Despite soaring demand for engineers, many qualified migrants in Australia can't find jobs. At the end of a long day, Yaning Tang still has work to do at his company's workshop in Ingleburn in Sydney's outer west.
Key points: Nearly half of migrant engineers looking for work are unemployed, a new report from Engineers Australia saysBut demand for engineers is soaring, with job vacancies up 97 per cent in the past 12 monthsThe report found the biggest barrier was Australian employers wanting "local experience" There is sheet metal to be hammered and air conditioning units to be prepared for installation in the coming days. Mr Tang likes his employer and the work. The jobs market has improved, but thousands still locked out of work, finds Anglicare. When Carol Perkins lost her job as an executive assistant, she was confident it wouldn't take her long to find a similar role.
Key points: Over 100,000 Australians facing barriers to employment are constantly struggling to find workThere are not enough entry-level jobs to help them re-enter the workforceAnglicare Australia says mutual obligations need to be abandoned. Here comes the Great Resignation. Why millions of employees could quit their jobs post-pandemic. Has the pandemic made you rethink your career or deeply question the role of work in your life?
If so, you're not alone. In the US, COVID-19 has led to what's been dubbed the Great Resignation: millions of people, from frontline workers to senior executives, voluntarily calling time on their jobs. According to recent research by Microsoft, more than 40 per cent of the global workforce are considering leaving their employers this year.
The mass exodus has company leaders bracing for a seismic shift in the workforce — and the trend is likely to be heading to Australia. "The movement of talent is so significant and so sharp that it's different to probably anything we've seen in living memory," behavioural scientist Aaron McEwan, from global research and advisory firm Gartner, told ABC RN's This Working Life. Mark Brandi found his ideal job with persistence and 'a lot of luck'. Here's how to make a career change. He was feeling unfulfilled in his work as a criminologist but had financial commitments holding him back from making a career change.
So Mark Brandi decided to do something "crazy". He called in sick one day and went on a game show. "I didn't think I'd win any money. If anything, I thought I'd be humiliated on national TV," the crime writer tells ABC RN's This Working Life. He went on Channel Nine's Millionaire Hot Seat and, after answering one question, he won $50,000. It changed his life forever. Fashion designer Julie Appo, 71, achieves lifelong dream of opening boutique clothing store. When Julie Appo was a young girl, she believed being an Indigenous Australian meant she would never be able to achieve her dreams.
But refusing to let go of her childhood ambition and artist's calling, Julie battled poverty and social attitudes to finally open her own boutique fashion retail shop at 71 years of age. In a small retail space in the coastal village of Bargara near Bundaberg, a sewing machine sits surrounded by colourful fabric and handcrafted clothing featuring unique designs. The textile designs are related to carved-rock-art imagery from the Gooreng Gooreng people, original residents of a region known as the Burnett River rocks, between Gladstone in central Queensland and Bundaberg in the state's south-east. Julie hopes her creations will help to raise awareness of her people's connection to the land and these important historical artworks.
JobMaker could pay bosses to cut wages and jobs, warns Treasury. Employers could sack experienced employees, replace them with workers earning just a third of the salary and get a taxpayer-funded grant to do it, previously secret Treasury documents have revealed.
Key points: The JobMaker subsidy pays companies up to $200 a week to hire people under 30FOI documents show Treasury examples of companies sacking full-time employees and hiring cheaper part-time workersSack someone earning $75,000, replace with three staff on $30,000 and JobMaker will pay the $15,000 gap Treasury's own examples, obtained by the ABC using the Freedom of Information (FOI) process, show bosses could sack a full-time employee on $75,000 and replace him or her with three part-time staff on wages between $22,500 and $30,000, while remaining in front financially thanks to the generous JobMaker hiring credit.
Joan Hughes, in her early 60s, spent two years looking for work. After a lifetime of career advancement, she felt the burn of age discrimination. Big promises. Older jobseekers falling through the cracks in 'silent crisis' Not even the deadly threat of cancer was enough to keep Louise from going to work each day.
Key points: Louise, 55, has found herself on the outside of the employment marketStories like hers have prompted Labor's Stephen Jones to urge his party improve on policy "failures"The Government argues it has targeted measures to assist older jobseekers Diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer, she kept going to work unaware another threat to her career was on the horizon. "I worked most of the time through that health scare, including through eight rounds of chemotherapy, and was able to work because of the support of my work and also the support of my family," she said. Middle-aged Australians struggle to claw back their careers after COVID-19. Virgin Australia pilot grounded by COVID-19 opens cafe in Comboyne, NSW - ABC News. It's a busy Sunday afternoon in a rustic cafe in a mountain-top village, and behind the coffee machine Dave Everingham concentrates on the task at hand.
It's a long way from his comfort zone. A few months back he was regularly doing the Hong Kong run from Sydney as a pilot for Virgin Australia, spending his free time at a property he owned in the hinterland town of Comboyne on the NSW Mid North Coast. "I had the perfect lifestyle of living in Comboyne and flying internationally," he said. Mr Everingham was one of thousands left without work when international flights were grounded because of the coronavirus pandemic. He was officially made redundant in October and said it was hard handing in his uniform. Coronavirus has cost jobs — but there's a silver lining for those looking to change careers - ABC News. Food has been a mainstay in Jessica Nguyen's life, but she never thought it would be her career.
Key points: Australians are using coronavirus as an opportunity to pursue career changesWhile hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs, some have decided to reskillTAFE has recorded a surge in enrolments in certain health-related fields More than eight months into the pandemic, her home cooking is paying the bills. With a decade of experience in public relations and marketing, the Melbourne woman worked with some of Australia's most recognisable beauty brands, enjoying what she described as a "comfortable" life. But, like thousands of Australians, she was unexpectedly made redundant at the beginning of March, and joined the ranks of those who have decided to reskill. "The first lockdown was pretty much imminent, so I was just trying to find another marketing or PR job," Ms Nguyen said.
Companies are telling older people not to bother applying in JobMaker job ads. Is that legal? - ABC News. The Federal Government's new wage subsidy hasn't passed Parliament yet, but some employers are already advertising for young workers who will qualify for the program.
So how does that sit with Australia's anti-discrimination laws, and will the scheme make it more difficult for people who don't qualify to find work? Here's what we know. Who will be covered by the wage subsidy? The JobMaker Hiring Credit will provide wage subsidies to businesses if they take on extra workers, between the ages of 16 and 35, who have been receiving JobSeeker, Youth Allowance (Other) or Parenting Payment. Older workers face unemployment crisis exacerbated by JobMaker, experts warn - ABC News. Carmel Beattie's last job was in the Cook Islands, a "Pacific paradise" where, she says, older workers are respected and revered. Key points: The JobMaker Hiring Credit offers employers $200 a week for taking on an unemployed 16-29-year-old and $100 for a 30-35-year-oldEmployment experts worry the subsidy will encourage employers to replace older workers with younger onesWhile job losses hit young, female workers hardest at the beginning of the recession, they are now spreading to older, male workers "Working in the Pacific, the older you are the more you are venerated," the former CEO of Cook Islands Tourism says.
"Because the older you are, the more knowledge you've gained, the more experience you've gained and, in general, the society values you to a greater extent. " Career happiness is a trade-off between work you enjoy, job security and a solid income - ABC News. Employment experts say over-45s face discrimination in Australian job market, workforce at risk of losing knowledge, experience - ABC News. Retirement should be a time to enjoy. So what happens when it feels awful and purposeless? Posted about an hour agoThu 12 Mar 2020, 9:30pm Jennie Deneefe didn't know what to expect when, at 63, she permanently clocked off from her three-decade teaching career. But she certainly wasn't expecting her retirement to be more devastating than wonderful.
"I retired at the end of 2017 and 2018 was just the most awful, awful year," she says. After working a busy job and raising three children, retirement — which coincided with her children moving out of home — presented Ms Deneefe with an empty void. "I couldn't imagine the future. Older unemployed and underemployed workers struggling to find roles due to ageism in recruiting. Updated 6 Feb 2020, 10:54pmThu 6 Feb 2020, 10:54pm Answer this question: How easy is it for you to strike up a good conversation with your younger colleagues in the office kitchen? Unemployment numbers don't tell the full story of a tough jobs market.
Updated about an hour agoTue 28 Jan 2020, 11:04pm Imagine applying for more than 100 jobs, making it through to the final round of interviews in a third of those applications, and still having nothing to show for it. Key points: Unemployment in December fell to 5.1 per cent, but underutilisation was stuck at 13.5 per centUnderemployment is higher in many regional areas, with some areas' underutilisation rates well above 15 per centEconomists say large towns are growing faster at the expense of small towns, with large cities growing faster than regional areas.
From courtroom to kitchen: The Australians who say it's never too late to change careers. Updated about 2 hours agoMon 6 Jan 2020, 10:35pm Rod Chandler was a lawyer and coroner in Hobart for more than 40 years, and he knows the field well. But there was always something else in the back of his mind that he wanted to do. Advice for returning to work after being fired or taking a career break. Updated yesterday at 3:47amTue 9 Jul 2019, 3:47am Eleven years ago, Andrea Clarke was living in the US and working in her dream job at one of the world's largest aid agencies. Unexpectedly unemployed: How to cope with losing your job. Updated 3 Oct 2017, 3:52amTue 3 Oct 2017, 3:52am Anyone can lose their job. So if it happens to you, what do you do? Take the money and run — how to make redundancy work for you - RN. Posted about an hour agoThu 2 May 2019, 10:30pm. Brisbane Airport's longest serving employee celebrates 50 years on the tarmac.
More mature age students enrol in universities as Australia's over-25s further their education. Posted Fri at 10:15pmFri 7 Sep 2018, 10:15pm Mature age students are increasingly filling Australia's universities and the adult learners are not just graduates studying for a master's degree or PhD, they are stepping into the world of academia for the very first time. From 2011 to 2016 there were an extra 90,000 students above the age of 25 enrolled at university, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Around two out of every five of those students had not yet already received a bachelor's degree.
Australian incomes stalled since 2009, latest HILDA data shows. Drafting a Career-Change Resume. The average person will have 12 jobs in his or her lifetime—and, in many cases, at least a few of those positions constitute true career changes. Experts reveal realities of post-holiday depression and how to cope with going back to work. Updated The feeling of waking up without an alarm clock and the taste of that glorious Christmas ham may feel like distant memories this week as many Australians return to work after the holidays. Unexpectedly unemployed: How to cope with losing your job. Posted Anyone can lose their job. So if it happens to you, what do you do? Working Sydney: How to change careers as an older worker and learn new skills. The Future of Work and Learning 1: The Professional Ecosystem. Everyday Workplace Learning: A quick primer. Welcome to Forbes.