Before the departure...

Since I've started with the process to obtain the australian visa, I've heard different people saying that it's a good idea to do certain things in your country before going to kangarooland. For instance, it's a great idea to go to the eye doctor for the necessary check ups and in case you need glasses, you should do it in your country since it's quite expensive to do so in Oz. I wear glasses since I was 18 years old, at the beginning it was just to rest my sight, but as years went by I started to need them more and more. Nowadays I wear them for reading and especially when I'm driving at night.

Another important thing to do is to go to the Dentist!!!! We (people in general) have to make an effort...even though we're not so fond of the idea!!! You have to make the best out of those visits to the dentist, especially if you need to use Dental Braces which is a very loonnnngggg process!!! and painful!! :( I talk from experience!!! I had to use dental braces twice in my life!!! The first time when I was 13 years old; I used them for a year and the second time I was a little bit older, I was 25 years old. I remember when I went to the dentist in 2007, the doctor looked at me and said that I should had started the treatment "yesterday", meaning I had to start RIGHT NOW!! So I analyzsed my personal economy and decided to accept. It was a long process and sometimes very painful!! but after a year and 10 months I can happily say that the doctor has taken them off!!! I'm braces free!!! The truth is that it was a very positive decision since my teeth are where they're suppose to be!!! I have to go to the dentist every 45 days for a check up, so the sacrifice made was worth it!!!

So you know now, go to the doctor!!! that way if you need to do something regarding your health, you do it before leaving your country!!

Cheers!!

Maitena

Demand of Accountants still on the run!!!!

Today I read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, which said that in the next two years there will be a high demand of accountants!!! Pfiú!! That's good!! We're still on the right track!! If you want to read the article, I copied and pasted it below, it's quite interesting.

"Hard labour finding job: where to look

JONATHAN DART

October 11, 2009

CHEFS and hairdressers will be the most sought-after occupations in the next five years as the economy recovers from the global financial crisis.

And health-care workers, educators, automotive and metal tradespeople, as well as IT professionals, will find it easier to land a job as skill shortages hit over the next 18 months.

But advertising, public relations and finance workers will find it hardest to land a job, with economists and recruitment analysts predicting thousands more jobs will be lost in these sectors in the next two years.

The quarterly Clarius Skills Index - which analyses labour demand and supply - found the occupations hardest hit were finance and marketing.

''In the last quarter, marketing was the area where there was the most oversupply [of jobseekers],'' said Kym Quick, executive general officer of Clarius Group. ''That has been consistent throughout the whole global financial crisis.''

Ms Quick said the construction sector was also hit hard. It went from having a severe worker shortage to a moderate oversupply of workers in just over a year.

She said that when the financial crisis hit projects were just put on hold. ''Companies couldn't get the funding to complete projects, which put a lot of people out of work.''

But, she said, the prospects for the sector were strong, with a raft of projects funded by the Federal Government's stimulus package scheduled to run through to 2011.

Clarius found there would be high demand for workers in IT and accounting in the next two years because of industry growth.

Hairdressers and chefs would be in demand because there were few people to fill positions. ''We suspect it's because it's a very transient person who goes into that [hospitality] industry,'' Ms Quick said. ''On average, most people stay in that industry for about three years before moving on.

''Retention is a major issue as a result of the massive amount of hours … worked, and the lifestyle that comes with that, and also the salary.''

BIS Shrapnel economist Damon Roast expects unemployment to peak about 7.5 per cent in mid-2010 to early 2011, although some occupations would be insulated.

''The most positive sectors are the ones that are closely related to public funding and the stimulus package … for instance, the health sector, education and infrastructure,'' he said.

As experts forecast where jobs will be in five years, future employees are already working to position themselves for advantage.

Pat O'Reilly is the first principal of the Southern Cross Catholic Vocational College at Burwood, which will open next year for vocational courses for senior high school students in sectors that have experienced chronic skills shortages in the past decade, including hospitality, hairdressing, automative trades, retail and IT.

He was surprised by the demand for places. Already 110 students had enrolled and he said the school was expected to expand to as many as 500 students.

The Australian Industry Group expects to see a drop in the number of apprenticeships across all sectors. ''That is why there is so much concentration on lifting the skills-gap training [of those currently employed],'' said its careers and industry education manager, Sally Naughton. ''It is a real priority.''"

Cheers!!!!

Maitena

Career Assessment - IELTS

Hi everyone!!! Today I want to tell you about the assessment of my career. When I started with the visa process last may, my migration agent gave me a list of all of the documents needed for a positive assessment. She also told me about the two Australian Institutions in charge of the assessments for accountants (Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (ICAA)) and that my papers would be sent to ICAA. It took me around a month and a half to send everything to Buenos Aires since I went to university in Cordoba which is 1200 kms from where I'm currently living. And I had to ask my sister to go to the university to pick up all of the documents that I had already asked for to the administration and then she mailed everything to me.  Furthermore, I had to write my resume in English!!! so I researched a little bit about specific words related to my career.  People from VEA (Viva en Australia (Live in Australia)) sent me instructions on how to write a resume and I read that australians don't believe that a person can work over 10 hours a day!!!!! For a period of 6 months last year, I had three different jobs!!! so I worked like 12 hours a day!! and sometimes I worked on Saturdays and Sundays. As you can imagine, I had to cut off one my jobs so the resume would be according to australian standars.

Once everything was in VEA, they had to translate the documents and this task took them around a month and half. My agent sent my an e-mail on July 29th telling me that everything was sent to Australia. On August 13th, I was working when I received the good news that  the assessment outcome was positive!!!!!!!! You have no idea how happy I was!!!! I wanted to jump, run, scream!!!!! I was soooo happy!!! I felt a little bit closer to the visa!!!!!!
The next step is to sit for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System)!!!!! Because my career is in the CSL (Critical Skills List), Department of Immigration And Citizenship (DIAC) demands a band score of 7.0 in each module of the exam. This is require in order to have a priority on the visa processing and apparently you can have your visa in 12 months since you entered your visa application. In case I don't get that 7.0, DIAC says that accountants must get a band score of 6.0 to be eligible for the Independent Skill Visa and in this case it can take up to 3 years to finally have the visa. There is a third posibility to have a priority and it's to be sponsored by a state or territory, but in this case they also ask for a 7.0. To sum up, if I want to have my visa within a year, a year and a half, I must get that famous band score of 7.0 and if I'm not lucky enough to get it, I will have to be veeerrryyyy patient and wait three years for the visa.

Right now, I'm studying and studying and by the time I sit for the exam and have the results I will be telling you all about it. For the day of the exam, my mom has specific instructions to pray to every Saint she can think of!!! :) Although we know that in order to have good results, you need to study and practice...praying a little bit to have an extra help doesn't hurt anybody!! don't you think??? :)

Cheers!!!

Maitena