What skills and qualifications do I need to work in Australia?

[MrLuke]

Hi Guys and Gals,

 

I am just trying to figure out what I need in terms of experience and qualifications I might need to be able to get a skilled migrant visa 457 and work in the industry? I currently have a years experience as a groundsman and have climbed a handful of times, will I need to do my Arboriculture diploma or will NPTC certificates suffice and are they transferable/recognised in Australia?

 

Any info would be gratefully appreciated!!

 

Cheers.

[Chris at eden]

The new chainsaw units are recognised on the RQF mainly at Level 2 and level 3. This essentially means they can be cross referenced with the EQF making them recognisable in Europe and beyond so you should be able get a job with just those.

 

I was looking a few years ago when I was climbing and they were really keen to get me out there as I had a National Certificate in Arb as well which made me more appealing to employers apparently. Mate of mine went to New Zealand with just the CS units though.

 

Cheers

[chrism3513]

do your diploma, when i came here 6 yrs ago my NPTC certificates wernt worth **** . I had to redo aus standard ones.

 

i manged to get sponsored on a 457 but that was largely relying on past experience in the industry as i had no formal qualifications. If i had a diploma would have been much easier. Defintely worth doing some proper quals NPTC is nothing really just a compitency for using various bits of equipment etc

[Chris at eden]

do your diploma, when i came here 6 yrs ago my NPTC certificates wernt worth **** . I had to redo aus standard ones.

 

i manged to get sponsored on a 457 but that was largely relying on past experience in the industry as i had no formal qualifications. If i had a diploma would have been much easier. Defintely worth doing some proper quals NPTC is nothing really just a compitency for using various bits of equipment etc

 

Whilst I agree that the diploma would be a good idea (education has to be) and of course you know more about the place than me as you work there but I would point out the following.

 

I assume as you went out 6 years ago the chainsaw units you took were the old CS units. You are correct in what you say these were competency certificates and as far as I am aware were not recognised on the qualifications framework which at that time was the NQF.

 

When NQF was replaced by QCF part of the reason was that qualifications were to become more accessible and easier to build up over time. As such the old CS units were replaced by the new city and guilds / NPTC qualifications. These were included as L2 and L3 awards on QCF and so became recognised as qualifications and assigned a relevant level. When RQF replaced QCF last year (I think) the levels transferred across so they should still be recognised as proper qualifications. As such it would be a bit ridiculous if other countries didn't recognise them as that is kind of the point of the framework at least partly. But, I suppose stranger things have happened. What would be bonkers though is that, if they accept a level 3 diploma as it is recognised by RQF and then dismiss chainsaw qualifications which are on the same framework.

 

If a diploma wasn't on RQF then I wouldn't bother, its not recognised. HCC were running an L6 like this a few years ago, the syllabus was years out of date.

 

There is a PDF to download on the AA website which gives info on arb qualifications although it still references the QCF so a little out of date, but it still does the job.

 

Cheers

[sawslinger]

The skilled migrant visa is subclass 189. 457 is an employer sponsored visa.

[Chris at eden]

Additional to the above. The following link shows how a comparison can be made between RQF and other NQF's throughout the world. There is a fee for anything outside of Europe though.

 

https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/overview

 

Cheers

[chrism3513]

Whilst I agree that the diploma would be a good idea (education has to be) and of course you know more about the place than me as you work there but I would point out the following.

 

I assume as you went out 6 years ago the chainsaw units you took were the old CS units. You are correct in what you say these were competency certificates and as far as I am aware were not recognised on the qualifications framework which at that time was the NQF.

 

When NQF was replaced by QCF part of the reason was that qualifications were to become more accessible and easier to build up over time. As such the old CS units were replaced by the new city and guilds / NPTC qualifications. These were included as L2 and L3 awards on QCF and so became recognised as qualifications and assigned a relevant level. When RQF replaced QCF last year (I think) the levels transferred across so they should still be recognised as proper qualifications. As such it would be a bit ridiculous if other countries didn't recognise them as that is kind of the point of the framework at least partly. But, I suppose stranger things have happened. What would be bonkers though is that, if they accept a level 3 diploma as it is recognised by RQF and then dismiss chainsaw qualifications which are on the same framework.

 

If a diploma wasn't on RQF then I wouldn't bother, its not recognised. HCC were running an L6 like this a few years ago, the syllabus was years out of date.

 

There is a PDF to download on the AA website which gives info on arb qualifications although it still references the QCF so a little out of date, but it still does the job.

 

Cheers

 

Information overload for me there!

 

My experience of working here is that as a minimum any arborist (as opposed to a 'lopper') would have a cert III in arb https://training.gov.au/Training/Details/AHC30810#

 

that is in contrast to my experiences of working in the UK where most people just had 30,31,38 & 39. Basic compentency tickets. So even if they have renamed / rebadged them in the UK & they are now recognised in oz (i dont know if this is the case or not) they would still not be recognised as actual arb Qualifications. I think what im trying to say is you need a minimum of cert III here to be an arborist.