Working in Australia: The Best Options for Spanish Speakers

A Useful Guide to Working in the Land of Kangaroos

Australia. Its name has a double etymology. On the one hand, it derives from the Latin word Australis (“from the south”); that is, legends of an “unknown land of the south” (terra australis incognita), which date back to ancient Roman Empire times, were frequent in medieval geography, but uncertain.

Orographic map of Australia
Orographic map of Australia

On the other hand, Pedro Fernández de Quirós discovered an island in the archipelago of the New Hebrides (current Vanuatu) nominated “Austrialia of the Holy Spirit”, mixing the words Austral, of the legend, and Austria, the dynasty at the time reigning in Spain, originating thus the name with which, in the future, the lands south of New Guinea would be known for the rest of the world.

Well, after knowing a little bit of its name’s origin, let’s go to our topic. One fact you should take into account when doing your search to work in Australia is that it is estimated that approximately 27% of the population of Australia was born in a different place than Australia. In fact, at least 24% of Australians have a parent born in another country in the world.

Another relevant fact is that it is known that historically most of the immigration to Australia comes from European countries. However, every day there are more Australians who were born in Asian countries or other parts of the world.

Many of the immigrants in Australia come from countries such as Great Britain, China, Italy, New Zealand, and India. This information is known from the last census conducted in Australia in 2011, where it is evident what the migratory pattern that exists in this country is.

Because of that pattern, it is important you know your options to work in Australia. A derivative of this can be seen in the multiculturalism manifested when it comes to the variety of languages, religions, and even the birthplaces of the same Australians.

City of Melbourne in the evening
The City of Melbourne in the evening

A study conducted states that around 20% of the Australian population speaks other languages, in addition to the official English. In this regard, the Spanish language occupies the 7th place in the list of the top 10 most used foreign languages in Australia. It means that there is a large number of Latin Americans in Australia, and this is increasing year after year.

As mentioned above, statistics show that every day there are more Spanish speakers who decide to live and work in Australia. However, it can still be considered that the number of Latin Americans in Australia, as in the case of Spaniards, is that they have a relatively insignificant population when compared to the rest of the migratory populations.

As an interesting fact, most of the Latin Americans in Australia have arrived in this area during various waves of migration that have occurred in different historical periods of time. One of the most important was carried out in the 1970’s, when natives of countries like Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina were preparing to flee from the strong dictatorships established in their respective countries, in order to work in Australia.

Later, in the 1980s, people came to Australia from El Salvador, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, mainly because of political and economic problems that their native countries were going through. At present, the Latin Americans that have most recently emigrated with the desire to work in Australia are people from Venezuela, Mexico, and Ecuador.

Ticos in Australia

There is also a small number of people from Costa Rica who reside in the distant southern country. They mainly search for better job opportunities and entrepreneurship. Unlike individuals of other nationalities, Ticos are perceived by “Aussies” (informal way to refer to Australians) as very similar to themselves. That is, they are friendly, jovial, and with an almost permanent desire to smile and help their neighbors, even when they are completely unknown to one another.

Ticos in Australia
Ticos in Australia

The best options for working in Australia

According to the most recent figures for the year 2017, the Australian Immigration Department considers that the teaching and educational functions, construction management, nursing, accounting and finance, sales, information technology, digital marketing and engineering, they are some of the options most requested by employers in Australia and are part of the most affordable professions to work in Australia.

Australia is considered the nation that has the best quality of life around the world. For that reason, it is no surprise that there are so many people with the desire to work in Australia. Australia, with 23 years of continuous growth in the economy, and counting on a low level of unemployment, which, associated with its low birth rate and population growth, has caused a great demand in that country. of professionals with the desire to work in Australia.

This aforementioned demand has not been able to be met internally, due to the lack of specialized personnel in the different areas of the country, which has left no other option for the government but to look for professionals from other countries.

Benefits for Latin Americans

More and more Latin Americans are working in Australia. If you wonder why so many people have chosen to migrate to this country, you will be interested in knowing some of the advantages of choosing Australia as a new home:

The United Nations declared Australia the 2nd best country in the world to live and is surpassed only by Norway. This is mainly due to their quality of life in general.

Australia was listed as the 2nd happiest country in the world.  This title was awarded by the prestigious publication of “The Wall Street Journal”, by taking into account factors such as their employment, income, community, education, housing, life satisfaction, and security index.

In Australia, you enjoy a comfortable standard of living. They have an excellent health system, as well as efficient social security. They also have a high educational level, good communications systems, a stable and developed financial system, as far as they operate in a safe and clean natural environment. For many, this is is one of the safest countries in the world and there is no extreme poverty.

For Latin Americans who want to work in Australia, studying in this country is essential to complement the formal learning of the English language. The laws of that country ensure an excellent amount of teaching for international students.

International students searching for better job opportunities in Australia
International students searching for better job opportunities in Australia

Jobs available for Latin Americans in Australia

The most advisable way is to conduct these searches through official websites of recruitment agencies, which have thousands of positions available weekly. In case you want to know what are the vacant positions, the salaries that a person can obtain with the skills you have, and their work experience and qualifications, the best way to know all this is by doing an advanced search.

Careerone. It is one of the most visited search sites to work in Australia. Careerone gives you the facility to look for vacant positions, as well as offers assistance about your career and allows you to register notes and distinguished data about your occupation.

Seek. It is one of the most predominant sites when it comes to job search in Australia, it shows thousands of vacant positions, which are updated weekly. This page has categories of any type of work, as well as a variety of editorial content that is related to the topic of work in that country.

Mycareer. This page is one of the most used by Latin Americans in Australia, it has a large database of jobs, where you can search for vacant positions, and generally, receive notifications every time there are new offers. This website belongs to the group of FairFax newspapers, which own all major newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne.

As you can see, there are many options for working in Australia, but it is very important to train yourself in the right way, no matter what your work area is. For sure that will make a clear difference and distinguish yourself from the thousands of people who, like you, are looking for the dream of working in the land of kangaroos.

VIAAbelardo Canelo
SOURCEMentedidáctica
Previous articleLet Yourself Fall in Love with the Charming Playas del Coco
Next articleCosta Rica: Your Best Choice for Unforgettable Vacations
Creating a Conscious alternative news network that we feel the world needs. Pura Vida!