Is The Grass Greener In Australia To Get Job | Prischew.com

How expensive is accommodation in Sydney now?

Pretty expensive and it depends on where you live. In the Eastern Suburbs, for renting a two bedroom apartment, it can range from AUD$400 per week.

In the Western Suburbs, a two bedroom apartment is about AUD$300 per week

In the North, the same apartment would be AUD$550 per week

For the Southern Suburbs, it would cost AUD$350 per week

In the city, a two bedroom apartment would be roughly AUD$650-$700 per week

(Picture courtesy of Jaslyn Lai).

How about the general cost of living? How expensive is it to live in Sydney?

Usually AUD$500 – $700 a month (for a couple) would be spent on living expenses, excluding house rental.

Groceries usually costs around AUD$200 per month (for a couple), depending on how much you eat.

Transportation to work and other places via bus or train is at least AUD$100 plus per month (depending on how far you travel)

If you choose to get a car, it’s even worse. Petrol costs from at least AUD$30 dollars to $60 per week, depending on how far you travel. Insurance costs a bomb. You need to pay your six monthly or yearly road tax too, depending on the car you drive and it can range from AUD$800 to $2000 per year.

Other expenses include sociable dinners with friends, movie tickets and last minute dinners if you don’t have time to cook.

After having lived in Australia for more than seven years, would you say that the grass is greener there?

Only sometimes. It’s harder to survive here, earning money is difficult and we have to do everything ourselves such as the laundry, household chores and cooking. We don’t have maids to help us.

But we definitely earn more here and seldom have late overtime work in the office, which is a good thing and it’s easier to travel to other countries , since we earn more. And we get to buy properties once we earn enough. In fact, my husband and I have just bought a townhouse even though we’ve only been working for only about two years – we just got married last January.

It’s quite hard to get a job though. Most people can’t get a relevant job and end up working at departmental stores or grocery stores such as Woolworths and Coles.

In Malaysia and Singapore, it’s so much easier to get a job. It’s an instant thing for us. You have a maid to help you most of the time. Even if you don’t, it’s not too expensive to eat out, compared to Australia. The weather doesn’t change in Malaysia and Singapore either and you have connections when it comes to jobs. Only bad thing is that you have to work and toil!

Any tips you can give to people who want to migrate to Australia for work?

Study your industry in Australia before you migrate and get a job before you go there. Or think of a business you would like to venture into, that would be successful in Australia.