How to Get Ahead in the Australian Job Market

We have often heard economists say that the Australian job market is the envy of major economies around the world. While certain areas of the domestic economy such as retail and construction continue to struggle, other areas such as the mining industry continue to grow. With all the drama and lack of job security presently occurring in Europe, it is no surprise that Australia is seeing a growth of overseas workers hitting our shores.

The Australian job market is very different to overseas job markets, and in order to get ahead there are many rules that need to be followed. From writing your resume to preparing for your interview, the more you can adapt to the “Australian way”, the greater your chances will be of finding success.

Australian Resume Writing:

The Australian resume is very different to a European, American or Asian resume, and it is very important that your resume is written, formatted, styled and presented accordingly.

10 Tips to “Australianise” Your Resume

Use Australian English or English UK spelling as opposed to American English (words such as "specialise" or "realise" need to be spelt with an “S” as opposed to a “Z”)

No picture is required on your Australian Resume

Focus on achievement-based statements rather than basic responsibilities and daily duties

Provide examples as much as possible to highlight the value that you added to the organisation or business. The more you can quantify your examples the better!

The only contact details that are necessary on your resume are your name, address, telephone number and email address. Information such as your birth date, race, age, religion or marital status is not required and not recommended. Do not open yourself up to prejudice or discrimination

Professionalise your email address. Your email address portrays an impression of the type of person you are. Weird and crazy email addresses need to be replaced with more professional addresses

Simplify the layout of the resume. This is open to interpretation, but the fancier you try to make the resume, the less appealing it becomes. Use dot points rather than writing long paragraphs and an easy to read font to make the hiring manager's job as easy as possible

Prepare the resume from the reader’s point of view. This is often one of the hardest things that candidates struggle with when writing their resume.  No matter what role you are applying for, make sure you target your resume toward that role. Even if you are in the process of changing your career, you still need to highlight the key transferable skills that you can bring to this new job

Providing a description of your organisation can be a good idea for overseas job seekers, especially when the business is not known in Australia but for large multinational companies (such as PWC, HSBC, Hewlett Packard, etc), there is no need to provide the reader with a description. This only wastes room on the resume and does not provide any value

While there is no exact rule on how long your resume should be, it is accepted practice that a resume should be no longer than 1-2 pages for a student / graduate and no more than 4-5 pages for a senior professional or executive. Remember the golden rule of resume writing is to show value to the reader. Quality, not quantity, will make your resume stand out from the crowd

© RedStarResume Publications – http://www.redstarresume.com

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