Work in Australia
If you plan to work in Australia or are thinking of undertaking a working holiday, there are laws you need to know regarding employment of non-citizens. This applies to all types of full-time, part-time, casual, shift and voluntary work.
To start a new career working in Australia or to simply have a working holiday while travelling around Australia you will need a specific visa entitling you to take up employment opportunities, as either a temporary or permanent resident.
You can find out more details from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection or visit the links below.
Australia’s Employment Landscape
The Australian business landscape is heavily dependent on the services and retail sectors as the largest employers.
Our ageing population and increasing push for innovation and new technology means that there is strong demand for highly qualified employees from all walks of life and across most professions.
Our immigration policies favour highly skilled, qualified and experienced people across most industry sectors including the trades and hospitality sectors. A good starting point is to see if there are vacant positions that meet your skills, qualifications and / or experience by searching the various employment or jobs portals.
Please keep in mind that most job advertisements will require you to have a visa with full working rights in Australia and it is illegal to work in Australia without a valid visa permitting you to work.
There are many companies who are approved by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection to sponsor skilled employees under the various employer sponsored migration programs – see the section below on Sponsored Job Search.
Finding Job Opportunities
There are a many job search websites and thousands of recruitment companies in Australia that specialise in general recruitment or recruitment for specific occupations or industries. Companies are also turning to social media (such as LinkedIn) to advertise vacant positions, so it makes sense to check these too.
The main job search sites (with links to them in red) are:
- Seek: General job search where you can search by job or industry type.
- Jobsearch: An Australian government funded website for employers and job seekers.
- Career One: Similar to Seek
Some of the bigger Australian national recruitment companies are:
- Hays: International recruitment company and probably the largest in Australia with offices across the country that recruit across all sectors, specialising in the services sector, accounting, IT, banking and finance and construction amongst others.
- Randstad: Head office in Sydney with 28 offices across Australia, recruits for positions in most sectors with a focus on construction, engineering, IT, trades, HR, education, manufacturing and production.
- Hudson: Located in most of Australia’s capital cities, Hudson recruits mainly for office based positions in the accounting, banking and finance, IT and legal sectors.
- Adecco: Adecco offers temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing, consulting and outplacement with jobs Australia wide.
- Manpower: Manpower opened their first office in Australia in 1964. Recruits across Australia (22 offices) mainly for jobs in the trades.
Employer Sponsored Job Listings
Some Employers that find it hard to recruit the skills they need locally in Australia use job boards like Workingin Australia. Companies advertising on this site welcome applications from overseas and usually have Department of Immigration and Border Protection approval to sponsor employees from overseas to work in Australia.
You can also search Google for “sponsored jobs Australia”, here are a few links:
