Sophia Javed arrived in Australia just six months ago. An IT trainer, she brought with her years of experience, having prepared students in everything from programming languages through to specific business packages and Web page design. She is eloquent, and her qualifications are officially recognised by Australian government departments.

Before Javed boarded the plane for Sydney she was told her profession was in great demand in Australia, and she assumed she would be able to find work quickly.

"I just arrived into a dark hole, I have applied through the paper, and through the yellow pages, I am looking in all the training sections but I do not know anyone here and that makes it almost impossible," Javed explained.

According to Merryn Jones, skilled migrant placement officer (SMPO) working with the May Murray Neighbourhood Centre in Marrickville, Javed's story is common to many IT skilled migrants arriving in Australia.

"Often people who arrive have high levels of experience and technical skills, however, they are unable to find work in their field essentially because they lack local experience," Jones explained.

While lack of experience is a problem also faced by many recent graduated from Australian universities, skilled migrants are significantly more vulnerable because they are not able to apply for any government assistance while they look for work, and have to rely either on savings or family members for financial support.

Many of the skilled migrants that Jones works with are forced into work significantly below their field of expertise, or into alternative industries, in order to survive.

Originally from Bangladesh, Anil Chakma arrived in Australia in January 2001. He comes with a four-year degree in electrical engineering, and graduate studies in IT from the Queensland University of Technology.

Unable to find work in his field he has been working as a kitchen hand to support his wife and daughter, while he attempts to maintain his IT skills in his spare time.

"I have had a couple of interviews since I arrived, but there are always more candidates with local experience," Chakma said. "It is always difficult because while you are out of the industry you are losing competence."

In January this year, the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS) wrote to the Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Tony Abbott, requesting a tracking study of the Federal Government's skilled migration program.

According to FASTS executive director Toss Gascoigne, the government's claims to have alleviated the widely-reported skills shortage through increasing levels of skilled migration are flawed. Gascoigne's contention is, despite a sound skills base it is often difficult for skilled migrants to find work in their chosen field.

Thus far however, the Federal Government appears to be trying very hard to ignore the problem. Despite funding a series of disparate jobs skills programs through DEST (Department of Education Science and Training, formally DEET), it has yet to launch a tracking study of the fortunes of skilled migrants once they arrive in Australia.

Minister for immigration Phillip Ruddock has gone so far as to misrepresent research conducted in the area. In July 2001 he published a press release claiming a report prepared by Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research debunked the myth that Australia was suffering from an increasing talent deficit.

"The report goes beyond mere numbers and looks at the qualitative aspects of skilled migration," Ruddock said at the time.

In fact, the report titled Skilled Labour: Gains and Losses, stated clearly that despite registering a 3.2 percent gain in the area of computing professionals, it was unable to track the results of this intake due to a "lack of qualitative data".

Community workers and industry groups continue to tackle the problem regardless of the government's stance.

Kimberly O'Sullivan, a project officer working with Specialist Migrant Placement Officers in Sydney is in the throws of organising an "Information Technology Skills Showcase", planned for March 20, 2001.

"When I look at the sorts of skills that are apparently in shortage in Australia, and the IT skilled-migrants we have coming into the centre, there is an almost one-to-one match, but many of these people still find it considerably difficult to find work," O'Sullivan said. "The Information Technology Skills Showcase represents an opportunity for IT employers to see for themselves what kinds of skills are on offer without having to fish throughout the market."

Having already gained the backing of Fujitsu Australia, the NSW Department of Information Technology, and a host of IT recruitment companies, O'Sullivan is still looking for participants from the private sector.

"We have created a showcase representing a cross section of the IT skills migrants bring into the country, and we are hoping to create links into the private sector so that the industry becomes aware of how to access that talent," O'Sullivan said.

Will work for experience!

Realising a lack of local experience is the main stumbling block to gainful employment, many skilled migrants are willing to take up unpaid employment in either government agencies or the private sector.

Nicholas Bent, Director of Complete Industrial Engineering Solutions (CIES) is currently participating in a SMPO-driven program which provides skilled migrants looking for work experience with job placement. The program covers migrants' undertaking work experience with workplace insurance, so as to lessen the burden on potential employers.

"The good thing about the program is that the insurance is covered by the government, so as an employer you are a little more comfortable about taking the risk," Bent said.

Originally from China, Richard Shengdong is working with CIES on PC-based industrial automation, in a role Bent was having trouble filling.

"The work experience program is good because you get a chance to give people a trial, people proving themselves in a job is worth ten times any bit of paper," Bent says.

Although he concedes there is a slight language barrier, Bent believes this will not present any significant problem.

"Richard's enthusiasm is awesome," Bent says. "Mainly because he just wants a job."

However successful it has proven, not all IT-skilled migrants are able to take advantage of the program.

Pavitta Kaur, emigrated from India in September 1999. Originally an IT trainer, after arriving in Australia with a degree in Science she updated her skills locally with a diploma in information management. Despite knowledge of a raft of programming languages, she has found it difficult to gain local experience, and is willing to undertake unpaid work experience.

-The main problem is work cover insurance," Kaur explains. -I am not eligible for the programs which cover employer's insurance expenses, so it is hard to convince anyone to take me on even for unpaid work experience."

Braving a raft of knock-back letters Kaur continues to scour the papers in the hope of getting her foot in the door. Like Anil Chakma, she is looking for a chance to use her skills to contribute to Australia, but finds it hard to put on a brave face in the face of what seem at times insurmountable odds.

"Migrants don't come just to sit here, they come to contribute to the nation," said Chakma. "We are not asking to take anything away, we just need a chance to show what we can give."

Bridging barriers

Business leaders in the IT arena have openly recognised the contribution of skilled migrant workers.

With approximately 26 language groups represented in EDS' call centre operations Bruce Lin, managing director of the company in Australia, places a high value on our skilled migrants.

-The skill level of many of the people that come here on the skilled migrant program is generally very high," Lin says. -Sourcing people with specific skills and experience is still very difficult, we really need to be getting a lot more people in Australia into IT careers."

Working closely with many skilled migrants as they look for employment in their field of expertise, Merryn Jones believes the IT industry is loosing out on a significant opportunity due to a reluctance to take into account overseas experience.

-I have heard it said that overseas experience only is almost an instant disqualification," Jones said. -So we end up with network security experts stacking supermarket shelves, it is a real loss to both the migrants and the industry."

Some skilled migrants do manage to break through the barriers and gain employment based of overseas experience.

Hailing from Peru Diego Bardalez first arrived in Sydney in October 1999. As an expert in Visual Fox-pro he was well aware he was at a disadvantage, given that the language is not in wide use in this country. Nonetheless he had his resume translated and began to register it with every job seeking Web site he came across.

-Everyone was telling me to wake up to myself, saying that it was impossible to get a job at the end of the year in Australia," Bardalez said. -Then on the 14 of December I was contacted by a company that was looking precisely for someone with my skills."

While Bardalez concedes his knowledge of Visual Fox-pro provided the initial entry into the job, he also points out that his experience in systems development was crucial to his securing the job.

-If you have 17 experience developing projects, it is easy to adapt to a new challenge or learn new skills if necessary, it doesn't matter where the experience came from," Bardalez said.

Filling the Information gap

A couple of key themes continue to surface in discussions surrounding skilled migrants. Often migrants feel they have been mislead when it comes to employment opportunities before they arrive, many in the IT industry complain they are unable to adequately measure overseas experience or qualifications and finally employers are often unsure how to tap into the skilled migrant base.

Since July 1999 all migrants coming into Australia with IT skills have had their abilities and experience assessed by the Australian Computer Society, in order to establish some kind of yardstick for Australian employers. While those that are applicable are able to apply for associate membership with the ACS, there is no specific orientation targeted at IT-skilled migrants.

The lack of information available to skilled migrants applying for visa to come to Australia is recognised as a problem by many in the industry.

According to John Hughes, professor of computing at UTS numerous skilled migrants arrive in Australia only to discover that their skills base not in fact in demand.

-When I get to meet some of those people and get to hear some of those stories, I must admit I feel quite guilty as an Australia when people have been lead to believe that opportunities exist here when they don't exist," Hughes says. -Some of these people become real heroes due to their perseverance."

Hughes concedes that it is difficult to set criteria for a skills in demand in an industry which is constantly changing. However, he believes Australia could do more to inform potential migrants about the structure of the industry, focussing on the long, rather than short, term.

He also says that more needs to be done to educate IT recruiters of the value of broad experience.

-For years we have tried to point out to people that experience in IT enables people to learn quickly. Someone who has an extensive knowledge of one language is naturally predisposed to learning another fairly quickly," Hughes says. -You need to recognise more than just skills, you also need to recognise people's ability to learn new skills."

Many migrants say they would be happy with access to information about the industry before they arrive.

-When you apply for a visa to immigrate you get nothing," says Sophia Javed. -There is no information available through the embassy, so we have to find it all out ourselves when we get off the plane."

Kimberly O'Sullivan believes the up and coming "Information Technology Skills Showcase" could go a long way to bridging some of these gaps.

-Basically as long as their skills aren't being recognised we are all losing out," O'Sullivan said. -We're looking at getting employers groups, recruitment groups, industry associations and skilled migrants together so they begin to realise how much they can help each other."

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