pretty much every shop DOESN'T want backpackers. As it is a short term visa, they would rather employ a teenager fresh out of school who can stay rather than an experienced sales assistant. That said, Steph managed to get a trial in a woman's fashion shop, and it was a disaster. The manager was incredibly rude, and negative from the start, and encouraged very pushy sales. Needless to say Steph wasn't offered the job and neither did she want it, and a few weeks later, the shop had been closed down. Some people believe in karma.
Waiting & Bar Work
Waiting and bar work is probably one of the easiest jobs to get whilst traveling, as its paid weekly, usually cash in hand and on a casual contract. As long as you have some experience, there are huge amounts of restaurants in Brisbane's South Bank that will employ you. Steph through a friend at the hostel managed to get a job in a Argentinian restaurant called 'Che Asado' which gave her at least 12 hours work a week. They were a great team to work with, and are usually keen to train you in other aspects of hospitality which can open up other doors for you in the long run. It also meant she could brush up on her Spanish with all the south Americans working there! Bear in mind before you commence any bar work or waiting in Australia you'll have to be prepared to complete and pay for an RSA.
Your RSA is your licence to sell or serve alcohol, and with the restaurant Steph worked at, it was required if you wanted to recieve any of your tips. The RSA is simple to get, you just need to go online and do an online test that takes a couple of hours, and then they email you your certificate. It costs around $30 but can only be used in the state you did your test. If you move to another state you will be required to do another one.
Your RSA is your licence to sell or serve alcohol, and with the restaurant Steph worked at, it was required if you wanted to recieve any of your tips. The RSA is simple to get, you just need to go online and do an online test that takes a couple of hours, and then they email you your certificate. It costs around $30 but can only be used in the state you did your test. If you move to another state you will be required to do another one.
Fundraising
Going out onto the streets and asking for money is not an easy job, and thankfully neither of us had to do it. However a couple of girls in our room did this, and would often come back very sad or even crying. Asking for money can often generate very negative responses, and it is apparently a job you need a thick skin for. That said, depending on which charity you go with, you can earn a lot of money. One girl we knew was given $1000 a week just for doing it, no matter how many sign ups she got. However another girl we lived with would stand on the street and ask for spare change, and she would receive 20% of whatever she earned that day. Like we said, it is a tough job and one that you may need to research into before doing it.
Call Centres
This was another job neither of us said we would ever contemplate doing, however desperate times call for desperate measures. Tom worked in two call centers whilst in Brisbane and had a very different experience with both. The first was for a company selling holidays, with a very cut throat attitude. If you didn't make enough sales, chances were you would be sacked on the spot that day, regardless of what your sales had been like in the past. To Tom's surprise he survived the cull but actually ended up quitting this job after 6 days, as they expected him to push a holiday onto a very sick woman, who clearly wanted to be left alone. For moral reasons he left that afternoon.
On the other end of the spectrum, he also got a job in a call centre, as a tele-fundraiser. Just to reiterate this is something Tom never thought he'd end up doing and is massively outside his comfort zone, but we kept an open mind, lowered our expectations and thought... "well, we don't really have anything to lose". This company held contracts with pretty much all of the largest charities that operated across Australia, and were responsible for all of their tele-fundraising. It was a lot more professional, well run, organised and ethical. Although this was fundraising, it was paid hourly at $24.50 on a contract and was a much more stable job with full time hours. 11am till 8pm Mon-Fri paying $30 an hour for any weekend work. This was the consistent money we needed to help us save whilst also enabling Tom to still do the housekeeping Sat and Sun.
If you've not done anything like this before, its worth a try, you'll probably hate it, but you may love it. It's definitely not for everyone. the nature of the work is always extremely difficult, mentally draining and involves a lot of repetition and often abuse. There is naturally a high turn over of staff and its definitely a case of mind over matter, adapting learning and most importantly not taking yourself or anything anyone says too personally. After a rocky start and lots of perseverance Tom managed to keep up this job for the duration of our stay in Brisbane, just under six months earning good money.
Some good aspects.. if you get to work for somewhere like Tom did, occasionally you'll speak to some of the loveliest most compassionate and generous people over the phone and learn some really interesting and heart felt things about people you may otherwise never get the opportunity to speak to. Some days people will make you cry with laughter, someday's you'll simply want to just cry. but most importantly you'll learn a lot about yourself and ultimately your raising money for some amazing causes and people much less fortunate than yourself.
If you've not done anything like this before, its worth a try, you'll probably hate it, but you may love it. It's definitely not for everyone. the nature of the work is always extremely difficult, mentally draining and involves a lot of repetition and often abuse. There is naturally a high turn over of staff and its definitely a case of mind over matter, adapting learning and most importantly not taking yourself or anything anyone says too personally. After a rocky start and lots of perseverance Tom managed to keep up this job for the duration of our stay in Brisbane, just under six months earning good money.
Some good aspects.. if you get to work for somewhere like Tom did, occasionally you'll speak to some of the loveliest most compassionate and generous people over the phone and learn some really interesting and heart felt things about people you may otherwise never get the opportunity to speak to. Some days people will make you cry with laughter, someday's you'll simply want to just cry. but most importantly you'll learn a lot about yourself and ultimately your raising money for some amazing causes and people much less fortunate than yourself.
Temp Work
When we very first arrived in Brisbane, Steph was offered 3 days working at an pregnancy expo through a temping agency. The lady she was working with was so lovely, and she only had to work 4 hours a day at $25 an hour which is good money. Selling baby hats was very easy for Steph, but obviously the job changes each time with temp work, however with the added bonus of a $100 tip from the lovely owner of the hat company, the money was a godsend and tied us over for a few more weeks whilst looking for permanent jobs. Temp work is indefinite though, and even though the lady gave Steph a dazzling review, no subsequent temp work from the agency came up in Brisbane since.
A couple of girls we lived with were signed up to a catering temp agency though, and would often get shifts over weekends at the local stadium when there was a big game on.
Specialised Skills
Obviously if you are trained specifically in some kind of job, your chances are fairly high of getting something related in Australia. Chef work for example, is highly sought after, so you will have no problems finding a job there. Qualified nurses and Doctors can earn a fortune. Hairdressing is something that you could earn a bit of money doing in hostels as every backpacker needs a trim, and we saw one girl charging $20 a go raking it in. Construction work is sought after too, although you will need a white card before you can be employed in this field. 'Tradies' fit under this bracket.. you will see them everywhere in Aus in luminous yellow and orange getup. 'tradie' is a classically Australian shortened broad term for 'tradesman' you can end up doing anything depending on your experience ranging from labouring, building, traffic control, gardening, landscaping.. the list goes on.
Steph applied to a salon doing manicures and was actually offered the job twice however, it would have meant uprooting and moving to Sydney which unfortunately wasn't an option given the opportunities that were just starting to come our way in Brisbane.
Obviously if you are a specialized nuero surgeon you may need a bit more than an interview.
Steph applied to a salon doing manicures and was actually offered the job twice however, it would have meant uprooting and moving to Sydney which unfortunately wasn't an option given the opportunities that were just starting to come our way in Brisbane.
Obviously if you are a specialized nuero surgeon you may need a bit more than an interview.
Farm Work
Farm work is something 90% of backpackers will do, as it is necessary to get your second working holiday visa. It is a tricky game though, with a real mixed bag of experiences. Neither of us did the farm work as we didn't require the second visa but have many good friends and met tons of people who have shared their experiences with us. Some people have had amazing experiences, and some have had awful experiences. Going to the middle of nowhere to work long hours with sometimes a family you have never met is always going to be daunting, but there of plenty of Facebook pages and forums made for farm work where you can ask fellow backpackers about their experiences.
Starting with the bad... in extreme cases some people we met had things stolen, sexual favors expected of them, or had their pay not given to them. At the other end of the spectrum many people we met said they had a great time, with really reliable employers and fair working environments/pay. The key to a positive farming experience really is to investigate the farm location and reputation before working there, and be mindful of WHAT you are farming too. There's an array of different farming options ranging from Strawberry picking, Macadamia nut sorting, oranges, all the way down to things like pumpkin picking which is going to be very hard manual labour.
As a general rule of thumb, always get a farming deal that pays an hourly rate, we have never heard any positive feedback from people have been paid per a bin/punnet. Usually the bins are massive, impossible to fill and you end up working hard all day for a minimal eventual income. As most farming is in remote areas it will be necessary to stay on the farm or close by. Accommodation and food is usually provided sometimes for free but usually for a weekly fee from your wage. Make sure you find out the cost of living on the farm before agreeing to anything. Be mindful of some farmers paying poor wages and milking most of their money back from you in rent.
The other thing to be mindful of as well is the wildlife. If you don't want to see huge spiders or snakes, maybe give farming a miss. Unless you want your second year visa for Aus, then maybe give farm work a swerve.
This is in no way meant to put anyone off of farming, its just much better to approach it with your eyes open to avoid a bad experience. The bottom line is the majority of people we know have said it was hard, hard work but one of the most rewarding things they've ever done, filling their bank balances up, meeting new people, gaining a second year in Aus, and sometimes getting repeat reliable work from good employers.
Starting with the bad... in extreme cases some people we met had things stolen, sexual favors expected of them, or had their pay not given to them. At the other end of the spectrum many people we met said they had a great time, with really reliable employers and fair working environments/pay. The key to a positive farming experience really is to investigate the farm location and reputation before working there, and be mindful of WHAT you are farming too. There's an array of different farming options ranging from Strawberry picking, Macadamia nut sorting, oranges, all the way down to things like pumpkin picking which is going to be very hard manual labour.
As a general rule of thumb, always get a farming deal that pays an hourly rate, we have never heard any positive feedback from people have been paid per a bin/punnet. Usually the bins are massive, impossible to fill and you end up working hard all day for a minimal eventual income. As most farming is in remote areas it will be necessary to stay on the farm or close by. Accommodation and food is usually provided sometimes for free but usually for a weekly fee from your wage. Make sure you find out the cost of living on the farm before agreeing to anything. Be mindful of some farmers paying poor wages and milking most of their money back from you in rent.
The other thing to be mindful of as well is the wildlife. If you don't want to see huge spiders or snakes, maybe give farming a miss. Unless you want your second year visa for Aus, then maybe give farm work a swerve.
This is in no way meant to put anyone off of farming, its just much better to approach it with your eyes open to avoid a bad experience. The bottom line is the majority of people we know have said it was hard, hard work but one of the most rewarding things they've ever done, filling their bank balances up, meeting new people, gaining a second year in Aus, and sometimes getting repeat reliable work from good employers.
Au Pairing
This is nice job that most people we met had a good experience with. With Au Pairing, you are often given your own room, your food paid for (sometimes you have to cook for the family though) and free use of the car. Obviously looking after children is hard work, but if you enjoy that kind of thing it may not be too daunting. Usually single female travelers are the demographic, but we met some people who went as a couple and had no trouble.
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