Here are our Top 10 Tips for Australian Job Seekers in America to better understand the nuances of finding work.

Landing in a US city with a freshly minted J-1 or Green Card is only a ticket to the big league.  If you go into the game without understanding the rules or having a game plan, Australian job seekers in America will quickly start to accumulate some very unnecessary scar tissue.

Members of The Australian Community (a US public charity) have access to a series of educational videos on our YouTube Channel. There they can learn from the experience of other Australians who have successfully found work.

#10 The Salary Discussion comes last!

One concept that many Australian Job Seekers in America have difficulty understanding is that the money discussion comes last. Logically, why would you interview for a position if you do not know how you will be compensated?

The answer is another question: How do I know how much to pay this person if I do not know what they are worth?

After you have aced the interview process and impressed the half dozen or more interviewers, then comes the offer. This is often a negotiation. Typically the offer will be on the low end as the manager has a degree of discretion in salaries.

It is your job to understand what the high end is. It may be the same, but asking this question may be the most important in your interview process. You have already proved that you are the most qualified candidate, but are you as good a negotiator?

#9 Expect Multiple interviewers:

Everyone is risk-averse in New York and hiring a candidate is no exception. Expect to be interviewed by peers, managers, HR, your boss, and one level of management above them.

The logic is that not everyone will get it wrong and a consensus will decide the best candidate. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the peer interview is not as important as a manager’s.

There is a reason that each person has been selected to interview you and your mission is to understand what is important in their criteria for selecting the successful candidate.

It does not apply in every situation or industry, but asking your variation of the question “Is there anything that we have discussed (or not discussed) that would prevent me from being the successful candidate for the position?” will shake out any objections and enable you to deal with them before they report back their feedback on your interview.

#8 Understand How to Read the Room:

If you are fortunate enough to be on an interview, here the first few minutes are traditionally taken as a preamble to questions. Australians have a very different “language of friendship” to New Yorkers and understanding the differences can assist in building a friendly rapport with your interviewer.

While your interviewer is telling you that they have always wanted to visit Australia and that it is so far away, take a few minutes to look around their office for visual clues such as photographs, degrees, trophies, or a bag of golf clubs in the corner: These are gems!

If a photo is of their family and or dog, ask for their names and ages. How long have you been married? Where do they go to school? Any personal item that the interviewer feels is important enough to display in their office, should be important to you as well. One or two minutes spent finding ten pieces of personal information will set the platform for a great interview.

#7 Learn the Local Lingo:

Every industry has its own language and yours may be one of them. Technical terms, acronyms, and jargon can be very specific to your industry as well as New York. Is a BDM a Business Decision Maker or a Business Development Manager? Is an SME a Subject Matter Expert or a Small to Medium Enterprise?

Part of the challenge in an interview for Australian Job Seekers in America is sounding authoritative in the local language, even though you have a foreign accent.

When you are speaking in an interview, be sure that people are listening to what you say and not how you mispronounce words. It gets back to reassuring a prospective interviewer that hiring a non-US Citizen is not going to create unnecessary risk within the organization.

Whether you agree with the local pronunciation of Mazda as Mars-da is irrelevant. Either way, can be pronounced with an Australian accent. However, the latter (along with learning other local languages) can be the difference between creating or retiring risk in the mind of your prospective employer.

#6 Never use “Sponsorship” and “Visa” in the same sentence:

Anyone looking to hire a non-US citizen is going to be as nervous as a nudist through a barbed wire fence when it comes to the topic of work authorization.

Thousands of Australians have successfully explained the E-3 visa to a potential employer and you can be quite confident they never used the word “sponsorship” in the same sentence as “visa”.

A very simple explanation is to ask the Interviewer if have they heard of the Canadian TN work visa.  Most have, so you simply state that the E-3 is the same, but for Australians, and they are available all year.

No matter how you explain the E-3 and why it is not the same as a H-1, you need to be very confident in your explanation. Any hesitation or legal miscommunication around the topic of work authorization during the interview process is going to kill your chances of employment.

If you are successful in receiving a job offer, feedback from Immigration attorneys tells us that many Australian Job Seekers in America submit poorly prepared paperwork.

Make sure that before you submit your E-3 paperwork everything is in order as you do not want to drop the ball once you are over the line.

Here is a link to an article that explains the E3 Visa process in a step-by-step guide.

There is an x-factor that often makes the difference between success and failure in finding work, and it cannot always be explained in rational terms.

#5 “.au” can say that you are not committed to the U.S.:

If you are committed to making New York your home, then make the commitment virtually as well.  Firstly, set up a personal US email account through Outlook.com or Gmail.com and include this on your resume.

If you are setting up a new email, keep it professional! The alias “LozieTheAussie” at any email address is not going to make a professional impression.

Variations of your first, middle, and last names with periods or dashes should yield a unique professional email alias. It will also keep any job-related communications separate from your personal emails.

Think about a local cell phone number as well as no employer is likely to call a number commencing with a +61 for an interview.

Also, change your LinkedIn profile region to “Greater New York”. Recruiters and employers will search your social media and LinkedIn is usually the first stop. If LinkedIn lists your location as Australia, it can either demonstrate a lack of commitment or you do not possess attention to detail.

Note:  Understand that not only Employers, but USCIS reviews your social media (even if your Facebook page is not public).  Be truthful in your LinkedIn profile and do not post anything on social media that will come back to bite you later.

#4 Make your Resume RELEVANT!

There is the story of two Australians who were seeking work in New York. One had held a senior role in Sydney and the other a less senior role in the same company’s Melbourne office.

One worked on accounts such as Gucci, Prada, and Burberry, and the other David Jones, Meyer, and Coles. Who appears to be the better choice from an American perspective?  Are years of experience more relevant than brand recognition?

Logic would dictate that the candidate who held the senior role, and who possessed more experience would get the job, but that is not always the case here in NYC.

Often you have to translate your resume into concepts that New Yorkers can understand.

Stating that you worked for a company with annual revenue of AU$450mm is not the same as stating that the company was larger by revenue that the combined revenue of its three nearest competitors!

Always be thinking in terms of how relevant both you and your resume are to New York.

#3 A Resume is only One Page:

One of the most common mistakes for Australian Job Seekers in America is having a multi-page resume. If you can tweet your innermost feelings in less than 140 characters, then you can produce a resume of less than one page.

Recruiters and employers often see a resume as nothing more than a checklist for the qualities and qualifications of a candidate for a specific role; an admission ticket to an interview.

The rule of thumb is “less is more”.  Be sure that your resume highlights your qualities, achievements, and education, and does not list irrelevant sporting and personal interests.

Our members have access to “The Perfect Resume”. Which is a resume template designed to summarize your work history, qualifications, and achievements.

If you are looking for inspiration, just look at other resumes posted on job boards and use a similar format.

#2 It’s a Resume, NOT a CV!

Graduating “Magna Cum Laude” may be an advantage in an interview. But using the title Curriculum Vitae in lieu of Resume will probably kill your chances of finding work.

Creating obstacles such as highlighting a language difference through the title of your Resume will do you no favors. Spelling errors are bad enough but an incorrect title can make a very bad first impression.

How we pronounce certain words can be endearing in an interview. However, spelling gaffes such as colour are going to have your resume sent to the bottom of the list faster than you can say alumimnium.

Switching your spell checker settings in Word to “US English” is essential. Also, make sure you switch your page size from A4 to Letter!

Many people with whom you are interviewing have never hired a non-US Citizen. Not only do you have to prove that you are the best candidate, but you also have to overcome a cultural barrier.

An Australian accent makes us endearing. However, remember to never argue over the correct pronunciation of a word, even if the periodic table spells it that way!

#1 You do not choose New York; New York chooses you!

If your goal is living and working in New York assumptions often lead to disappointment. There is a growing misperception that US employers are lining up to hire Australians: This is simply not true.

One of the most challenging obstacles to finding work in the US is that the process can take three to six months to complete.  The reality is that many Australians return home within a few months after failing to find work.

An abundance of E-3 visas does not correlate with an abundance of jobs for Australians.  Here is a link to an article where three Australians share their New York experiences finding work.

Be prepared to battle to achieve just basic needs in NYC such as opening bank accounts or finding an apartment. Any sense of entitlement or expectations you bring to New York can often lead to frustration and disappointment.

The reality that many Australians soon realize is that finding work in a country where you are competing against the best and brightest from other countries as well as Americans with strong alumni connections, is not an easy task.

Many American employers have never hired a non-US Citizen. So simply being the smartest or most qualified is no guarantee of finding work in New York.

Understanding that New York may not choose you allows you to be open to all the experiences New York has to offer: Not just looking for work.

About The Australian Community

Founded in 2011, we connect more Australians in America.

If you are a professional Australian taking your career to the next level, or the U.S. is the next step in your company’s global expansion, we can connect you to all of the resources you need for success in America.


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