Questions from overseas students to me

I am going to copy and paste from one of the threads i have on orkut. Hope that would he helpful to you guys.

Bhupinder Asked:

I will be coming in jan 2007 in melbourne.will i get cheap room easily.what will be the minimum rent

My answer:

Are you coming for visiting ? Study ? or on Permanent residence?Accordingly will be your choice of place. if student find out accomodation in the uni notice board. there will be so many people looking for house mates. Visitor ? : I guess backpackers place like YHA will be the best and cheap.PR ? Okay thats a difficult one... if you know someone here that is good. Because hard to find a place on rent. Especially when you do nto have job and a reference.

Someone with nick Hot Chocolate said:

thx budddy .this will be in great help ful.byut tell me plz onething.if i want to drive taxi for part time there in melbourne dan wht shud i do.?as i am cuming just after a month .i got everything.plz tell me in geat regard.thx .

My Answer:

my question to you is why do you want to drive cab? Just because a lot of friends told you that they are doing the same here. Its easy money but a bad job..especially when you are dropping people home when they do not knwo what they are doing (Drunk)... anyway you asked this question so aI can tell you that you need first of all Full Victorian License ... you need to clear driving tests for this. then you need to attend course with Taxi directrate. Then they also take your exams. Look for taxi directrate victoria on google for more information.Cheers,Raj

Fabish Said:

Thanks a lot dude.. for ur valuable information. Could u also comment about part time jobs available der

My Reply:

Following is the information for you.. its composed by one of my friends on another community called Ruchi. She sent it to us for helping other people.There are few more websites where u can look for jobs too ... if you are looking for work in non for profit organizations the website is http://www.infoxchange.org.au/ it also has a link if u wanna do some volunteer work u can check it out, other one is http://www.jobsearch.gov.au/ and also currently connex and aldi stores are recruiting if anyone is intrested but they need citizenship or atlease permanent residence for connex its http://www.connexmelbourne.com.au/ and for aldi its http://www.aldi.com.au/ aldi both positions r for customer service. Also a little piece of advice if u r new to australia like came here on PR and are looking for work and have no relevant exp or any studies from australia then i recommend to start ur career with Volunteer work to obtain volunteer work visit ur local neighbourhood houses,council offices,chilcare etc etc this will b lot of help even going there one day will help u as when u will apply for jobs u can say that know how aussies work in offices moreover u never know there might a position in same org and u might get it..so all the best guys and keep up the good work...

Gaurav posted:

Thanx a ton rajan, u've been a great help!!!can u plz tell bout job prospects in IT field, i've enrold for master in network computing from monash in feb'07 session its a 1.5 yrs course. i've seen other postings in diff. communities and they've suggested dat its really a bad time for guys in this field, dats y now im feeling a bit afraid of making this investment. plz help.

Reply to Gaurav:

Hi Gorav, I did my Masters of Network Computing from Monash. Its a good course but problem is Australias has not grown up to be a greally good market for IT professionals. Prospects for programers are not many as compared to China, India, USA, UK and Germany.Rest is all about luck. You never know. I know people here who work for companies like TCS, Infosys, EMC and other. Depends on how hard you can try and how good you are. You alsoi require reference. As a fresher its a hard and long way to go.

Gaurav said:

hey, u've done the same course.....u're my senior. so,what do u suggest i shud do?? plz reply....now i've started gettng confused

My reply to him:

Buddy. MNC from Monash lets you decide what you want to do. Its upto you to go for proramming bases subjects or the ones reslated to Network Security and System Administration. All depends on you that what do you want for you. If you are really good at programing and you can prove that. I would suggest you to work for MNC in India and after having experience move where ever you like. If you sis works in Accenture ask her what she can do for you. SHe would be able to tell you better than me,.

Raaj Said:

rajan is really nice. hi rajan,i must say that this person is really amazing and i wish that rajan gets all the gud things in his life for the effort he is puting in just to help others,great work buddy.let me tell u abt myself.i am raaj here n i am a delhite.coming to melbourne on a student visa in jan .just wanna ask dear that what are the oppurtunities for hairdressers there.i am a hair sylist here with loreal and i wanna do a lot of hair cuts n all there.can u help me in that.i mean can u tel me abt the demand of hairdressers in melbourne and is there any racism in india.and what is the living cost for a bachelor like me for say a month.take care dear.thanks

My reply to Raaj:

hi Raaj,Hairdressing.... a really good prospect....heaps and heaps of jobs if you are good at it. Everyone is looking for hairdrssers. You should not face much problem after being trained by Loreal. Living could is nto that high in melbourne as compared to Sydney. But still as i said before in this thread.. it depends on your preferences.

Raaj came back with more questions:

thanks rajanthanks rajan ,u r a real sweetheart.and can u pls tell me that do v have indian food easily available here or not.and how much dos a room will cost me .and the most important thing is how much does hairdressers like me who will work ar parttime can earn a day.and how much is enough if i wants to lead a normal life .i am just looking for a rough idea of living cost for a month dear.take care dear and i must say that u r really nice.thanks dear

My reply to Raaj:

I do nto have any friend who is doing hair dressing as a job so I would not be able to help you in that regard. FOr living expense, if you will be sharing with other people it would be about 1000$-1500$ a month. But I saw people living of on less than that. But its all about priorities.


Vicky's question:

will these much clothes will be sufficient ???like i m bringing ...5-6 jeans,4-5 kargos2 formal black trousers,1 comlete formal suit reymond,6-7 half sleve t-shirts,5-7 full sleves,6-7 printed shirts,3-4 formal shirts,3-4 jackets (formal + informal)anything + or -advice will be highly appreciatedthanx in aadvance

My reply:

That is more than enough i guess :P

==========Adding more question to this thread on 18th March 2008==============
Suggestions...
Hi guys...I am Arpita Shah from India...I am doing my final year of Bechalor of Computer Applications...And I have got admission from the Swinburne University in the course of Master of Information Technology...I just want to know about the situations regarding part time jobs in Melbourne...And moreover, I also want to know that what are the future prospectives of this course in Australia...Would I be able to get a job in IT field after completing my studies...? Also would getting PR be easy based on this degree...?By d way, the offered campus is Hawthorn...Just mentioning...Awaiting for your responses...Thank you...

My reply:
@Arpita,IT at present is in demand, but we need remember that it might not be the case in the coming year or so because companies are worried that US has already started to hit recession period and most of AUS companies has investments in US based companies, that will affect decision making here. Companies will be hesitant from leaving people whom they trained but they will be very reluctant from picking up freshers. But none of us knows what future holds, Swinburne is a really good place to study at especially when you want to learn what is being used in the market. If you are into research work then I would suggest Melbourne or Monash uni. Studying IT does not have guarantee that you will get IT job, but if you have done your studies well and kept yourself updated with the latest trend in the market I am sure you will be able to find a suitable job. I have few friends who have managed to find one sooner or later. But we all need to put in a lot of efforts. Make sure whatever field within IT you choose you are really good at it.If you are looking for residency after study, that is again something on which I could not comment because I am unable to keep myself updated with the ever changing immigration laws.

arpita
One more question...
Swinburne University provides 3 specializations in the MIT course... They are Web Application Developement, Information Systems and Networks design and security...Among these three, I want to persue Web Application Developement...Because I am more interested at programming side...And I like to learn and work on different programming languages...So would it be an appropriate choice for me...? I mean as per my interest, yes it is...But would it be okk for the job prospectives as well...?

My Reply:
@arpita
My friend did Network and Security and he has got job, but i also know that he is really good at networking and troubleshooting.Rest in regards to web development, you can get job in companies, but I am not too sure, there are all kind of jobs in IT. But we also need to remember that most of the development work gets done overseas these days so we never know what future holds for us. Join Swinbourne uni community and see if anyone else can shed more light on this.

Question from Phi
I got a Full offer for "Master in International Business(MIB)" from Monash. Can u please let me know the job prospects in Australia after MIB and how good is compared to MBA. Can one can go in for Procurement, Supply chain/logistics managers jobs, sales and marketing jobs, Operations/Systems related jobs even after completing MIB from Monash. Since the course is only 1.5 year will that affect my PR? If so, can one do a 6 months course and over come the same. Hope you will reply.Thanks.

My Reply:
Sorry mate, I am in to IT field, all I could tell is that Monash business school is well known here. in regards to PR, rules always change, as per current rules one needs 2 years stucy to file residency, it might have changed since I checked last time. I am unable to keep myself updated much with ever changing rules.

Question from Iftikhar

Gr8 Thread !!
Awesome information in this thread .. credits goes to rajan for keeping it live for more then a year now :)well i get my PR and planning to move in couple of months .. I had my Master in computer Science from karachi university .. i am MSCE .. and had Networking Experiences since year 2000 in local companies .. So Rajan as ur from IT field too bro .. Can u tell me which city i prefer initially for job search .. sydney or melbourne or some other? I also noted ur previous post u mentioned about local references for job .. Can u discuss thing more in ur reply dear as how can someone manage that as an new immigrate and i literally knows no one .. So is this something must for jobs out there ? i am mentally preparing myself as i know getting job is not easy anywhere around world (not even where i am living right now) but it would be gr8 if u can share some ur experience about getting job and stuff like that as i notice in ur thread u don't tell much about ur self :)In previous posts of this thread, i get quite a good info about things really necessary but well i am not yet noting them down as i have couple of months to go so not much tension yet :D but as far as regarding money concern, i have around 5000 AUD .. what u say is it enough for couple of month of time till i hope i get some any sort of job to carry out my expenses ..Well i hope to see ur replies soon but well i am not in hurry anyway :)Iftikhar

My Reply:
@iftikhar
In terms of local experince, yes companies prefer someone with local experience. But in IT companies are more flexible. If you have experience from pretty large corporates in India then yes that experience will help me. Finding very first job is hard but everyone has to go through the same. As I usually say, you never know who is in need.In you are holding really good experience in Sys Admin it would pay off. Just make sure that what you mention on your resume you should know everything.

Query from Anil
first of all lemme thank rajan for his advices...for d desperate ones...thanx a lot dude!!!mmm...abt me...i dropped out of engg...im plannin to come there and do bachelors in interior designing...do u have any idea which all univ offer...mmm...then...im studyin CAD,photoshop,3Dmax....will this softwares help me get a part time job...and get paid well??mmm...then abt the expenses...then...in part time jobs...wats d min abt we'lll be paid for an hour??<>

My reply:
I am not sure about the future prospects or any uni's who provide the course you are looking for. Best would be to check with IDP office because they represent most of the uni's and Tafe here. But I think they do not represent few uni's like Melb Uni. (AT least 8 years back they didnt :)) )With CAD and Photoshop one could get job in multimedia market but I am not sure about its prospects here because to my understanidng they will be looking for a full time, permanent resident for the job. But you never know if you visit few places some people might be able to do on call jobs if you are really good at what you do and you could sell your skills.Living around Melb Uni would be expensive for sure because its main capus is in City and none of the places closer to city are cheap. But public transport is good here to even if you live away from city still it takes about 30 minutes to 45 minutes on a average to get to city.Living cost depends upon th presonal preferences.

===========few more questions adding on 26th April 2008 08:02AM AEST============
1) hw much is d AVERAGE salary in melbourne when on start working on a student visa? i hv done just 12th so no experience nthng
ANS: Ahmad has already replied in the above thread that minimum pay is 12.5$ an hour. BUT we also know that a lot small business owners take advante of overseas students and lure them into cach in hand jobs where they pay them about $8 per hour or so. Better is to look for a job which sticks to the Govt. Regulations.

2)IS holmesglen a good college,i will be coming for bachelor of hotel management?
ANS: If I am not wrong Bachelors degree will be 4 years, its a long period and please do not think that you will earn here and pay for your expenses and college. Holmesglen is good in hospitality, there are few other good instutues there too, one of them is Box Hill Tafe.

3)hw mux is the AVERAGE living expenses p/w or p/m?
ANS: Its a broad question, it has been answered few times in this thread but I will answer once again, there is no AVERAGE expense, it all depends upon where you live, where you work, it is close to public transport, is it close to City, how many people share accomodation etc. I would say allow yourself about 300-350 minimum a week. Other people may disagree with me but thats my personal oppenion.

4)hw much time it takes to find a job once u in melbourne on AVERAGE?
ANS: No such think AVERAGE here, its depends upon how hard you try and how well can you sell yourself. Few people find job within few weeks and then there are few who didn't find it in more than 6 months. We do not have the figures so that we can provide AVERAGES here.

5)hw much time on an AVERAGE one takes to settle in melbourne?
ANS: Again AVERAGE ? Again a broad question and answer it few weeks to few months so no agerage here.

6)If we work a bit more than the time allowed i.e. 20hrs p/w, is it normaly a problem?
ANS:YES for sure, you are breaching immigration law applies on student visa. You are not allowed to work more than 20 hours during your study period. When college is off due to holidays then you can work as many hours you want. If anyone is found in breach of immigration law, immigration department can cancel their visa and deport them back to the country they came from.

7)NORMALY does an INDIAN student face discrimination?
ANS: Not mostly, it depends upon what you call discrimination, its a broad term to be used and it depends upon person to person on how they use this term. Discrimination is even in the country someone comes from its just that we do not realise its the case. You are from India so let me give you an example, when a person from Bihar goes to Delhi or Mumbai for work local people from those cities not always has the right view about this person from Bihar. That is what can be catagrised as discrimination. Here most of the people are nice to you as compared to many other countries. Still there are always some uneducated and people with bad thinking. Those people might can accuse you of stealing their jobs and so on. Do not worry about it, immigrants are always welcome in this country because there is always shortage of skilled people here. If you know what you are doing and what are your goals it eventually pays off.

8)which is the cheapest and a good flight 2 melbourne from DELHI? and hw mux is good price 2 buy 1way ticket on student visa?
ANS: There are few available Singapore Airlines, Thai Air and Malaysia Airlines. I personally preffer Singapore Airlines due to their service.

9)hw mux is an AVERAGE rent for a shared accomodation for 2 ppl in 1 bedroom,room should nt b 2 bad.means should b ok.

ANS:I think answer of this question is already been answered before in the above questions. THERE IS NO AVERAGE.

NOTE: Why do we use words like "HW", "MUX", "PPL", "NT", "B", "CMNG" and "D" ? What is wrong with using proper words ?

Reply from the same person:
thanks Rajan but just want to know that u have mentioned that other people may not agree on the living expenses being AUD 300-350,so would they agree on being it a bit more or bit less? and as u have also mentioned that i would not be able 2 pay off my expenses and tution fees but i just have concern over my expenses as fees is not a problem,so what would u say about it? AND LET ME TELL YOU MY COURSE IS FOR 3 YEARS.THANKS A LOT..THANKS ONCE AGAIN.HATSS OFF TO YOU

Answer to his query:
Few will says the amout I mentioned is okay, then there are others who might be living with 250 a week by making some difficult choices and there will be few who might be living with 450$ a week. Its all about choices.