Australia working holiday visa (hoping to work in the arts)

[ThePartyArtist]

Hi,

I am based in the UK and considering doing the Australia working holiday visa with my partner. I wondered if anyone else has done this, particularly working in the arts?

My main concerns are that it allows you to work for each employer for a maximum of 6 months, so i am wondering how likely it would be I could get something that'd be career development, rather than just menial work. I'd really love to work in the arts (eg. creative learning, gallery education) which is similar to what i do at the moment in the UK.

Does anyone else have experience that'd help me decide if it's a risk worth taking? I think worst case scenario for me would be going all that way and not getting a job I'm interested in, or ending up doing something which is not career development and therefore puts me in a bad position when I return to the UK?

[chloeb2002]

I think you may struggle. Working holiday visas are really aimed at "young adults" under 30 year old who are primarily on holiday or picking up incidental work to support holidays. There is usually huge competition for casual employment too. Not sure about your area of employment. I guess if you can find a job before you come you could work for up to 6 months for them?

[PeppaPigsMum]

As the previous poster said, on a working holiday visa the job is really meant to be incidental to the travel. I think there may even be rules about not working in your current occupation (but not sure about that - you'd have to check).

Saying that, my dh and I did visit Oz on working holiday visas when we were 30 (nearly 15 years ago now!) - just squeaked in. I did temping work - lots of experience in different settings, but no career development However dh did manage to find work in his field for 5 months - I think it was OK because he was working on a short-term contract. However, he set this up through contacts before we arrived - I think that would really be the only way to avoid the temping/casual employment jobs unless you were incredibly lucky. He also works in sciences, not the arts, so no idea how easy this would be in a different field. I'd say read the visa conditions carefully and have a look around to see if there is anyone you could contact about a temporary role in your field. We spent 5 months working and 7 months travelling around, which worked very well - it really is an amazing country to explore if you have a bit of time. Good luck!