What made you come to Australia for work?
I came to Australia on my gap year after university. I applied for a working holiday visa before going out. You need to do three month’s farm work to apply for your second year visa. This process was stress free but the visas cost a bit of money… about £100 each. 

And what jobs have you done?
Mostly promotional work and field marketing and I did it for various companies. I did festival work, work at exhibitions and shows, worked at the races in Darwin (every backpacker who lives there during the summer can) and even worked as an elf in a shopping centre in Sydney! I did some temping and admin in Sydney for various agencies and worked as a receptionist and PA in Melbourne. My best job was Wwoofing in Queensland and Perth where I did voluntary work but got food and accommodation in exchange. 

How did you land these jobs?
I applied via email to the temping agencies and promotion companies with my CV and cover letter. I then had to go for interviews. Some of the temp agencies have office tests to complete. Wwoofing you have to sign up to and pay a small fee and then you email the farms you wish to go to.

How was the pay? 
Pay in Australia is amazing. I was getting on average AUD $22 per hour which is about £12. 

What were the good points? 
Great pay, relaxed and nice working hours. 

And what wasn’t so great? 
Sometimes the work was quite boring. I didn’t do any actual “career focused” jobs.

What was your job back home? 
I was a student before I went out. 

Still in Oz?
No, I now work in Travel PR in the UK. I came home because my second year visa ran out. If you want to stay longer you have to look for sponsorship… or get married (stay on defacto). 

Anything else to share? 
Wwoofing is a great way to see the country. It is unpaid work but you get your food and accommodation in exchange for working in exciting places and doing interesting things. I worked on a cattle station in Northern Queensland, on a 60,000 station three hours from the closest town. I also worked at a horse riding school outside of Perth.

To look for jobs in Australia, head to tntdownunder.com/jobs