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Archive for February, 2010

Find company who is able to provide sponsorship

26 Feb

A few days ago, someone has asked me how to find a job in Sydney whilst they’re waiting for their visa application to be approved as they couldn’t wait to move to Sydney as soon as possible.

Like I’ve mentioned earlier article about my suggested site, Seek.com.au for the best Recruitment website in Australia, or particularly in Sydn

It has brought my attention to put Tips & Trick of how to find a company who is able to provide sponsorship to suitable applicant.

One of the efficient ways is to put word “Sponsor” as a keyword into Keyword field which shown as “Enter Keyword(s)” on the frontpage of Seek.com.au

In that way, Seek will pull out information of company who willing to provide sponsorship for the right candidate.

Hope this helps!

 
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Posted in Jobs, Tips & Tricks

 

How to get Sydney, New South Wales driver licence

23 Feb

As the accident rating is quite high, Australia is really strict with the driving law and in the process to get licence. It’s not easy to get driver licence here as it can be really tough. The normal procedure requires you to get thru many steps in order to have full driver licence.

You have to passed thru driving test knowledge and practical driving test in order to get full driver licence. After you passed driving test knowledge, you’ll get Learner Driver Licence which restrict you from driving unless you’ve been accompanied with someone that has full licence.

Here is the URL which you can practice before taking Driver Knowledge Test (DKT):

URL: http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/tests/driverknowledgetest/demonstrationdriverknowledgetest/index.html

When you’re ready and have fulfilled the requirements (120 hours driving time and held the current licence for at least 12 months) to take the next step, which is practical driving test that will requires you to have official instructor sit next you when he/she will guide you thru the practical process of the test. It’ll take around 30-40 minutes in total. If you passed, then you will get P1 Driver Licence (Red) and you can convert it to full driver licence if you’re holding an overseas driver licence for more than 5 years.

You can be exempted from driving test knowledge and could get your overseas driver licence converted to full driver licence if it issued from recognised countries that listed on RTA website which you can find out the URL on below.

Recognition of licences URL: http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/newtonsw/recognisedcountries.html

After holding P1 driver licence at least 12 months, you’re eligible to process to P2 licence (Green) after you passed the HPT (Hazard Perception Test). Before eligible to apply for Full licence (silver), you’ve to hold a P2 licence for a minimum period of 24 months and passed DQT (Driver Qualification Test).

Driver licences in Australia

Driver licences in Australia

Obviously, full licence won’t have any restrictions like others have (Learner, P1 and P2 licenses). Full licence holder is eligible to get Gold licence if they’ve been a good driver for the next 5 years without any offences. The advantage of Gold licence is cheaper fee and longer expiration date (5 years) if you extend your licence.

Once again here is the URL for the official government department who taking care of car licencing.

URL: http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au

Here is the URL to get full information about how to get a licence in New South Wales / Sydney.

URL: http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/gettingalicence/index.html

 
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Posted in Transportation

 

Tenants Right in Sydney, New South Wales

23 Feb

Before you’re about to renting a place in Sydney, there is a website you might consider to have a look first.

URL: http://www.tenants.org.au

URL: http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/Tenants_and_home_owners/Renting_a_home/Renting_guide.html

Each state in Australia has different law about tenancy. However here is a couple of things you should know about the law of tenancy in New South Wales or Sydney.

Bond:

  • 4 weeks rent for unfurnished
  • 6 weeks rent for fully furnished with rental price around AUD$250 or below per week
  • Unlimited for fully furnished with rental price above than AUD$250

Advance Rent:

  • 2 weeks if rental price is or less than AUD$300
  • 4 weeks if rental price more than AUD$300

Increase of the rental price:

  • Legal if it’s only specified in tenancy agreement.
  • 60 days notice needed to be given if the rental price increase
  • The tenancy agreement must state the amout of the increase or the method for calculating

Terminate the tenancy:

  • Tenant: 14 days if period of agreement has ended 21 days
  • Landlord: 14 days at the end of fixed tenancy. 42 days for periodic tenancy

 
2 Comments

Posted in Accomodation

 

What you can/can’t bring to Australia…

20 Feb

Australia is very protective and proud of their environment. Australia’s environment is famous of free from many pests and diseases found in other parts of the world. Therefore Australia has its own reliable and powerful quarantine department called Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service or AQIS (http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis).

Their job is to prevent/protect Australia soil from any attack from pests and diseases. Before your departure, you need to check the things you’ll bring to Australia beforehand. If you unsure, you can check their website to see the list of items you can/can’t bring to Australia prior to departure.

There also a form you need to fill up which usually the airlines provided to you before the arrival which called Incoming Passenger Card as shown on below.

Australia Incoming Passenger Card

Australia Incoming Passenger Card

The best and safe way is to declare the food you brought with you to avoid on-the-spot fine up to $AUD220, or persecution and face a fine up to $AUD66,000 or 10 years imprisonment which may result in a criminal record.

The Quarantine team will do whatever they can to make sure that Australia soil is protected. On arrival your baggage may be X-Rayed, inspected or even checked by a detector dog team.

You will not be penalised if you declared your items beforehand.

The items you declared will be returned to you after inspection; however anything that presents a disease risk  or contain insects or larvae will be withheld.

So it’s important that you read this section before your departure to Australia.

Here are the useful links you might consider to have a look before:

  • What can’t I take into Australia

    http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/travel/entering-australia/cant-take

  • What can’t be mailed to Australia

    http://www.daffa.gov.au/aqis/mail/cant-mail

Here is the general list of prohibited goods to bring to Australia:

  • fresh fruit and vegetables
  • live plants and bulbs
  • prohibited and restricted seeds
  • unidentified seeds, which can include some foods, including spices
  • live animals (including pets) that require an import permit
  • biological products including some plant based, herbal medications
  • unprocessed goods of plant or animal origin
  • soiled items, or items containing organic residues
  • items knowingly infested with pests or a disease.

 
6 Comments

Posted in Departure to Sydney

 

Removalist

16 Feb

There are plenty of removalist in Sydney, however there is a lot of dodgy ones which you need to be careful about when you’re about to hire them. I’d recommend one particular removalist that I had a pleasant experience with and they’ve provided me with a professional kind of job in the past.

They’re called Grace Removals. You can have many options where you need their help to pack everything into their own boxes or they even can help you to bubble wrap everything including your furniture to make sure that there won’t be any scratches on them.

Here is the link of their website plus their contact detail.

Link: http://www.grace.com.au

They’ve also partnership with a couple of removalist on other countries.

 
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Posted in Removalist

 

Finding jobs – continue…

06 Feb

Following up with the 1st link posted yesterday, there is a couple of jobs sites around Australia. The reason I recommended the 1st link because it’s more user-friendly, easy process and good user interface; however you can also try to browse the other sites, like MyCareer, CareerOne, JobsJobsJobs. There is also government jobs posted on this particular site, but if you’re newcomer might want to skip this as some of the jobs requires at least Permanent Resident visa or citizen status.

Here are the links of the other job sites in Sydney or Australia generally:

  • MyCareer – http://www.mycareer.com.au
  • CareerOne – http://www.careerone.com.au
  • JobsJobsJobs – http://www.jobsjobsjobs.com.au

…and here is the site for government jobs (if anyone interested):

  • http://www.jobsearch.gov.au (Australia)
  • http://www.jobs.nsw.gov.au (specifically for New South Wales state, including Sydney)

 
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Posted in Jobs

 

Finding jobs

04 Feb

It’s never been easier to find a job like in Sydney. As long as you’ve your resume and cover letter, you’re ready to go! There is a couple of famous jobs websites in Australia, especially in Sydney. However I loves to use one particular site which I found quite easy to understand and use. So far I’m quite satisfy with this one here and have never found any other sites as easy and simple as this one here. So I’d like to highly recommend to use this site. Please find the link on below.

Link: http://www.seek.com.au

I’ll cover the other jobs sites you can go to on the next posting; however that site above has been used by most people in Australia. So good luck and wish all the best for your searching! :)

 
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Posted in Jobs

 

Tips & Tricks – Areas to avoid

03 Feb

Before you make decision of where you want to live in Sydney. There is a list of areas you should avoid to live as it would be quite dangerous to walk around at night. It doesn’t mean to discriminate the areas, but that’s the fact and I feel responsible to let you know beforehand.

They are:

  • Claymore
  • Airds
  • Macquarie Fields
  • Minto
  • Rosemeadow
  • Ambarvale
  • Mt Druitt
  • Redfern
  • Auburn
  • Blacktown
  • Lakemba

Those areas mentioned aren’t as bad as you think if you’d though that you’ll get shot once you leave the house. As long as you don’t walk around those areas at night, you’ll be fine. You might take a careful consideration when you choose those areas to live in Sydney.

 
2 Comments

Posted in Tips & Tricks

 

Tips & Tricks – Finding the right place for you

03 Feb

I’m personally using this technique when I’m looking a place in Sydney. But again, people might use different techniques depending on their circumstances and situation.

When I look for accommodation in Sydney, I’m always using Train Map or Network Map as the bible. I’d like to suggest you to do the same thing. The reason behind that just because as lots of people using and depending on public transportation, it would much better for you to live as close as possible from public transportation access, particularly train station. I’d prefer to use train more as they’re more reliable with the timetable rather than buses.

As per said, try to live around 5-15 minutes walking distance from the train station. Further than that isn’t recommended. The 2nd reason to use Train/Network map as a guidance is to get you an idea of how small/big the development around that area. For example, if the train station on that area is big enough to consist for more than 2 platforms, then it will show you how develop the area is. Plus you’ll get more frequent train coming in for bigger one.

Of course, the smaller the train station, you can get cheaper price compares with other big ones. But again, it will also depend of which part of Sydney you wanna live. Once more, North area would be more expensive to live compare with South and so on. But at least you can get an idea of how big the development on that area based on the Train/Network map of the train.

Here is the link of the train station map on below.

Link: http://www.cityrail.info/stations/network_map

Good luck.

 
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Posted in Accomodation

 
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