Golden opportunities in God’s Country For a country so young in terms of colonisation, people tend to forget how old Australia really is. Some 40000 years ago, civilised indigenous inhabitants roamed its fertile lands and as anyone who has ever looked at a piece of coal before will tell you, with the passing of time comes riches beyond your dreams. The Australian resources and mining industry has been growing for so long now that even the recent global financial crisis (or GFC as they call it over there) couldn’t affect it that much. There was a minor blip in the Australian economy, sometime in early 2009 but then, when the rest of us had to deal with banking industry bailouts and IMF bigwigs muscling their way into Irish sovereignty, Australia shrugged off this minor blip and got on with the business of growing again. In the past decade, one of the most significant sectoral trends experienced by the Australian economy has been the growth of the mining sector (including petroleum, liquefied natural gas and iron ore) and a major consequence of that is the requirement for skilled workers to work within this industry. The boom has caught them by surprise to a degree, with industry experts predicting there will be a need for an additional 40000 skilled workers to work on resource industry related projects by the end of next year. For the most part the resource projects are based in Western Australia, North Western Australia and Queensland and with the massive downturn in the construction industry taking place here over the last 3 years, skilled migrants from Ireland have been taking advantage of this resource boom ‘down under’ to relocate their families lock, stock and barrel to the southern hemisphere. They have happily reinvented themselves in a society that’s not burdened with a general malaise and undercurrent of ‘doom and gloom’ running through it. People who have made the move to date have been unanimously positive, realising that if they hadn’t taken the plunge, they might still be here twiddling their thumbs, waiting for a flailing economy to turn itself around, unsure, if or indeed when that actually might
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happen. As it stands they’re happy, their kids are happy and in good schools, with everyone enjoying the joys of outdoor life that Australia has to offer; and the money at the end of the month isn’t too shabby either! Globester Recruitment, a specialist employment agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, has been working with a large number of Australian companies over the last few years and has become something of an expert in
the placement of skilled trades people such as Plant Mechanics and Truck Mechanics into companies based in the resources sector, particularly in Western Australia. As Chief Operations Officer John Duffy says, “The opportunities out there are truly life changing and having dealt closely with the companies themselves, I can vouch for their absolute commitment to ensuring that new employees and their families assimilate well into Australian society and are happy to be there. These companies travel 12000 miles to be here for interviews so I don’t think they’d do that if there weren’t serious about what they are doing”. To date Globester has placed over 30 Plant and Truck Mechanics into their clients in Western Australia, and as Duffy says, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “To be honest, we have 3 companies travelling to Ireland from Perth over the next 2 months and if we had 40 excellent, time served mechanics, they’d all have fantastic new jobs to go to in Australia in the morning. We are facilitating the recruitment programmes for these companies while they are here, so if anyone thinks they have the right skills and want to make the move, then we want to hear from them”. Globester Recruitment can be contacted in Dublin on 01 417 9652 (ask for John) or at their newly opened Cork office on 087 133 6008 (ask for Matt). If you are an experienced Diesel Plant Mechanic or Truck Mechanic and are looking to move to a warmer climate (in more ways than one), then why not put a call through to Globester, who will be more than happy to discuss these open positions with you in more detail. Globester’s website is www.globesterjobs.com and for more information regarding living and working in Western Australia, please access www.migration.wa.gov.au also.
IRISH TRUCKER & LIGHT COMMERCIALS