Here they come but are they welcome; no longer just back packing, visiting and travelling the “Lucky Country” but this time they want to stay. They’re not £10 Poms or Paddy’s any more, this time they may only have a suitcase or a backpack and a 457 visa that lays down restrictions on how long they can stay in the country and how they can work.
The big difference now from a decade ago is that they are coming in their droves and they are wanting to stay. As a recruiter I ask “what can you do”? The responses vary immensely from paint, cook, bar tend, look after kids, sell mobile phones and that was from just one twenty three year old university graduate. My next question was “what are you good at”? This time the responses are very different. From I have an Honours BA in Climate Control or Graphic Design with a Masters in Planning or Social Differences (no need to write I know I made the last one up) or something I have never heard of nor dreamt about. After my shock has subsided I’m back to asking questions like “why would you ever consider working in a shop or looking for a bar job when you have said that you would like to stay in Australia”? What about your education and all those years spent studying?
Here comes the usual suspects; I can’t get a job at home there are simply no jobs; the economy is wrecked and nobody is hiring, my dad is worried that he might even lose his job. I can’t get a job here doing what I trained for because nobody wants to take you when you don’t have any experience. I’ve done my fair share of looking for vacancies and talking to employers and more than one wants min 8yrs experience for a not so senior role.
While in to compare Australians read about the “Global Financial Crisis” and it actually landed and landed hard in Europe and the USA. The cynical among us may say it started in Europe and America so it landed in the right place. While the Celtic Tiger was beginning to roar with all the gusto of a pet shop kitten and while Bernard Madoff was fleecing investors of hundreds of millions of dollars in his ponzi scheme and Sir Frederick Goodwin was at the helm of the Royal Bank of Scotland a banking flagship that more closely resembled a colander. Sir Fred received millions of pounds in pay and bonuses and the bank having to ask the British tax payer for the biggest bailout in history.
The backpacker/ Travelers we are seeing today were still in college or at university; they were no more responsible for the woes of nations than you are. It quite simply isn’t their fault that Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy together with Republic of Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain but a hare’s breath behind them. They are not responsible for double digit unemployment figures or even the awfully unthinkable prospect of double dip recession.
I think nearly every Aussie knows a Pom or Paddy and that most would even say that they’re alright. Over the years we’ve had our rows and falling out’s but when things get tough we have been there for each other. Is it any different today?
Fact or fiction you decide but I think Australia’s prospective future could be on every flight that touches down in the “Lucky Country” having left the U.K or Ireland.
What do you say Aussie? Fair Dinkum; Bloody Oath will you “Give Em A Fair Go?????
No comments:
Post a Comment