Jobs prospects Australia

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm wondering what the job prospects are for SAPers in Australia (east coast). Been working in a SAP environment for the last 5 years, mostly SAP XI, ABAP, bit of MM & SD. How difficult is it to get a visa (I'd be relocating from Germany) and/or sponsor? Any feedback appreciated.
Best regards,
Sven

Answer 1

Hi Sven,
there is a good number of SAP customers in Australia so potentially there are plenty of opportunities.
Having said that there are some realities you need to keep in mind.
Firstly, business confidence in Australia is at a low point. While the Aussie economy is fairly robust and somewhat protected from the full impact of the current global financial crisis - the reality is that Australia derives a large amount of its GDP from exports, especially from the mining and tourism sectors, so downturns in the economies of our trading partners will necessarily effect us.
Secondly, Australia is a relatively large place with a relatively small workforce. This means that everyone knows everyone so reputation, proven experience, demonstrable successes are highly valuable to a prospective employer. My experience is that I have never obtained any permanent job or contract work without some sort of personal recommendation or at least introduction. The credibility of the person providing the reference is in some way more important that the attributes of the person applying for the job. This potentially makes it harder for people who have no local references to get selected.
Thirdly, partly because of the point above, consultants relocating to Australia generally find it easier to get a job with SAP Service Partners than Customers. In the current economic climate these organisations are typically looking for increasingly scarce new projects to avoid shedding staff. At the same time consultants are looking to lock in longer term engagements or even take permanent employment which again reduces potential opportunities for you.
On the upside, the general perception of the quality of SAP Consultants has greatly diminished over the past 5 years. I believe some of the reasons include...
. Many consultants have not updated their skills - they are still at 4.6C thinking even if using ECC6
. Customers have not upgraded/improved their SAP implementations - they are also at 4.6C thinking
. Service Partners have not invested in updating staff skills
. SAP Australia Consulting competes actively with SAP Service Partners for business. This means there is no trust between Service Partners and SAP so the Customers trust none of them.
In my opinion these issues, and others, mean there is a shortage of up-to-date, experienced and trusted consultants - and as a result a demand from customers for them.
So looking specifically at your skills...
.    XI - a growing area and possibly a way to differentiate Yourself.
.    ABAP - always useful, especially if you are across ABAP OO, WDA etc.
.    MM, SD - Handy skills but there are plenty of others with these as well.
I hope this helps.
Cheers
Graham Robbo