Catching up.....

Okey. So, I know I've left my blog abandoned for a while but now I'm back!! I'll try to write more often, promised!! And I also know it's February 2010 but I wanted to wish all of you a Happy New Year!! I hope all of your dreams come true in 2010!!!

I'm going to sum up what has happened to me for the last few months and then I'm going to write different posts about those things, allright?

First of all, after studying and practicing English for 5 months, I sat for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) on November 7th, 2009 and I received the envelope with the score in my house 13 days later. To my surprise I did very well!! The band score goes from 0.0 (you don't know anything) to 9.0 (your English is excellent); well, my band score was 8.0!!! very close!! I was sooo happy when I found out what my band score was, you can't imagine!!!

Once I had my band score (a successful one) I had to scan several documents that certified my professional experience, so that took me a few days. I sent all of those files to VEA so that they could translate all of them and prepare my papers to send everything to DIAC before the end of 2009. The reason for that was because Australian immigration regulations change twice every year; the first time they make a change is in January and the second time is in September each year. When your papers are in DIAC is like everything is frozen, meaning that your case is going to be analyzed under the regulations that were valid by the time your papers entered in DIAC. On December 22nd my agent sent me an e-mail telling me that everything was in DIAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We made it!!! so now I just have to wait for a case officer to be assigned to my case and hope to be given the visa!

Two days later it was Christmas!!!!!! I forgot everything about Australia and spend time with my family in both holidays: Christmas and New Years. In Argentina is tradition to get together with your family for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. During that time we eat a lot... A LOT!!! and talk and laugh. It's a nice moment to be with your loved ones. For instance, we ate barbecued meat with different salads and for dessert we ate fresh fruit; then after a while we drank a cup of coffee and eat different types of cakes!!! yeah, believe it or not, we eat a lot during holidays!! Because I have Slovenian roots (my grandparents are from Slovenia) my grandpa cooked a typicall cake called Strudel and my mom cooked one called Potitsa. Everything was delicious!!!! Here are a couple of pics of those cakes, the one in the left is Strudel and the one in the right is Potitsa.  For my cousins in Slovenia and in Germany, this is for you!!!!                                

It's summer over here so you can imagine that it's really hot!!!! and we all want to be outside and spend the day by a swimming pool!!! but we have to work so we do that during the weekends. I already had my vacations and I returned to work last Monday :(  not so happy about that...but hey!! I need to work to save money for my next adventure!.... Australia!!!!

Cheers!!!

Maitena

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

Beginning of the process....

The process to migrate to Australia is quite complex, for that reason, I decided to hire a company that  provides a certain service...(in exchange of a teeny tiny amount of money...jeje); this service, obviously, is to help you thoroughout the entire process.  My only obligations would be to send them all of the documents required by DIAC (Department of Immigration and Citizenship), and also sit for the IELTS (International English Testing System)....off course.

I surfed the web and I found different agencies that help you with this process; there are two outside Argentina, especifically in Australia and U.K and the other one is in Argentina (I'm sure there are more agencies but I didn't keep looking). The two agencies outside this continent give you advice through the process; depending on the amount of money you are willing to pay, you have a certain number of phone calls to make questions. The problem here is that you have to do everything by yourself, from documents' traslations to filling different forms that you need to send to DIAC.

On the other hand, with the agency located in Argentina, you can relax because this agency does everything for you (well, almost everything). It has certain advantages, especially for those who don't have the time to do everything that the process demands from you. Besides, the people from the agency tell you about the constant migration changes and they advice you on what's the best choice to make.  The agency's name is Viva en Australia (VEA (Live in Australia)) and it's located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It also offers its services to different countries in Latin America. It could be a good or a bad decision to hire an agency; it depends on personal circumstances but in my particular case I can say that it was the best decision I could've made (well, so far...) since I don't have enough time to do it by myself so it would've taken me many months to get everthing done.

In a future post I'm going to talk about the assessment for my profession and the IELTS.

Cheers!!!
Maitena

Reasons to emigrate....

Like I said in one of my previous posts, I always wanted to go to another country to have a new life experience and to be in touch with other cultures because it really opens your mind and it allows you to think differently.  The reason for that is because you have the chance to see other realities, so the way you see and perceive things change.

I couldn't be part of any exchanging program in the past years; however, last October something went over me (who knows what!!..:) and said "I'm leaving!" The reasons for leaving my country were just that I wanted to have a change in my life, meet new people, learn different ways to get your work done, live in a country where people speak another language (well, that language would be English because that's the one I know and like!! :), anyway, I think I was looking for a challenge. By that time I had already decided that my destination would be Australia...why?? Because I liked the fact that it's an organized, developed country, it's a place where laws are followed, people respect each other, great quality of life, you work and yet you have time for yourself.  The opposite of what it's going on in Argentina; that's the other reason to emigrate (anywhere, as long as it's better than here).

Sadly, Argentina is no longer liveable; the education level has decreased, there are more homeless people who don't even have money to eat!!! there are no jobs, prices are over the roof, robberies, crimes, a Government that's better not to talk about it...ignorant people are easier to handle and this Gorvernment is taking advantage of that fact. That's how things are in this country.  For things to get better, there should be a new Government NOW!! and even if it worked perfectly, we would see the results many years from now...and to be true I don't think it's going to change any time soon.

As you can imagine, I don't want to wait until I'm an old ladie to see an improvement , that is why I decided to leave!!!!!!!!! I know it's not going to be easy but the good thing is that I'm going to work hard and as a consequence, I'm going to see good results; that's the enormous difference and it makes me realize that all the effort that I'm going to make (like leaving my family behind, my friends, everything I know), it's going to be worth it.
And that is why, instead of an exchange program, I decided to go to Australia to start a new life!!! With a lot of hope and lots of dreams!!!

Cheers!!!
Maitena

Why do I want to go to another country????

With this new post I'm going to talk about where the idea of moving to another country comes from, and in order to do so, I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself.  I am an accountant and I graduated from University two and half years ago. Luckily, I'm working as an accountant which it's excellent considering that the economic situation in Argentina is not the best (it hasn't been for a long time now) and it's quite difficult to find a job nowadays, especially in your field.

Since I was 13 or 14 years old, I have always wanted to participate in one of those exchanging programs; you know, when you go to another country with the excuse of "learning English". Once there, you stay with a local family and then, in the future you are going to return the favour, by giving a place to live to a member of that family. I remember looking brochures about these programs and talking about them to my parents because I wanted to see if they could afford sending me to another country. Unfortunatelly, I couldn't go because I also have a brother and a sister who are younger than me so the money was put to a better use (which, if you think about it, was reasonable, although I didn't like it at that moment!!)

Years went by, I went to college, studied and graduated and even though, I never stopped thinking about it, that dream was never acomplished. The reason for that was because I didn't have time since I was busy with finals and off course I didn't have enough money!

On the other hand, once I graduated and started working, those crazy ideas about participating in an exchange program appeared again! So I began searching the internet trying to find a program according to my qualifications. However, I couldn't find anything because all of the programs requiered me to have at least one year experience in my field. That is why I decided to work an entire year and then look for the right program.
As you can see, the idea of leaving Argentina has always been in my head but just as a 4 month experience or a year...top. I never thought of leaving my country for good.
Well, I think this is a very long post!!! In the next post I'm going to write about the reasons for choosing Australia and the reasons for making this "exchange" a little bit longer than usual.......

Cheers!!!
Maitena