Passion Pioneers

I’ve had so many career coaching clients who struggled to find a job when moving to Australia. I hear them say things like: I’m not getting any interviews because I’m from overseas. No one will hire me because I haven’t worked in Australia, or haven’t  got enough Australian experience. I’m working in retail/hospitality/manual labour … though I’m trained in  [insert incredible qualifications & highly relevant industry experience  here]. I’ve heard this from Europeans, Asians, Americans. And I’m sure if I asked an Antarctic penguin, it would sing me a similar story. STOP THE MUSIC! You are drowning out the sound of your own success with your problems & excuses!!! So here are my 5 top tips for getting a job in Australia when you’re not Australian. 1. Reframe Your Value Instead of seeing your overseas origin as a hindrance, see it as your biggest strength. In case you haven’t noticed, Australia is an island… For hundreds of years...

So you've applied for the job, your resume was fantastic, & now it's time for your interview - the thing that will actually get you the job. If you're someone who gets nervous in interviews (don't we all?!), there's a really easy technique you can use in the first few moments to have them love you instantly. And even better - it'll boost YOUR confidence too! Watch our short video to discover it for yourself.

Where you work & where you live should be within 20 minutes of each other. That’s all you need to know. Whether you drive, walk, cycle, ferry or fly to the office, 20 minutes is the sweet spot. I HEAR YOU NOW: “But there’s no jobs in my area!” “I get stuck in traffic!” “The train is an express & only takes 1.5 hours… one way.” “I have to work in the city!” These are all stories you tell yourself to justify your own suffering. Trust me - I know. I grew up in Frenchs Forest, Sydney, & worked in a cafe one suburb away. On weekdays, it was a 20 min walk to work from school. That was ok. But on the weekends, without any reliable buses, it was over 45 min walk to work… and on Sundays I’d work 7 hours. LET’S PUT THIS IN PERSPECTIVE A 20 min walk for a 7 hour shift is 5% of my working hours. Back & forth = 10%. A 45 min walk to work for a 7 hour shift is 11% of my working hours. Back & forth = 22%. Which means on the weeke...

The invisible mental load borne by almost all women is secretly wiping us out. Are you in a relationship? Are you also working? And do you feel exhausted most of the time? Chances are you’re not only doing more than your share of the physical housework, but most of the psychological work too. I’ve talked about the split of household duties when both partners are working before , & my plans to evenly divide our chores between me & my boyfriend when we started living together. And yet over a year later, I couldn’t understand why I still felt so overwhelmed by the constant grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, dishes, washing when my boyfriend & I divide it up so well. I never felt this way when I was single, even though I was doing all those chores on my own. It just feels like the doubling of clothes in the dirty laundry basket, & the fact that food disappears twice as fast, seems to make 10 times the amount more work… it doesn’t add up! THE MENTAL L...

Many clients I work with are dissatisfied with their current job. It no longer interests them, it doesn't pay enough, they've got a bad manager or a bad team, they work too long or too hard. Bored, tired & frustrated... but they stay in the job. Why?  Here's some reasons I've heard: - “I don't have time to look for a new job!” - “It's not bad enough... yet.” - “I won't be able to get another job with this flexibility (or pay).” - “I need to do training or get experience first!” - “I have a family & can't afford to risk going after what I want!” Whatever the reason, the role you're currently in is destroying you. It's draining your time & energy, maybe making you lash out at loved ones, maybe demotivating you to go to the gym, or maybe just eroding your self-confidence. Something needs to change. The Right Job Now, I’m an advocate of finding a job you LOVE: one that switches you on & invigorates you. ...

"When the attitude is there, the action will follow." This is a personal saying of mine, because I truly believe more & more it's about how you work than what you know. I did a Media & Communications degree, and by the time I'd finished my 4 years at uni I had done 3 unpaid internships. By my last year, I decided I wanted to get paid for the skills I had, and applied at small creative agencies for roles. I was lucky enough to get some awesome first steps into my paid profession with Vitamin X (thanks Tania and Alex !) and Republic of Everyone (thanks Matt & Ben !). At the time, I thought it was critical to get real world experience in the workplace to lay a foundation for a MarComms career. Now I do believe work experience is important & valuable, especially with the high numbers of university graduates struggling to find full-time employment ( in 2014 this was around 40% ). You might need more than a piece of paper to land your first j...