A few days ago i posted about our family being at a cross roads and with our lease being up whether we should move for better opportunities or stay with our support network.
Thankyou for everyones response. I have read them all.
Ill answer the questions that popped up.
We live 45mins south of Perth in Western Australia. My husband is applying for work along the public transport lines (joondalup - mandurah and all the ones inbetween). He is working on getting his licence. But that is taking time as we need to save money to pay for it.
He is a poly pipe welder. Employers are hiring boilermakers to do his job, effectively deleting his position. His old boss told him "why hire 2 people to do 2 jobs when i can hire 1 to do both". PW jobs are very few and far between, lasting only at max a few weeks (contract work).
Because of this he is retraining. He is doing a 12 month course that we have used Vet Fee Help to pay for (works like Hecs). Its $8000 for this course so he must complete it otherwise we will have a debt with nothing to show for it.
He is trying to get night/weekend work for whilst he is studying. He is also contacting companys in his new field (engineering) to get work/work experience.
We are looking at getting a cheaper rental so we arent loosing as much money but we live in an expensive area (we have both lived here since we were very young). But there are not many rentals available. There is a lot of serious crime where we live too, so location is also a major factor. (some reasons why we are considering leaving the area)
Yes, he has looked at joining the Police and Defence Force but he is not able to enter due to a medical condition.
FIFO he is applying (hasnt heard anything yet) But again, because he is doing this course if he goes fifo we still have to pay this $8000 back with nothing to show for it. So damned if we do, damned if we dont.
Since Thursday (17/3) he has sent of 27 job applications. 13 have come back with rejections. He has even offered to work at a lower rate or volunteer for a while to prove himself. All no. His job network has told him that there are no jobs around and they cant help him. He goes once a week to see if they have anything, because he is studying full time he doesnt have to go at all, but he still does.
We dont know what else to do
4 Replies
Have you considered moving to the country? Much cheaper rent!
45 mins from Perth, I'm guessing Mandurah/Rockingham area? I grew up in Mandurah myself but moved to the country for a job going on 6 years now. My partner works on a farm and earns good money but does some pretty big hours, our house is part of his job and we live rent free which allows us to save some serious money to buy our own house in the future. There is a lot of farm work going out here (not in his field I know but could be something temporary), depending on who you work for and your experience will determine the pay rate.
People dismiss the country a lot work wise but there is actually a lot out here and just a lack of people willing to do it! I work at a metal fabrication company and we are always looking for decent workers (all kinds of welders!). There is also usually a fair bit of work going with companies like Western Power and Main Roads which I believe pay quiet well.
I'm only an hour and half from Perth/Mandurah and all my family are there except my dad who is here.
Anyway, not sure if anyone already suggested this in your previous post but I think it's something worth considering.
All the best, I'm sure everything will fall into place for you, don't give up!
The both of us would love to move to the country. i absolutely love it! Neither of us like living in the city. Im a born country girl... its in my blood! Lol. Our only issue is transport back and forth to tafe (hubby) and university (me). The nature of our courses mean we cannot do it online. So we are looking at places where we can get transport back and forth which for the country (as you will know) is not very good. So we are looking at our options and working out the best suburbs for us to look at.
Argh! I didnt even think of Western Power or Main roads. Thankyou. Ive passed that onto hubby and he will be onto it :)
Has he tried Polyfit Fabrication in Port Kennedy?
He is going to contact them tomorrow morning. Thankyou :)