This CFO believes Australian businesses care too much about local experience.
After working overseas for the past 14 years, it was only when I was looking at moving back to Australia that I realised how many businesses here don’t value global experience.
In both the cities where I worked, London and Dubai, it was normal for my colleagues to be people from different countries, some barely off their flights from South Africa, Canada or Australia. This is because, unlike a lot of Australian organisations, international cities recognise that skills translate from country to country.
A puzzling trend
During my final years overseas, when I was considering a return to Australia, I would meet with recruitment agencies to get a feel for the job market here. They often gave me the advice that my lack of Australian experience was a problem (I had only worked in my field for three years in Australia before I headed overseas).
I was told their clients (potential Australian employers) always preferred people who had recent Australian experience.
I was shocked by this attitude. Isn’t considerable international expertise of great value to Australian companies? A candidate such as myself could potentially introduce the best international practices, and also open doors to the contacts I had made whilst working overseas. If it was simply an issue of a visa or sponsorship, I could understand their reluctance.
A couple of former colleagues who also moved to Australia after some time abroad have similar stories, even though both of them had developed excellent skills and deep knowledge in some of the world’s biggest and fastest growing markets.
It remains a total puzzle to me why cities like London and New York are open to hiring the best talent that is presented to them – no matter where it is from – yet Australia seems to be very insular.
Australia’s local bias
I appreciate that in certain fields having extensive Australian experience would make sense. However, this cannot be said for the broader job categories. Whilst there might be some specifics to be brushed up on, employers should realise that certain skills translate globally.
Technological advances over the past 10 to 15 years have demonstrated how businesses everywhere are now operating in a global environment. Whether you run a local café or an ASX listed company, the world is at your fingertips.
I truly believe Australian companies need to take heed of international viewpoints, and make sure they’re not overvaluing Australian-only experience.
Kal Desai is a Chartered Accountant and currently works as CFO of Australian manufacturer Beak Engineering.
Thanks Kal for such a beautiful write up. I went through hell when I first migrated to Australia under skilled migration. Paid so much to migrate to Australia yet cannot find a similar job. I was holding the position as HR Director in the hotel industry. Went for few interviews and they said that I do not have local experience, so sad. If we can get approval for skilled migration that means we are qualified right? If not, how can we get skilled migration approved. Apart from that we also need to support our experience, organisation chart, how many subordinates… Read more »
Hi Kal,
I think this issue is one of the major concerns in the Australian recruitment industry. I was acquainted with an ironic situation last week. I got a call from a guy who told me that he has 8 years of International experience and also got a PR in Australia; but due to lack of local experience he has to return to University and get some local education to support his career goals.
This was something that left me astonished, and forced me to think about how challenging it is to get employed in Australia.
I totally agree with the article. In spite of having MBA from one of the best institutes in the world and OD experience in India’s biggest companies, here I am still struggling to get a job offer. I moved here last year in July 2017 with full working rights and applying everywhere, even to small HR roles but on daily basis, I receive 5-10 emails of not been selected for further consideration. I am also active on Linkedin, made connections with many HR professionals, still, seriously I don’t know how to get a job in Australia?
Thanks for shining a light on this issue, Kal. Since emigrating to Australia three years ago from South Africa, I learned a harsh lesson that my 6 years of experience in ER / HR, coupled with a strong academic background, was not counted as valuable work experience. I approached AHRI and they suggested doing a CERT IV in HR to “bridge the gap” which I soon found out definitely did not help my cause and was effectively a step backward. I was lucky enough to attend a networking event and someone took a chance on me, which then led to… Read more »
Fantastic article – I’ve also had a similar experience – Had big 4 and commercial experience in London, Singapore, HK etc but found when I went back home to Australia there was a lack of interest in people with international experience – I ended up going back to Asia to work – Unfortunately I think it may be part of the culture (hire only people with recent Australian experience), hence I don’t think this trend will change in the foreseeable future.