Things People Don’t Tell You about Working Holiday in Australia

Hey guys,

It’s been a while since my last post, hasn’t it? 🙂 I have been wanting to write another post SO DARN BADLY! But I was quite busy trying to find a new job (YES, you got it right! A NEW JOB!) So, what happened with the Italian restaurant I worked before? Well, I will tell you about this in the next post since it’s not very relevant with the topic I’m going to talk in this post.

Recently, I have noticed that there are actually loads of positive experiences and reviews from working holiday makers about Working Holiday in Australia (WHV). It seems like 99.9% of them talk about how much money you can earn and save when working in Australia, and also how easy it is to get jobs here, and so on and so forth. I don’t think it’s healthy to only give sweets and candies to kids, as it is not fair to only give sweet dreams to all WHV prospects (people who are interested in WHV Australia) without letting you guys know the downside of WHV. Guys, believe me, EVERYTHING comes with PRICE! By writing this post, I don’t mean to discourage any of you to come for working holiday here. I just hope you will be more prepared (mentally and of course physically!) than I was before. Here we go!

1. That so-called “accommodation”

Most working holiday makers, especially Asians, want to live in the city. And of course as the result of high demand, accommodation in the city center is very expensive. If you want to have a private room in the city, you have to spend around AU$300-400/week. Can you calculate how many hours you have to work only to afford your accommodation? For the sake of saving money, many of us (including me right now), must be willing to live in a shared room. And most of us usually have to share a room with 3 to 4 other people. Sometimes even 5! Trust me guys, it’s not the most comfortable accommodation we live here. Here’s the picture of my current room.

 

For just a triple room, we pay AU$190/week. However the price may vary. For a triple room, it usually costs around $150 to $190 pp/pw depends on the building and location. Those accommodation that costs AU$120-140/week are usually shared between 4-5 people with bunk bed.

I currently live in the master room of a 2 bedroom apartment. FYI, there are 9 people living in our unit! So yeah, some people live in the living room. Here’s how it looks like.

 Yes, you got it right! Those people live just inside those curtains! Even living inside the curtain can cost you around AU$150/week, guys! Sometimes the landlord also rents out the sunroom in the apartment. It’s the small place with glass walls and ceiling where you can hang your laundry to dry it. Even this sunroom costs about $200 a week! (T_T”)

Now I believe you can start imagining how ‘clean’ you can keep an over-crowded house. Personal space is so damn expensive in Australia, guys! We have sold all our privacy and personal space in exchange for a few bucks.

2. Hourly wage in Sydney: EXPECTATION vs REALITY

From the rules set by the Australian government, standard hourly wage in Australia is about AU$18 before tax. OK then approximately we can earn about $15.3/hour after tax or maybe even $16. The former working holiday makers might have shared that they earned around $20 an hour and well, this actually made lots of people (including me), think that getting $20 an hour job is soooo easy peasy!

In reality, we never really know what kind of jobs they had been through before getting that decent-paid job. Right now there are just TOO MANY backpackers and also foreigners coming on student visa competing in Australian job market. Lots of our working holiday friends from Indonesia (and even from other Asian countries) work for $11-14 /hour cash jobs. If we don’t take the job, there are still many other job applicants willing to do it just for the sake of not being jobless.

It is even more challenging for us, girls. Our friends who claim they earn $20/hour mostly work as a kitchen hand. At least as far as I know, in Australia, employers prefer male workers to do this kind of jobs since it is SUPER exhausting! Selain itu, kalau menurut temen2 saya yang kitchen hand juga, biasa orang bule gak mau kerja jadi kitchen hand karena capek dan berat banget gilak! Jadi otomatis di kategori pekerjaan ini kompetisi nya lebih sedikit karena cewek2 dan bule2 gak ada yang mau atau mampu kerja sebagai kitchen hand.

At the end, jobs that are available for us, girls, are waitress and cafe all-rounder. I’m not saying this is the only job we can do, I’m just saying that this is the kind of job that is mostly done by female working holiday makers or students. And also the most common job advertised on Gumtree.

Nah, kalau ngomongin gaji sebagai waitress atau all-rounder cafe itu tergantung employer. Kalau boss nya orang Asia, kisaran gaji sekitar $11-15/jam. Walaupun pasti ada aja yang beruntung dapetin boss Asian yang baik dan murah hati dan dapat gaji sesuai minimum salary yaitu $18/jam. Sedangkan untuk western employers, biasanya sih sudah sesuai standard minimum salary, bahkan di atasnya. Buktinya, temen2 waitress saya waktu di restoran Itali kemarin bilang kalau gaji kita yang $19/jam di restoran itu tergolong kecil. Karena menurut pengalaman mereka, masih banyak restoran, kafe dan bar disini yang menggaji lebih dari itu.

Untuk job di bidang lain saya nggak bahas yah guys. Maklum pengalaman kerja saya disini terbatas cuma sebagai all-rounder dan waitress aja. Saya bukannya gak mau eksplorasi, tapi memang saya suka dengan bidang pekerjaan yang mengharuskan saya ketemu customer (salesman alert!). Saya happy bisa belajar ilmu barista, dan mau banget belajar bikin cocktail. Tapi saya gak bisa kerja di dapur dan cuma ketemu si kentang, bawang dan tomat tiap hari. Ughh, gak rela banget saya kalo gak bisa liat customer bule2 ganteng satu hari aja! :p

3. A casual job in hospitality actually requires 2 years of experience!

Or at least, that’s what is commonly written in job ads on Gumtree. At first, I was shocked and couldn’t stop thinking WHY do I need years of experience just to apply for a job as a waitress or cafe all-rounder (atau bahasa kerennya: babu serabutan kafe!). But after working in the industry for a few months, now I understand why. Hospitality is a very fast paced industry in Sydney. Customers only have a few minutes to get their takeaway coffee and an hour for lunch break. This is why rush hour in Sydney cafes and restaurants is very crucial for the business. Every cafes and restaurants want to get as much as possible and so they push their staff to the limit during these peak hours. And they really can’t bother to give extensive trainings to new staff for a very good reason too! Because most backpackers (including working holiday makers), won’t stay long term with them. Most backpackers don’t really care about doing the job well, and working holiday makers can only stay for 6 months to a year. So, why risk losing customers only for the sake of training inexperienced staff?

Sample of common job ads on Gumtree

4. That never-ending working hours

To compensate the low salary, most employers would give long working hours to the staff. Many of our friends are also very happy to take a second and even a third job to earn more money. You may have heard these friends can earn up to AU$1000 a week in Australia. But, have you ever wondered how many hours and how many jobs do they actually work? What time do they get up to work and when do they come back home from work? Time is money in Australia, the more hours you work, the more $$$ you make.

Once again guys, I’m writing this post NOT to DISCOURAGE you to come for a working holiday in Australia. I just want to give you another perspective on this and hope you to be better prepared than I was. I mean, I was of course prepared to do a waitress job in here. But I just wasn’t prepared to do a long hour work and save money by sharing my room.

Thanks for reading, guys. If you want more article on working holiday in Australia, please leave comments and tell me what you want to know. Hopefully I would be able to answer in my next post. Ciao! (^-^)v