Interview!

Got a call today about the interview - scheduled for the third week in January. Yahoo! Lots of time to prepare. Stay tuned.

Yahoo from the Land Down Under

Well, I had a call today from the recruitment agency. The Northern Territory has accepted my CV and would like to interview me. They are still working on paperwork from the previous hiring wave, but hope to schedule my interview either before Christmas or the first week in January. I am hoping before Christmas so I can have it over with and start planning for the big move. Either way, it's terrific news. Fingers crossed!

What's Up Down Under

I hadn't heard anything so sent an email to the recruitment agency and it appears they have a backlog of work after the big hire in October that I missed out on. I hadn't contacted them until after that was over, not knowing they just finished up in Vancouver. They had hoped to have me scheduled for an interview this week, but now they telling me next week is the hope as they are still busy organizing all the paperwork for the recently hired group. In the meantime, she emailed me some more paperwork to fill out, so have sent that to Staples to print and can pick it up this afternoon.

It has always been hard waiting and waiting for these kinds of things. However, I realize that things move slowly and as with all of my previous jobs, the process was slow and when I was long past having given up on getting the job, a phonecall comes with an offer. Patience required. I'm okay with that. It sure would be nice to have the interview over with before I leave for the Yukon for Christmas with my daughter. What a great Christmas gift - a job in a foreign country! Here's to hoping, and keeping our fingers crossed.

Australian Research

In preparation for a hoped for interview, I've been doing some research on Australia. I've been checking out what's on the internet other than tourist reviews, and I searched with my PVR for anything that had Australia in the description or title. I was able to come up with a few shows that air in Australia, and several episodes of other shows that highlight something from Australia in a particular episode. I am going to watch the movie Australia tonight starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. It was recommended to me by the recruiter, along with a couple of other movies, including one that is about 3 Aboriginal youth who have been taken from their families by the local government. I'll probably watch that one sometime this week as well. 


It snowed here in Victoria again last night. I am less than impressed and more determined than ever to find my way to the land down under where they don't have snow. Wish me luck!

Australia's Shape - What do you see?

I asked my Aussie friend earlier this year if she had ever heard Australia described as a country that looks like a dog's head. Never. Hadn't even considered it, and wasn't real sure just what shape her country was formed in. I am flabbergasted. To me, it is real obvious that it looks like a terrier's left facing profile - as pictured here. Next to an outline of Australia, I just can't imagine I am the only one who sees this, like a Magic Eye photo.

New Blog for a New Adventure

So here I sit in snowy Victoria, on Vancouver Island, planning my exit. My lease is up at the end of January, so on February 1st, I am heading south out of the rotten Canadian winter and into California and the southern states for a couple of months before hopefully heading to the Northern Territory of Australia to work for a couple of years. I thought I would create a new blog for a new adventure, and will post here from time to time about how things are going in preparation for the adventure, and then later from Australia once there.


Here is where things stand so far. I registered with a recruitment agency last week, HCL , thinking I may get some emails about jobs, as I have been with Work Gateways, but instead, someone called me from the agency. I spent over an hour on the phone last Thursday with a recruiter and I have to say the prospect of going to Australia is sounding pretty interesting. The notable benefits are:

• higher pay, as much or more than I ever made up north. They even provided me with the pay scale and estimated where I might fall with my 8 years of experience.
• 6 weeks paid vacation in addition to public holidays. I could never get 6 weeks at any social work job in Canada, even if I stayed with the same agency for 20 years.
• Airfare to Australia (one-way), plus one month car rental, and 3 months paid accommodation (provided) while I search for my own apartment and buy my own vehicle
• they provide a 4-wheel drive vehicle and instruction for driving in the rugged outback
• they will ship about 15 boxes of personal items
• Isolation pay, based on your location of about $2500/annually
• superannuation of 9%

These are just some of the benefits of the hiring agency. The recruitment agency will help you with the Visa application process and cover all fees for this process. They will also help you with putting your best CV forward, and in preparing for the interview. After all, they want their candidates to be successful. 

So all weekend I worked on my Curriculum Vitae, my first ever, and while it was detailed, it was a great process to go through, remembering all of the past years accomplishments. Then this morning I emailed that and my references to the recruiter in Ontario. She called me and we proceeded with some of the interview questions she had for me that they use for pre-screening. This was mostly made up of scenarios from a variety of child welfare settings, so fairly easy given I have a lot of experience in child welfare. After her call I received a call from the recruiter based in the UK for the agency. We went through more screening questions such as why did I want to work in Australia, how did I hear about the opportunity, and so on. We spoke for about an hour or so. Both gals provided me with email addresses so I can ask questions. The formal employer interview will be in a couple of weeks should the Australian government accept my CV and agree to interview. It will likely be a telephone interview as they have not yet moved into video interviewing but are working on that option for the future.

I am planning for an early April departure for Australia, so I have just over 4 months to get it together. At least I have much of my documentation they need. I already have a valid passport, a birth certificate, and my degrees survived the house fire, albeit soggy and stained. There is a medical to have completed as well, but that is for the Visa application so will be asked to do that later once I have been offered a position. 

The recruitment agency has sent me a few very useful resources to help prepare for the interview and then to use for the job afterwards. Once such resource is this guide. I haven't finished reading it, but so far I am highly impressed. It was created in consultation with the local Aboriginal and Torres Islanders, and appears to be a very useful guide. 

So for now, I have to prepare for the final interview, which will cover some key areas:

1. the legislation typically used for child welfare
2. my code of ethical practice and ideals
3. my reasons for wanting to work in Australia (to assess commitment level)
4. my social work processes - such as how I write notes, court documents, reports, conduct an investigation, identify risks, etc.
5. my mandated experience, aka child welfare practice and the difference between working in a mandated role versus a therapeutic role; court appearances, factual affidavits, level of patience with a lack of resources, etc.

These tips came from the UK recruiter so I shall have to refresh my memory with some notes for the interview. It has been a few years since I worked directly in child welfare, however there are some things you never forget. I think I'll probably do alright in the interview, but if I don't get offered a job, it isn't the end of the world and this blog will wrap up the next day.


The locations they are presenting at the moment are Darwin, on the northern coast, Katherine, a few hundred kms inland, and Alice Springs, several hundred kms inland in the outback (my preference).

Stay tuned...