Perth Update

Posted by Ray

Posted on March 28, 2009

Nearly three months in Perth now and I'm really settled and could see myself staying here for the majority of my year. The pipe dream of getting a good engineering job hasn't worked out, but it's the same situation everywhere so I'm not getting down beat about it. There is engineering jobs that would suit and that I'm qualified for, but employees can pretty much ask for anything in terms of experience and skills. I also think being non Australian is another barrier in applying for jobs over here. The government is really pushing "Keep it Australian" and "Buy Australian" these days.

So to keep busy there was a few options. Most of the friends over here are all in construction and work long hours and sometimes six times a week. Money isn't too bad, but the 60 hours a week didn't appeal. I decided bar work could be the best option working mainly nights and having the day time to enjoy chilling and the remainder of the good Autumn weather. To apply for any bar job in WA requires a mandatory RSA certificate. The $100 certificate requires you to complete a 6 hour course which just explains the in's and out's of the drinking and serving laws in WA. Fairly straight forward with an easy open book exam to complete.

What I have learned in applying for any jobs in WA is to follow up every lead and if needs be nagging helps. The following day after getting the RSA certificate I headed down to Northbridge, the main going out area. It was a Saturday afternoon and most bars were just setting up and perfect time to pop in and enquire about work. I visited a number of places chatting to mangers and dropping in CV's. Most places weren't looking for staff but encouraged that I leave my CV as they have a high turnover of employees and would be in touch if required. This generally means they wont contact you though. It's so frustrating in Perth tieing anything down, when people say they'll call you back they never do. That's just the mentality in WA everyone is just too laid back about everything or completely lazy.

One place I did visit came up trumps. The Devilles Pad is not your ordinary style bar with a theme heavily indulged in a weird mix of cabaret and moulin rouge. Red and black makes up the interior decor along with a large volcano smack bang in the middle of the dance floor. Interesting place, check it out http://www.devillespad.com. After chatting to the bar manager I got a trail run next week. All going well I'll get the job full time and start earning some dollars while I search for that elusive engineering job.

Wrapping up other news. I went along to two festivals the last few weeks. The Future Music Festival and Rock It. Had thought about doing posts on these events, but I think people might be sick of seeing me and the mates running around enjoying ourselves and drinking over priced mid strength beers. Both festivals were class with some great line ups. One of my favourite bands The Music played at Rock It. I hadn't seen them before so was over the moon singing my heart out to every song. I did get a few stares from people close to me. Hardly anyone in Australia knows them. At Rock It my camera was lost, found two hours later, but was pretty smashed up. It's gone to camera heaven now as I couldn't fix it. Ah well, still have the photo's from that day, so no worries.

After three long grueling months and numerous emails, hopefully next week I'll have a new laptop. The laptop saga is just too long to fully explain so the final outcome is that I'm getting a brand new laptop to replace the one which was lost by AU Post being sent from Sydney to Brisbane. Thank God the end is near on that issue.

My Only Bar Experience, Spain, Summer Of '04, Mastering The Jager Bomb.

My New Soon To Arrive Laptop

Filed under Dubs Down Under, Australia >< 8 Comments