We spoke with Eduardo, a skilled migrant who is an environmental engineer currently working for a private environmental consultancy. 

Tell us about your work

I had a really good background in environmental consultancy from Brazil.

I know how that industry works:

• It’s pretty much based on deadlines.
• It doesn’t really matter what hours you work in, or if you change your hours, every week, as long as you meet the deadline, you should be fine.
• I’m working with a more technical stuff, which is contaminated site assessments.
• I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot and improve lots of skills.
• I know I really have to show my worth and progress within the company.

What was a career challenge in Tasmania? 

Definitely the biggest challenge was proving that an engineer from Brazil can be as good as an engineer from anywhere else in the world.

I think confidence is really the key point. You have your resume to present your experiences and having a good background of work experience is helpful. But it really comes down to how confident you are explaining this in the interview.

How did you job search?

I started looking pretty much like everyone else:

• I went to Seek and Indeed
• I used LinkedIn and kept an eye for any opportunities that would pop out for my region.

Because I was focused on finding something in my field I also had other approaches:

• I open Google Maps, and I typed in key words related to the environmental field
• I took notes on the company’s addresses, email addresses, contact numbers, everything I could find to make a big list of every environmental company or environmental related company in Hobart.
• I checked the career page and LinkedIn page of those companies to see if   they had any positions opening
• I sent an email introducing myself sending my resume, and offering my services.

How did you get your job?

I found a company on my list and checked the LinkedIn page. There was an ad for environmental engineer.

So I put in my best application for that that position. They called me and scheduled an interview for the week after. It was the worst week of my life waiting for that interview to come! But that’s how I found my job. 

What have you learned through the job search? 

One thing I’ve learned about myself is how resilient I am.

I am open to new experiences, and then I can go through pretty much anything and start fresh and progress all over again.

I know how to make my way to the top again.

What tip would you give to migrant job seekers?

Don’t give up, keep looking, something will pop up! 

And especially be confident. Always be confident in the professional we were in home country.

And like I said before, it’s always good to use your resilience.