Australian job market vs UK job market

[CloudWallaby]

Sorry, posted about my situation before but things seem yo have got worse. We moved to Melbourne (DH's home city) 9 months ago and since then he has had absolutely no luck at all in finding a job. He was working in banking and had quite a senior role in London. He has looked at other industries, taking a drop in seniority, working in other Australian cities but...nothing at all. Not even a serious interview. I am going insane with worrying about this. He spends a lot of time job hunting, has paid a lot of money to a career 'consultant' to help but we don't seem any farther down the track than when we arrived in May. He has always been absolutely insistent that he wanted to return to Australia and I agreed to do this before we married....but I don't think we an carry on like this for much longer and think he should start looking to get a role in London (or anywhere, really...)
He argues that we would be in the same position there, only worse because he would lose all the contacts he's built up over the last few months. I really don't know whether to hang on and trust him that things will improve or...well I'm not sure what else. I've found a job here relatively easily so in the short term he will care for the children while I work. This really isn't a good long term solution for either of us though and I will be really really pissed off if he has ruined his career just so we can move to the other side if the world.
Is it 'normal' to spend this long finding work, or am I right to be very worried? Is the Australian job market just really terrible, or is he doing something else fundamentally wrong?
Thanks.

[pupsiecola]

I'm just dashing out but wanted to say that I don't understand why he has paid lots to a consultant? Isn't it the company that pays any agency/consultant fees to find staff? Maybe it's different there, but it sounds very dodgy to me. Maybe someone will be along with a contrary view.

[pupsiecola]

PS Not distrusting your DH btw. More that it sounds like the consultant is taking advantage of people in you situation.

[CloudWallaby]

Yes - consultant is more of a 'life coach' in that they discuss interview techniques, other areas where there might be opportunities etc. seems to make DH feel like he's doing something but doesn't tackle the problem, which is that there don't seem to be any jobs for him here.

[PoppyAmex]

I've worked as a headhunter in Investment Banking in Sydney for many years (and didn't charge candidates) and am surprised he's finding it so tough.

What area of Banking does he work in?

[PlainBrownEnvelope]

One of the problems with the Australian banking market is that it's considerably smaller than the global hubs so doesn't have the churn of London/ NY/ Tokyo/ Hong Kong- therefore fewer jobs come up, especially senior roles. Also, my understanding is that there's much more going on in Sydney than Melbourne. Would that be a possibility? I know most people who accept secondments to Sydney from HK insist on a 'beam me up' clause because its not that easy to jump ship.

[PoppyAmex]

PlainBrown is right; although Melbourne is still headquarters to a couple of domestic banks like ANZ, Sydney is the place to be for Banking positions.

There's a hugely healthy Finance market in Sydney - several successful hedge funds, boutique firms, research houses etc

[Arohaitis]

Hi Cloud I would think the answer to your question is that most people have a job to go to (or have done some serious research about possibilities)

As I was reading I was also thinking 'eh it's Sydney they want for banking surely?'

Sorry I can't be more helpful

[chloeb2002]

Yes.. Sorry but I agree with the above advice.. Melbourne is certainly not the home of banking. it jobs, project management. Education all in Melbourne and the rest of aus. I wouldn't be chucking money at anyone when I'm the one looking fur a job! Yes like the uk. Companies pay the recruitment fees. The problem is location. If he wants banking and can't change.. Move

[CloudWallaby]

Thanks all, agree that Sydney seems a much better bet (and he's actively looking there). He travels up to Sydney every couple of months or so but we are currently based in Melbourne because our (temporary but free) accommodation is here...if he got a job we would move. Are we missing out because we're not 'on site'? I would have thought it would be possible to job hunt in Sydney from melbourne (which he's been doing) but perhaps we're putting ourselves at a disadvantage by not living there....?

[chloeb2002]

I guess it's about building contacts.. What I suspect you need is an " in" from my dh I gather banking can be a very closed world. Jobs are of the head hunting variety? Linked in? I am not an expert tho :0)

[arfishy]

How is his LinkedIn profile? I'm in Sydney and I'm getting 2-3 mails a week from employers and recruiters asking if I'd be interested in a role they have, all from my LinkedIn profile. I'm currently at a bank and certainly the market seems a lot better than late last year. Obviously if he's very senior there's only a finite market for roles.

In my experience the vast majority of roles advertised on sites like Seek don't exist, so don't feel that he's not getting anywhere if he's applying for roles that way. I've also found I've had more success if I've applied and then immediately follow up with a phone call - it helps them remember me and also (sadly) determine that I'm a native English speaker. The role probably won't exist but when a role does come up they'll call, often several months later.

I would suggest that he changes his LinkedIn profile to say that he's in Sydney and also populate it as much as possible. Put in heaps of buzzwords/jargon for his industry and role - take a look at the job ads and the words they are using and liberally pepper his resume and profile with them. The CVs and linkedIn profiles are scanned by software for these key words.

[CloudWallaby]

Thanks so much - really helpful advice from all and I feel much more positive about the market now. We'll see!