Find Backpacker Jobs in Australia
How to Get Work on Your Working Holiday.
Looking for jobs for travellers in Australia? Five easy steps to finding employment in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Cairns, or Melbourne.
Visit almost any hostel in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns or Perth and you’re likely find a number of lethargic backpackers sitting around with a box of cask wine and a takeaway pizza, complaining that there just aren’t any decent jobs for backpackers left in town. Many take this advice as a given, and after a half hearted look through the job section of the local paper, give in and head up the coast to face the desperate nightmare of fruit picking.
Unless you want to work incredibly hard for very little pay, give fruit picking a miss, or at least first try these five tips to finding backpacker jobs in Australia while on your working holiday.
1. Visit Every Bar, Café, And Restaurant in Town
If you want to find a backpacker job in Australia, it’s no good dropping off your CV to whoever is at the bar. Systematically visit every bar, restaurant, or café in the city and ask to speak to the manager. Put on some nice clothes and your best smile, and ask for a job. Appearance and personality are more impressive than any CV. You may have to visit quite a few before it pays off, but eventually it will. People are always flying into a rage and walking out of hospitality jobs, and with any luck you’ll walk in right afterwards.
2. Check Hostel Notice Boards
This may seem like an obvious one, but nothing restricts you to only checking the notice board in the hostels in which you’re staying. Look around the city, visit a few hostels and make notes of the ads on their boards. Lot’s of backpackers in Australia find jobs in this way, many of which are flexible, tax free, and cash in hand. Bus stations also have notice boards in some towns and are worth a look.
3. Look Out For Events
With great weather all year round, there’s always some event or other at which to find work such as music festivals, summer fares, bank holidays, or historic celebrations. Find out what’s going on and aim to hit town a couple of weeks before. Working at events is a great way to gain free entry, meet a bunch of people, and top up your dollars before skipping town.
4. Agencies
A quick internet search will highlight a few pages full of recruitment agencies offering backpacker jobs in Australia. For peace of mind you might like to contact one such agency before you arrive. You can find out what’s available, apply, and maybe even secure a job before stepping foot down under. However if you do it this way, you will then be committed to your backpacker job before you arrive, and of course lose out on all the fun of finding it for yourself.
5. Make Contacts
You’re going to meet a lot of people on the road in Australia, many of whom will at sometime have been working on the sunny continent. Ask for tips and contacts, gather names and numbers, and by the time you hit the cities you can punch a few digits, say “I know so and so” and be employed before you can say, “There are just no jobs for backpackers in Australia”.
Have you got your visa already? Find out what you need to know about the Australian Working Holiday Visa.
Or find out how to get paid to travel.
