Migrating to Australia with a job in hand (Guest post by Arvind )

A Precap:
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      Our migration experience is extensively documented in this blog. Landing in 2015 in Canberra with a job as a satellite engineer at one of Australia's foremost space research team in hand wasn't just mere luck. The efforts we had put in to making it happen are worth sharing.

      Australia is just awesome – but one thorn in the sole that pricks most new migrants is the fear of a job search. Local experience, hidden job market, resume, selection criteria and a million other terms hover in your minds to confuse and intimidate any first time job seeker. It is understandable as job search is not the only thing that you are dealing with at the moment – migration itself is huge and adjusting to a new country is a whole massive mental game.  When you are busy with all this, it is easy to lose track and not apply practical ways of job search but instead get lost in a spiralling mess. We, at Ohm Innovations receive numerous queries and requests for suggestions from new migrants and other first time job seekers every day. This post is nothing but a reflection of the strategies that worked out personally for us during our job search phase. This is not a how-to guide, but rather an account of our experiences. 

1 ) Get your resume right 
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      There is no need to stress the importance of a good resume – “crap in is crap out”, the outcome of your job search to a large extent depends on how good your resume is. You may be an awesome candidate, but without a selling resume it is virtually impossible to expect calls. Recruiters are a hard batch to convince. Be prepared to spend days working on your resume and be prepared to put in lots of hard work on this key document. From personal experience, there is no such thing as an “ Australian format “ – if there is one it is nothing but a good resume with relevant facts and no bullshit. There are a number of key factors to consider – not all can be covered in a single post – just stating a few

• Avoid ambiguous statements – “Designed a very good user interface” – How exactly do you quantify “very good” ? What are the performance metrics that you used to arrive at your conclusion?  What was the result of the interface being good ? 

• Avoid reproducing your job requirements on your resume . For example if you were a programmer , stating “ Program software based on design document” – is an obvious task and it is a job description rather than your resume. 

•  Avoid personal information and achievements – though job specific, no one requires your date of birth or your 100 bungee jumping experience -unless of course it is an adventure island care taker job or something along those lines.  Let your life experiences talk during interviews if required. 

2) Talk / Network / Mingle 
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      You believe you have a good resume – what next? It would be tempting to jump straight in to start flooding Seek, Indeed and other job search sites with your resume, but it would be wiser to take a step back and breathe first. Do not start applying straightaway – start networking with the relevant people who could potentially help you land in a job – could be a recruitment agent, could be your mate in Australia with contacts, could be your hiring manager, could be a HR person etc.

      How do you get to know relevant people. Just keep your eyes and ears open. There are tonnes of contacts you can get via LinkedIN, Facebook and other networking sites. Many recruiters even post their contact details in the job ads. There is a fine line between stalking and being smart on social media to use it to your advantage. Try to be smart. Talk to as much people as possible and arrange meetings with recruiters. It may not work out for this job but they would always keep you in their database for future references. Try to also establish contacts with people from your industry. You will be surprised one day when you get a call from one of them for a job referral and even more useful would be to actually develop a list of companies in the city you are looking for work. Having a good LinkedIN profile and making wise use of everything LinkedIn has to offer is a whole separate topic and it needs a separate post. Making wise use of LinkedIN and other social media platforms not only helps in job search but also with career progression. 

3) Spend time and work smart for each application
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      Each job ad is unique and recruiters/hiring managers put their effort in to make them sound appealing. Its obvious that as an applicant, we should put an equal effort if not more to make our application stand out. Spend some time and treat every application that you enter as your dream ob. Brute force application strategies may work in some cases but it can never guarantee a success.

• Address the selection criteria smartly – again avoid ambiguities, don’t contradict yourselves, do not over exaggerate and above all – please get your grammar right. SC , again is a whole separate topic – will post a dedicated write up from our experience.

• Read the ad carefully – if the job asks for references specifically – add it, if it says Citizenship Required and you are not – please don’t apply , if it requires a 200 word response to the selection criteria – do not write pages of responses , etc.

•  If you have a doubt – do not make assumptions. Please contact the advertiser. It is not silly – only those who ask for answers , get answered. 

4) Read and research
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      Reading and researching the market goes a long way. Read about your city, read about how the industry operates in Australia, read about the market trends and make sure you are also aware of the government policies that affect the industry in which you pursue your job search. This research not only improves your awareness, but also would be useful during interviews. 

      One other important thing you will have to do is to Keep Your Eyes Open. Always be on the vigil for looking out for company names. They could be everywhere. You will be surprised if your potential employer turns out to be a company that you came across in an ad that you casually glanced in a supermarket or a bus trip or maybe even overheard during a backyard barbeque. There are numerous start ups and small companies that are always hiring. So its not just the big player you must be targeting at. These start up jobs are equally satisfying and they also tend to add to the ever elusive “local experience”. 

Disclaimer :
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At our venture Ohm Innovations, we work with a number of clients on resume design, LinkedIn profile design and assisting with Selection Criteria responses. The venture started out from our personal experiences and strategies that worked for us during our job search period. We started it out helping friends and close acquaintances and looking at the success stories of our clients we decided to expand our service as a small business. This post is after the numerous requests we received from new migrants on social media to share our personal experiences and not an  advertisement for our paid services. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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This is a guest post from my super cool husband aka The Satellite Engineer- Arvind Ramana.
Arvind did his masters in Embedded Systems(2009) At NTU, Singapore. He has worked for various companies like Siemens, Xilinx at Electronics Engg roles. He was one of the hardware designer of Singapore's First Commercial Earth Observation Satellite- TELEOS 1, when he worked at ST Electronics Satellite Systems. He is currently an Embedded Systems Professional at the UNSW@ADFA, Space Engineering Team who are the forefront of Australia's space industry.

He did manage to get this job at Canberra from Singapore. So after landing here, he started helping out new migrants with their resume and in few months he started a small venture - Ohm Innovations.
Ohm Innovations, his latest venture focuses on two verticals -  Career Services and  STEM / Robotics. He is also very passionate about Robotics and has conducted Robotics workshops for kids funded by the National Science Week ACT as a part of National Science Week.

Please read our other parts of migration experiences here. 

Part 11- A small recap before beginning our life in Australia

      The previous post covered the things to do before you permanently land in Australia. This post will cover the things to do after you land in Australia with a PR.  You can read the other parts of our migration experiences here.

       First things first, nothing like beginning a life in a new country. Let me take a second to appreciate this country and how much we love it already. Here is a small recap of how we landed here.

      Warm bright sun spread its rays amidst the canopy, I could feel the joey caressing on my arms. The turquoise water splashed from the reefs as the Australia tourism advertisement played on the gigantic screens of Golden village movie theatre in Singapore. It was a Friday night in 2013 Arvind and I turned and when our eyes met, we knew our destination was going to Australia. 

      We met in an international conference in India-our home country back in 2009, I was doing my final year engineering and Arvind, 3 years elder to me was working in Siemens. We became good friends and few months passed and we knew we were in love. He went to Singapore to do his Masters at NTU, I followed him the next year. 3 awesome years of love, a Master’s degree from NTU, interesting career, a lovely wedding and 12 exotic trips, and we were contemplating the final question- where do we raise our kids? The answer was in front of us and from then we never looked back. 

      We were lucky in each step. Luck comes with planning and hard work. It was a magical moment on our second wedding anniversary in an idyllic resort in Koh Samui- when we got our PR grant. Things strapped on a jet pack from there on. We made our first landing in Melbourne, fell in love with the place and our plans were focused on “the second city” when suddenly a surprise knocked our mail box. We had received job offers from Canberra. Here we are today, in our cosy warm home enjoying our first Canberra winter amidst friends who have become our family. Ninth day after we landed here, we found out that we will be welcoming a new family member soon. Baby Junior will be joining us this December/Jan 2017. Things just fell in right place. Canberra couldn’t welcome us more.

      God manifests in human forms –so true in our case. We met amazing people all along the way. I just cuddled a lab poodle yesterday on the streets, got a drop home from a kind lady when all I asked was for directions, a lunch invite from a random kind grandma and gifted a cute little girl a pink piggy bank who hugged me out of nowhere in the mall. Never have been happier! Thank you Canberra :)

Here is our first picture in Canberra :) 

The 10 day old bub in my stomach says "Hello Australia, I am originally conceived in Singapore". 

Ha! That's right. Only after 9 days of landing here in Australia we found out that we are pregnant with our first bub. How more happy and exciting life can get. Stay Tuned :)

PART 10 - Things to do before you land permanently in Australia

        The previous post covered the things to do when you permanently vacate a country. This post will cover the things to do before you land permanently in Australia.  You can read the other parts of our migration experiences here.

Things to do before you permanently land in Australia:

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1) Prepare a 45 day Schedule, Print and Paste in the living room:

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        Make a 30-45 day to day plan for your last days in the country. This should cover all the daily activities from big to small like migration related stuff, calls to make, things to pack, places to visit, bills to pay etc. Except your routine day to day chores like eating and sleeping, cover all the work you have to do. And never forget to tick it once you finish it. Stick to the plan. Never postpone the things which lies in your hand. But you may not be able to complete certain things which relies on others. So worst case, schedule that work for later. 

        Update the master copy in your laptop as well as the pasted sheet in the living room. Give enough space to each day so that you can update regularly. 

2) One way Flight Tickets with maximum baggage:

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        This was the second thing we did. Once the date is decided the next immediate priority is to book the flight tickets. Make a list of all the available airways to that destination and compare the transit destinations, transit time, total flying time, cost, baggage allowance, available dates etc. From Singapore to Canberra we had 4 options - Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Quantas and Scoot. Our priority was the baggage allowance. Scoot had the maximum baggage allowance of 40 kgs(check in) +20 kgs (hand carry) + 3 kgs (laptop) Per head. So we had around 126 kgs allowance for two of us. The total cost was 900 Sgd for 2 pax - one way from Singapore to Sydney. And we chose the murrays bus (3 hours from sydney to reach Canberra). Flying to Canberra with all this baggage is not a good option, as you have to repack your luggage from 32 kgs( Singapore- Sydney- International baggage rules ) to 23 kgs( Sydney to Cbr -Domestic baggage rules ).

Things to follow during this process:

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a)  Avail the early check-in option in Singapore, where you can check in your bags 24 hours prior to departure. That way, you avoid the nervousness of the airlines people not accepting more luggage.

b)  When you check in bulk early, where there is no queue, you will be an exception. So you can smile, be polite and check in few extra kgs. Worked like a charm for me :)

c)  Naming it emotional stuff, we did carry few garbage and trash. Pack all those things separately and name it trash bag. This bag should only contain things which doesn't change your life, which you can throw away last minute at the airport and still you don't feel bad, cry. So worst case, when the airlines people don't accept few extra kgs, start throwing away one by one from this bag with a sad crying face. They will eventually accept the remaining trash.  

d)  When you see a handsome man in the counter, let the pretty wives do the check in and vice versa. Again worked like a charm for us. 

e) Be it fragile or not, request a fragile tag and paste in all the check in luggage. They throw  the luggage a lot and they don't have an option. 

f)  Remember to book a maxi cab if you are carrying more than 100 kgs. Singapore cabbies don't stop when they see you with heavy luggage. And they pass even if you book the cab prior. 

g)  Call the airlines minimum thrice - after you book, 15 days before your flight and 4 days before your flight and confirm all the options you have enabled. No harm in that. 

3) Look for Temporary Accommodation:

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        Third thing we did. Simply put, never trust anyone blindly. And never deposit any money until you trust them. Nothing helps like asking locals, reading reviews, posting in groups etc. Be it from gumtree or allhomes or any source, verify their genuineness. Ask your local friend to talk to them and if possible visit the place. Luckily for us, as Arvind was employed by ADFA, we found about Unigardens, still did all the checks we could do, booked a full furnished studio apartment for a month for 320 Aud per week.Never forget to ask for receipts. Nothing helps like black and white documents and remember they are the only proof. Beware, its a new country and new environment. Its okay to not trust people you have never met. The main things to consider when booking a temp accommodation are access to public transport, work place and cooking facilities. You will need temporary accommodation for not less than 15 days for two reasons.
a) You could not find a permanent accommodation unless you are physically present in Australia.
b) And half the list of documents (tfn, medicare, bank statements etc) you have to provide to get a permanent accommodation can be got only after you reach Australia. 

4) Packing and Moving- The complete Guide:
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Ps: The below information is from my personal research and is what I was quoted on Mar-Apr 2015. The quotes and process may vary now.
You may have to think about this only when you think you will exceed your flight baggage allowance. We carried around 100 kgs(during first landing - airlines baggage) + 120 kgs (airlines baggage) + 30 kgs (DHL Shipping-) total of 250 kgs approx. 

Shipping is majorly classified into two categories:
A. Air Freight - (Delivered in 3-5 Working days)
B. Shipping - (Delivered in 5-6 weeks)

a )Air Freight:
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Pack and Send Process (from Singapore):
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There are many companies who offers this service like DHL, Astro movers etc. All you have to do is give them a call, get a quote and finalise one. So that on the day you mention (normally 2-3 days before you leave the country), they come home with boxes, pack, weigh, give you an invoice, ask you to fill up the personal effects form,letter declaring the list of items and their value, receive the payment (which includes their charge + airport tax+insurance).

Delivery (at Australia):
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They deliver it to your address you mention in your destination country. As simple as that.
Note: You may have to pay the quarantine charges if your items go through the airport quarantine. So make sure you never pack any seeds, food items, wood materials, battery, liquids, electronics etc.

b)Shipping:
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Get quotation from all the shipping companies. Be clear about how many kgs you want. Make sure you read reviews about that particular company before zeroing it down. 
And voila !!
We chose DHL. They delivered the boxes few days prior so that we filled the box with absolutely essential stuffs (joking! i filled the 30 kgs with 1 $ coffee mugs covered it with my underwear so they don't break, and total crappy trash. Hey! but it was sentimental crap) till it showed 29.90 in the weighing scale as we paid for 30 kgs. I fixed an appointment for them to collect the box at sharp 9 AM on April 14 as we were about to leave that evening. And rest was easy peasy! We shipped the box, left Singapore, landed in Aus, and our box landed 4 days after we came here, good part- all intact. 
Nothing makes you more happy than seeing your old crappy mugs and underwear :P

5) Plan Packing:
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Oh! I can publish a book on this topic. But at the end of the day i did carry so may trash and crap.
I dedicated a whole diary writing, what to carry, what to leave, what to donate, what to sell and followed that now and then. It can be extremely overwhelming when you have to migrate your whole 6 years after living in a country, so we called Arvind s parents for help. Arvind and his parents job was to say a strict no when i take any piece of emotional crap and put it in the suitcase. But thanks to me, they miserably failed. I still have my scratched, broken, mould yet to come FIRST mobile phone my parents bought me in 2006. But Hey! its my first phone. And if i have my first phone Arvind should have his first phone too. 
And as our whole relationship story was based in Singapore, dear god we had so many firsts, so do your math. Out of 250 kgs we carried, 248 kgs was crap and 2 kgs was our certificates.  

6) Final steps:
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a)So confirm and reconfirm all your bookings including taxi, flight, baggage, accommodation. There is no enough number of times you can do this. 
b)Bid farewell to all your friends, loved ones, neighbour's dog, kiasu aunties. 
c)Schedule a post-landing table for the next 10 days. 
d) Make friends and get an idea about the place where you plan to live. There is absolutely nothing wrong in being prepared. Make a list of questions and ask them your worst fear. I did ask if there are any lizards in Canberra. It might sound silly but lizards are my worst enemy. But buy an gift for them to give when you land. Apologise sincerely for all the silly questions and not judging you. 

Ok Enough now. Leave the country already :) 
See you in Australia- The land of opportunities 

PART 9 - Vacating Singapore- Things to do when you permanently vacate a country

        It's been quite a few months since I updated anything in the blog. After 3 blissful and busy months here in Canberra, with so many ups and few downs, I have challenged myself to finish all the remaining parts of this migration episode and post it by this week.

        Here we are today, in our cosy warm home enjoying our first Canberra winter amidst friends who have become our family. God manifests in human forms –so true in our case. We met amazing people all along the way. I just cuddled a lab poodle yesterday on the streets, got a drop home from a kind lady when all I asked was for directions, a lunch invite from a random kind grandma and gifted a cute little girl a pink piggy bank who hugged me out of nowhere in the mall. Things just fell in right place. Canberra couldn’t welcome us more.

        Now back to our migration journey, this post will be covering the things to do when you permanently vacate a country. You can read the other parts of our migration experiences here.

Things to do when you PERMANENTLY VACATE A COUNTRY:
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1) Terminate all the Contracts/ Services:
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        This is the first and foremost thing we did when we planned to leave the country. Terminating requires time. So planning ahead saves from mess. This includes services like
Water, electricity, gas and garbage - (PUB), TV and Internet - (Starhub), Rental accounts etc. All this does not end in a day. Be sure to fix appointments, know the procedures and follow accordingly.

2) Pay ALL your Bills:
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        All the services in Singapore work in a contract based system. Most of the service providers charge an early termination fee, when a contract has to be terminated before its end period. And because it is Singapore, these fees would be expensive. Now, because a person permanently vacates the country, the easy and stupid option would be to escape it and make a run. But Singapore being a central hub, it is a transit for most of the countries. And failing to pay any of these fees may result in a civil case when you pass through the transit even after years. So it is safe ,best and ethical to terminate all the services, settle the bills inclusive of phone, TV, Internet, PUB, rental, Income tax, loans if any, credit cards etc. and keep the name in the records clean.

Simply put, Two reasons:
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a) Because it is the right thing to do.
b) Never risk your return to the country, even for transit.
c) Be sure that all the records are linked in some way, shared at some point and the immigration has access to them.

PS: You can sit down with the providers and negotiate these charges, providing the regularly paid bills, how loyal you have been to this provider (taking up all mobile, internet and cable-Tv with same provider for years), and your visa expiry (if that's the case), or your employer terminating your contract.

3) Revisit Memories:
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        Singapore was our second home. We started our lives there. Each corner and place in the country- we have memories and stories. We never thought leaving the country would be hard but it was terrible. From east to west, north to south we had many places, restaurants, kopitiams, temples, family, friends  to visit. We planned and printed a 60 day schedule exclusive for this, dedicated all our weekends. Ticked off one by one. I never knew reliving those moments would make up best memories. And we made personalized magnets and gifted all friends, family and colleagues. That way when they see the magnets, they remember their moments as well as us :)  

4) Back up all your data:
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        This will include photos, videos, non confidential office files, pay slips, income tax statements, monthly bank e-statements for multiple accounts, employer service certificates, offer letters, resignation letters, migration documents ,contracts etc. Dedicate a separate folder for all the countries you have lived, companies you have worked, your UG, PG, essential docs like passport, birth/marriage certs, and school/college certificates. Categorize everything to folders and make portable multiple copies of the entirety. If you update any folder, never forget to update the copies. You will never know your future needs.

5)Quitting procedures:
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        Plan your one way migration trip accordingly that you leave the country after you serve your notice period with your employer. Never skip this for these reasons.
a) It is always good to maintain a good name with the boss/ex-boss. You never know when you will need a reference/recommendation from him.
b) They might blacklist/ proceed legally by suing you.
c) Pay the salary back or the demanded figure worst case. Never burn the bridges. Think wise before you act.
        Never leave the country before you double check that all the income tax has been deducted. It is a criminal case to leave the country before paying your tax.

6) Sell /Give away your belongings:
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        Thankfully, we never bought any expensive furniture or appliances as all rented houses came furnished in Singapore. We had few cheap Ikea stuff for which I made appointments with charity and salvos. They came the day before we left the country and picked up all the clothes and other items. I also used gum tree and carousel for selling other remaining stuff. It was good fun and I enjoyed negotiating and reselling the used stuff for decent money.

7) Safe home for pets if ineligible to relocate:
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        The far most stupidest thing to do is to adopt a pet, when we are unsure of our migration plans. We were never an exception (or should I make it singular?! It was me who pursued this idea and convinced Arvind). We had a 2 year old guinea-pig named Jaangi. We loved her, she loved us and it was all a happy story till we had to give her away. The quarantine process of Australia is the most complex and strict one in the world and she was too little to undergo all this. At the end of the day, after all the drama I put up, we are just happy that Arvind's colleague who used to take care of her when we went for vacations was happy to adopt her. She resides peacefully in a happy home now.
Moral of the story:
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a) Never adopt a pet in a country you are going to live temporarily. Pets are family and they remember everything.
b) Worst case, Be sure to relocate him/her to a good happy home.

8) Take care of your Investments/ Bank matters:
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        We had a gold account with UOB, Singapore. It was easier to handle as it was paper gold. Though maintaining it was online, we wanted to close the account as we thought it would be an added risk and responsibility managing it from Australia. It never took more than 10 minutes to close the account.
        Opening an account online in any bank in Australia from any country is a no big deal for expats. So find out the bank that suits your needs, make use of the migrant banking deals, find out the exchange rates and transfer the funds early. Never put this in a hold till last minute.
        And regarding the existing bank accounts in Singapore - it being a central hub, is always better and convenient  to have one open. Opening one is never easy with all the list of documents you have to submit. So we retained Arvind's account with DBS and closed all other accounts and sub-accounts. Make sure you have the minimum balance so they don't keep deducting service charge each month. Make a last visit to the nearest branch and update your card and online banking pin. As the card is valid for 7-8 years and the banking pin is valid for 4 years. You can regularly check the account online and use it during transit.

These are the things we did when we vacated Singapore. Again this is simply our experience and may not be a complete guide. Following this post is Things to do during migration before you land permanently .
Stay tuned :)

Bye Bye Singapore- Six Awesome Years!!

Hello All :)

        We are making our final count-down. When I think about it my heart beats a little faster. After all the efforts, hopes and struggles all these years, migrating to Australia turned into a reality from a dream. After all Singapore is where my family, friends and myself witnessed my transformation of growing to a mature woman from a very dependent messy girl.

        It all started in Aug 15 2010. I was 21 years old when I landed in Singapore for my Masters at NTU with three over sized bags. That was my first big move. Back at home, with amma feeding me breakfast every morning, appa chasing my college bus to drop me everyday, sunny weather, too many temples, ridiculous traffic, best eateries, I was way too much naive, innocent, clumsy, dependent girl bought up in Trichy, South India.
     
        Its 5 years now since I landed in Sg, I completed my masters, worked as a Research Associate, got married, shifted homes, did things I thought I'll never do in my lifetime. After first two years in Singapore, I desperately wanted to escape it and preferred living in another country than here. But then, after all the experiences all these years, I feel different and now this nostalgic feeling  starts to creep in when I am about to leave. I am now a strong woman with strong ideas. I don't need someone to tell me what to do and that is what living in Singapore has taught me.

         After all, Singapore is my second home. I have explored almost every corner of this country, It is not only just a fine green clean country, but there is much more tradition and emotions to it. Of course first things first:

1) SAFETY:
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        Back in India, after 6 PM when I wanted to get a chocolate or want to go to a friends place to drop a book, my parents answer would be a very strict NO. Either my father does it for me or my mother accompanies me. Here when I have a strong craving for a hot dog at 2 AM, I just take a walk to a 7-Eleven with absolutely no fear, feeling completely safe. Of course Arvind walks with me. But that is not for my safety. No one here says 'Be careful'. Before I came here I just thought the statement- 'Nowhere is safe when compared to Singapore' is a myth. But turns out, its not!

2) FOOD HEAVEN:
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        There is something for everyone here. And of course for a foodie couple like us- what's not to love - Multi Cuisine, very reasonable prices, affordable fine- dines, extremely accessible kopitiams.. Singapore food is to die for! (needs a separate post ).

3) THE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND THE NIGHT LIFE:
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        The shops(most of them) closes at 5 PM in Australia. I am very excited that the average working hours is 35 hours a week in Canberra- one of the main reasons to migrate, so my husband-the workaholic gets to spend time with family. But everyone sleeps late here in Sg. The city is full of lights, fun and energy at night. Though we are not wild party animals, we did occasionally take advantage of the night life culture every now and then in Sg and we always take taxis back home.
      The Cabbies are knowledgeable and are trust worthy enough. As a matter of fact, all my friends who have lost something in a cab here, have always got it back no matter what it is. And I fall asleep in the cab and return home without being raped. Haters can hate me for saying this, but just stating the fact. The buses and MRT's are incredibly easy, comfortable and fast. In this 6 + years, I've never been in a bus that is not air-conditioned.

4) THE TECH-SAVVINESS:
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        One of the cool things about Singapore. There is video surveillance every nook and corner, wifi  coverage everywhere, hi-speed internet easily available, what more and what not?! Any gadgets that releases in the market, it is here the next second. People are so much into tech that every new phone release is a mini festival here. One morning all were holding iPhone 5 and the the next day iPhone 6 gets released, everyone has that. I keep wondering about the old (!!) Iphone 5's. Though, the statement "gadgets are cheap in Sg" is a complete myth unless it is got under a contract. It is affordable for Sg money but not cheap.

5) THE INFRASTRUCTURE:
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        When I landed here, the HDB blocks was like cut, copy, paste to me. Though with this transport facilities, getting to the right place was never difficult, I would be standing in the correct place and wondering which building is my destination. Something is renovated all the time- roads, lifts, HDB's, malls..It is always new, sparkly and awesome. It is always modern, clean and green. No one has seen/ bought a water filter here. You are in the washroom and you are thirsty? Just drink the tap water. Water here undergoes a high-quality treatment and purification process and is drinkable straight from the tap.
        Yes, you can't chew a gum in Singapore. But atleast you can see litter -free streets and roads, like literally litter-free everywhere.

6) THE SINGLISH :
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        Singlish: My Microsoft word does not show an error when I typed Singlish. It's there in my Word's Dictionary :P I will miss Singlish and Kiasu aunties. Ha!! This is a sentence I never thought I would say in my life. It was funny and strange when I came here. But now, after all these years I find myself speaking Singlish to aunties and cabbies at expert level.
#Can also Can #Cannot also Can lah !!!

7) LUXURY:
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        There are 5 Louis Vuitton showrooms in Singapore and people still queue up. Forget the availability, high end designer brands are affordable here. So with Singapore money and Indian economy, one could easily afford a Penthouse.

8) THE CHANGI AND THE AFFORDABLE FOREIGN VACATIONS:
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        For the successive 7th time Changi is awarded the best international airport in the world. Each time we plan a vacation, we will be so excited to shop at Changi than we are excited about the holiday. We reach Changi 5 hours prior to our departure. That is how amazing it is.
        This 6 + years, we've been to 12 + exotic locations. 2 vacations a year and its easy to cover almost all the South East Asian countries. And that's how affordable foreign vacations are.

9) LEE KUAN YEW AND HIS LEGACY:
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        Well, How was all this possible? It was all because of the foundation he laid. Virtually incorruptible, extremely transparent, highly functioning government did not jump one fine morning.
"Whoever governs Singapore must have that Iron in him. Or give it up. This is not a game of cards. This is your life and mine. I spent a whole lifetime building this. As long as I am in charge nobody is going to knock it down."
"Even from my sick bed, if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up"  - LKY
        May Singapore never forget or sqander his legacy.

So, Just a few among many things I love and I will miss. Just writing the post makes me realize how much I will miss Sg.
Farewell Paradise, Until we meet!!

The Sudden happy twist in the tale - Canberra is Calling with an awesome Job!!

Well, its time to say Hello Canberra :)

       All these days right from day 1 we were thinking about Melbourne and even made our first landing short trip to Melbourne. And then, one fine morning everything changed.

        We both randomly were applying jobs all over Australia, as ours is an independent visa (visa 189). After our surprise short trip to India this Jan 2015, the blessings from all elders and temples worked out instantly and we both were greeted with interview calls in our emails when we had landed back in Singapore. We both had skype interviews on Jan second week. And now, for the climax we both were successful. By February first week I had an offer letter for full-time Phd in Melbourne and when were about to celebrate my victory Arvind's offer came pouring in after that.

        My husband is a lark and I am not that much of a morning person. And all the good news, be this job offers or our PR or any other news for that matters comes to us early in the morning and Arvind rushes to me, wakes me with a jerk and shouts the whole thing even before I get conscious. The same happened for this and my heart skipped few beats for seconds when he told be about his offer.

        That's only when I realized we are not only a smart-working couple but we can't get more lucky for 2 reasons,

1) Our plan had always been that we would be migrating by June 2015, look for a Job and that's why we had saved money to face the migration expenses and sustain financially during the job search period. But now, we not only land in Canberra with a job, but the relocation expenses are covered by Arvind's employer too. I know its all bragging but I can't be more proud.

2) My only concern to Arvind was not to limit himself by searching only for satellite related jobs, which is current field in Singapore. To encounter more opportunities I requested him to expand his search/interests in anything related to embedded systems. But very fortunately, all thanks to LinkedIn he was able to find the same kinda defense job in Canberra too. Now, I can proudly brag that my husband works for Australia Defense Research, Canberra ACT.

        Eventually we decided to let go my Phd offer, as the purpose of this whole migration itself is to stay together and start a family. So I find it meaningless when I have to stay 500 Kms far from him. Fortunately Arvind tops my priority list. And more importantly I will be going as a student and Arvind as a full time employee with maximum benefits. So obviously we chose Arvind's path. This may put an end to my Phd and Melbourne dream temporarily, but with a supportive husband like this, I am sure that I will make myself worthy some day in Canberra too.

        Now we are all set, one way flight bookings - done, Shipping - arranged, temporary accommodation - done, Sg matters- settled, investments - closed, contracts- terminated, Packing- done. We leave Singapore on April 14 th and the date is not far away :)
Years became months, Months became days, Days became minutes and Canberra here we come.

"Good bye Singapore" post and "Things to do during Migration" post coming right away. Stay Tuned!

See you in Canberra :)

Melbourne is Calling (Part-5) - Things we did during and after stepping foot in Australia !!

        It has been two months since I updated the blog. So many exciting things - a surprise short trip to India, a dream date, few temples etc had kept us busy.Wishing everyone a happy prosperous 2015 :)
Now, back to our migration journey.My previous post was about what we did before our first landing. Here is the continuation.

        You can read the other parts of our migration experiences here.

Things we did DURING our first landing:
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1)Finish everything in our TO-DO List:
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        This was  a cakewalk. Once a plan is ready, following the plan is no big a deal. With everything accomplished, the satisfaction and the peace it gives is truly enormous.

2) Buy MYKI Cards:
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        MYKI is a smart card which serves as ticket to ride on the public transport in Melbourne. It is just as same as eZlink in Singapore or Octopus in HongKong or T-Money in Korea, except that the fare calculation was not that easy. You are charged according to different zones, tap-in tap-out types etc. The recent updated news is that the CBD area is fare-free zone (only for trams, though!)

3) Explore the departmental stores:
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        Just like NTUC Fairprice in Singapore, Melbourne has three big super market chains. For some reasons, I have always preferred a departmental store over a local market. It's an all in one place. The veggies are fresh and then there are promotions, discounts now and then, membership privileges and what not. When it's a market I spend little here, little there and lose track of the money I spend and eventually end up spending more. Buying stuffs at markets occasionally is fine though.
       To even summarize the comparisons we made between Sg and Melbourne would take a separate post. Bottom line is that it was all just what we wanted.

4) Drink all the coffee in Melbourne:
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        Forget all the awesome things of Melbourne - The trams, the sporting capital, the parks, the alleys, lanes, arcades, the coastal drives, the fed-square, the cosmopolitan feel, the museums, the Italian restaurants in Lyson Street or the Vietnamese food, the considerate people, the country feel, the top of the list for me is Coffee and the Melbourne styled artisan cafes. And what more does a coffee addict want? I had 32 coffees in 7 days and it does not include Arvind's .Those are the Best coffees I ever had.

5) Meet Recruiters:
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        The second goal of the trip. If being a foreigner and securing a job in Australia is almost impossible (Hello Bankers, not you!) getting a PR made it bit easy. Though we had few Skype and phone interviews from Singapore, for recruiters, potential candidates were those who reside there and could join immediately. So all we could do was to meet them and drop the resumes and register our faces. Overall, I would say LinkedIn helped us more than what Seek did.

6) Great Ocean Road:
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        Visiting 12 Apostles was one of my fantasies for few years recently, more like paradise falls for Carl and Ellie. So no matter how short or long the trip was, we planned to accomplish this GOR drive. And we are glad we did. The pictures speak for themselves. It is the first, best and most beautiful coastal drive we ever did together.

7) Explore the local area:
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        Want to become a pro in exploring routes, people, prices? The best way is to choose one area at a time - walk up, down, left, right for days and voila, now I know where I could get cheap or expensive ugg boots, leather jackets or cardigans, food, wine, coffee or any other products for that matters in Swanston street. It is big, but it is fascinating on what you can know, if you can walk for 8 days in an area. Though it is going to be our home, we did not want to miss the touristy look on us. We went almost to all the attractions including fed-square, MCG, Victoria market, Yarra river and many more. The best part was that we walked everywhere.

Things we did AFTER the First Landing:
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1)Thank you/ Follow up Email:
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        Networks/Contacts/Making friends- The most important part. So never forget to drop a follow-up email or a thank you note for all the times people have helped. Get in touch and get started immediately.
You don't build life.  You build people and the people build your life, as someone rightly said.

2) Start planning Phase 2:
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        Again major part of it involves research and planning. Things like packing, shipping, finding accommodation, sorting out the finances, temporary service apartments, terminating the existing contracts  in Singapore etc. Change does not happen overnight. Unless and until you plan for it.

Stay tuned for Part 6 - Our Melbourne Experiences.