Qualifications, experience, even professional accolades provide no certainty for skilled migrants in their search for work in Australia's competitive labour market.
But as many new arrivals recently learned at a seminar run by the settlement agency AMES, the answer can be as simple as a relevant resume or industry networking.
Turkish immigrant Jim Deniz spent eight years in Europe studying a masters degree in geometric engineering. But he spent his first five months in Australia concreting.
The 26-year old left despondent at his inability to find work in his chosen field.
“Sometimes I cried and until this weekend I was crying in the shower and I said I came here for bright future but I start to lose my hope,” he said.
Jim Deniz begins his new job as an engineer next month and is urging other skilled new arrivals to spread their wings in their quest for that perfect job.
“They don't extend themselves - they don't extend their knowledge - they don't try to learn to have to live in this country so that's why they are stuck in that position in that role in construction or the restaurant,” he said.
