Working in the restaurant.
During my training Visa, I was working in a busy restaurant chain in the Sydney CBD. Normally we start our duty at 10am and we finished at 10pm. I was actually not expecting that we are gonna be working long hours because the Australian laws said the regular working hour is 38 hours a week (7.5 hours a day in 5 days) but we are obviously working almost double that. Those extra hours are not paid just like in Dubai.
I have no problem with the long hours of work because I am used to it, I think it is the nature of being a cook. The good thing is we have two days off every week. In Australia, two days off a week is for all employees who are working full time, not just for office workers and high ranking staff which is the common practice in most countries in Asia and the middle east.
Workers in Australia.
Working in the Hospitality Industry in Australia is similar to working in the middle east hospitality industry, the majority of the staff are coming from different parts of the world. Chefs are usually skilled immigrants or on a skilled visa, food servers, kitchen hands (dishwasher) are usually those on working holiday visa, students visa, spouse, family member visa and there are some locals. There are many establishments or restaurants without any local workers, particularly in the busy city.
Skilled Visa worker- you can come here in one of the skilled visas if your occupation is in the "skilled occupation list".
Working Holiday Visa- This is only for eligible nationality, these people usually come here to work base on the rules of working and holiday visa, there are some sort of farm works requirements.
Student Visa- People on a student visa are only allowed to work 40 hours a fortnight.
Locals - Locals are the Australian where they can work anywhere they are qualified.
Spouse and dependent visas - they are usually the wife, husband, boyfriend, a girlfriend of the main visa holder.
Transition to Work (Skilled) Visa
My Training Visa is valid only for 1 year during that time, and because I like the living situation in Australia I decided to search and collaborate with my fellow training visa holder on how we can stay longer in Australia. There are different options for each qualification. Each visa has its own detailed sets of requirements and if you don't fit any then you'll need to go home before the visa expires. There is a 457 visa, 189 Visa, and 190 Visa. Most of us are partially qualified for a different skilled visa because most of us had enough previous related work experiences.
We already have the usual requirements like passport and work experience certificates, what we don't have is the English test (IELTS, Pte, etc.) and Australian Qualification /Australian Certificate.
Basic Requirements
I took the IELTS test and I scored 6, but because I want I little higher. I took PTE as well and I got score of 60 which is similar to IELTS equivalent to just "Competent in Australian immigration English standard.
Then I took the skills assessment at William Angliss where I got the Trade Recognition Australia's Commercial Cookery Certificate 3.
With the score that I got from IELTS combined with my other credential did not reach to qualify for the Australian Immigration Point System for Permanent Resident Visa 189,190 Visa and the only option I have left is the company or employer-sponsored visa which is the Subclass 457 Visa.
Job Searching
It was in the last quarter of the year when I completed the requirements. I started to send my job application resume to different companies here in Australia, I also did some walk-in in some of the hotels and restaurant. The result was good as the majority replies to my emails and got good results, the problem is many of the companies are not yet approved or not qualified to sponsor foreign workers.
Popular jobseeker sites in Australia
seek.com.au
indeed.com.au
gumtree.com.au
There are also establishments that post their job vacancy in the wall of their restaurant or within their property.
A referral is also a good practice here, some company is giving reward to staff who can refer a friend to work.
I did some kitchen trials in different kitchens in Sydney. Most of the chefs, kitchen hand does kitchen trials when applying for the job. It is a three hour or less unpaid kitchen work.
Working Visa Approved.
I was hired and sponsored by a company from one of my online job application. I basically submitted my CV stating my qualification and very important I mentioned that I am needing sponsorship. They set me for an interview and then offered the job. They then referred me to a migration agency that processes my 457 visa application. I got my 457 Visa approved after a month from the day of my visa application. I resign from my Training Visa Job and then moved to my new 457 Visa Job.
Real Australian Work Experience.
My working in the hospitality industry is good, I have a good life here. My workplace is considered to be regional as it is around 3 to 5 hours away from Sydney. Here people working in the hospitality industry are mostly local. Fastfood kitchen crews are young local students, the restaurant staff is both young and old. Here, there is the feeling of being in a real Australia. And we are actually working just the regular working hours in here, 7.5 hours a day in a week.
They have a beautiful environment, friendly people that are going to smile, greet, and maybe talk to you. I am loving it here but the same as everyone we sometimes want something more or something less.
No comments:
Post a Comment