Yes, my application to be a supply worker has finally been accepted. It is better than nothing at all! As most may know, I have completed my studies and am now in Sydney. It is said that opportunities are higher in Sydney, but so is the competition.
However the real story on the other side of the coin which always remains untold is that there is a glut of overly qualified workers in Sydney. This is so much so that even if an applicant was overly-qualified and made the cut to the top ten on the list of the employer's, they may not even get the job.
After having spent about a month of background check, I finally got called to go in for a job today. I thought it would only take one week, but that's pretty idealistic, or naive (for less of a better term). I thought I would need to get a Photo ID for security purposes, but after talking to one of the casuals, he said that its quite bothersome when working with children, as one may accidentally scratch the babies. Perhaps its just for identification purposes only.
This morning, I received two calls! I had sent my resume to three childcare staffing agencies, but only two have responded so far. I didn't want to send my resume to too many childcare staffing agencies as it might put me at risk should something untoward happened.
Today I was assigned to this centre which is a workplace childcare place set up by quite a renowned Australian bank. One would not know that the place had a childcare centre as it didn't advertise itself. The centre was part of a long line of franchaise childcare centres which has been reported to be expanding quite well.
From discussions with other casuals working in that centre, I learnt that most childcare centres will only employ one staff which has a childcare Bachelor, whereas the rest of the staff may only have a Cert III or Dip or less. They can't afford to hire ppl with a Bachelor, as it is quite expensive. By law, the pay would commensurate with the paper qualification as well as the experience.
The room that I was assigned to work was in the nursery with babies & toddlers (up to the age of 2 years). The babies are fairly easy to deal with. They don't misbehave, however they just throw up milk all over your clothes and pants and the irritable ones cry all day. Then there are the walkers who are able to walk and play but unable to speak much yet.
As I was in the room, it came to mind that one does not necessarily need to possess an undergraduate degree in order to be able to work with babies. Having the qualification only makes the most difference in terms of pay, but of course, it is better to have than to have not!
Joseph, an ex-tertiary mate of mine remarked that my pay scope is higher than his, even though he is working in IT (under contract, that is). However as I am currently only a casual, there is no job security in it. Actually, Aaron, another mate of mine remarked that he is being paid about $18 odd dollars an hour (which is similar to the childcare casual pay) just to clean dishes in Queensland. Ok, but that's two totally different circumstances altogether.
There just is a glut of employees in every position possible in Sydney. I concur.
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