Australians - Help me find a job in Supply Chain Management

[Tanor85]

Greetings!

I am a Canadian procurement specialist looking to relocate to Australia. My job is to create public tenders, negotiate contracts and buy stuff. More info below.

Australia seems like a really nice place. I'd like to come check it out. So far I applied to a few positions through the Michael Page Group.

Australians, can you please help me with any of following ?

- Refer me to a "head hunter" who could match me with a hiring organisation;
- Tell me how I can work in procurement for your government;
- Refer me to the best job search website for my field;
- If your organisation needs a supply chain manager or procurement specialist, let me know !

Thank you all for your time. See below the sales pitch I am using when applying for jobs.

Cheers!

---------------

Procurement Specialist with over 6 years of experience in contracting for the Canadian federal government. Extensive experience managing complex procurement activities. Experience leading a team of procurement officers. Looking to relocate to Australia for a new challenge. Requires a minimum salary of 85,000 AUD. Contact me for a phone or Skype interview at your convenience.
Best regards,
*******
Ottawa, Canada

[urbanista]

Do you hold a permanent residence visa or have work rights otherwise?

[11ducks]

Try seek.com.au

[alsoknownasDean]

Yeah seek is probably the largest job site in Australia.

Are you considering a particular location? If you're mainly looking at government roles, are you looking at federal, state or local government departments?

[Tanor85]

Thank you for the responses. I will check out seek.com.au

I do not have a work visa or work rights but I heard it should not be a problem once I obtain a job offer. Since Canada and Australia are both members of the Commonwealth, it is apparently easier to obtain work permits.

I am not looking at any particular region but have heard great things about Melbourne. No region is off the table, even remote ones.

As for government roles, although my expertise is in federal, I know that all levels of government have procurement officers. I am wondering if governments also advertise jobs on seek.com.au, or do they have their own unique job advertising website?

Thanks again.

[jan62]

for government jobs try:
Federal:
https://www.apsjobs.gov.au/quickSearch.aspx?mn=JobSearch&ifm=true

nsw: http://iworkfor.nsw.gov.au/jobs

victoria:https://jobs.careers.vic.gov.au/jobtools/jncustomsearch.jobsearch?in_organid=14123

Qld: https://smartjobs.qld.gov.au/jobtools/jncustomsearch.searchResults?in_organid=14904&in_param1=90000

WA: https://search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pageID=215

NT: https://jobs.nt.gov.au/Home/Search

TAS: http://www.jobs.tas.gov.au/

[urbanista]

I do not have a work visa or work rights but I heard it should not be a problem once I obtain a job offer. Since Canada and Australia are both members of the Commonwealth, it is apparently easier to obtain work permits.

It is not true. There is no difference between the Commonwealth countries and other countries in terms of getting 457 working visa.

Sorry to be negative but it is very difficult to get a job offer with no work rights at all, yet even harder at the 85000 AUD pa salary level. There is no shortage of locals applying for the team leader / senior / managerial level in procurement or supply chain for this pay. The majority of 457 visas are granted for IT positions, unique highly specialised professionals or low pay positions where the employers save substantially to use offshore labour.

[urbanista]

As for government roles, although my expertise is in federal, I know that all levels of government have procurement officers.

Most of government roles require PR or citizenship.

[Kitties are the best]

Hi Tanor

I'm originally from the UK and moved to Melbourne five years ago. I came over on a working holiday visa, transferred after 3 months on to a 457 visa, got employee sponsored for PR and then applied for Citizenship, which has just come through.

I love it here and I have a few Canadian friends who do too!

From my experience, the visa issue will be your biggest hurdle. Not saying it is impossible, just that it will be tricky. I had an excellent employment record and work in an industry that is starved of local talent and it still took me 7 months of constant applying to get a job over here.

I used a few recruiters but was also applying to companies directly and it was one of the direct applications that resulted in me landing a job. I had a lot of skype interviews with people basically saying if I had PR and was already in the country, they would offer me a job but as it was they would have to look into the logistics of sponsorship (because there are a number of requirements companies have to satisfy).

In the end I had to commit to moving here without a job to show people that I was serious. Luckily I was under 31 when I moved, so I was eligible for a working holiday visa. My company employed me on probation for 3 months, and then transferred me to a 457 visa once I had worked for 3 months and they knew I was a good hire. It's been smooth sailing since then, but it was a leap of faith to commit to Australia, sell all my stuff, rent out my apartment in London and fund my own move here.

Other people have other stories - I know a couple of Canadian teachers here that got job offers easily. Are you under 31 or under? Would you consider coming here on a working holiday visa? I don't know really anything about your industry so can't advise you there but check out the skilled occupation list to see if your job title or others like it appear:

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists

If it's not on this list, you're unlikely to get employee sponsorship. The good news it the list gets updated based on skills shortages. Look at previous versions of the list online and see if your profession appeared - if it's not on there currently but was previously on there, chances are, it will make an appearance again.

Good luck - it's a great country.. basically hot Canada!

[Tanor85]

This looks really difficult. I looked into the Visa application process and it seems like a very costly bureaucratic nightmare. There are a lot of procurement jobs for the federal government. I am thinking of contacting the federal procurement teams directly to arrange a job exchange. That would be fun.

Thank you all for your help.