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In Aus less than 2 weeks
True life: First impressions and great expectations.
SpunOut.ie had a lovely chat with long-time SpunOutter, Sean O'Toole, about how his new life in Australia is shaping up since he left Galway a few weeks ago.
SpunOut.ie: What thoughts were going through your mind the day you decided to buy your one-way ticket to Australia?
Sean: I was feeling relief mainly. I'd been trying to get to Australia for Christmas and then early January for the Tennis Championships in Melbourne and kept being held back by problems with work or problems with something else. It just got to the point where I said I can do this much in regards to this and can give a certain amount of energy to that but this is the date I'm jetting off.
SpunOut.ie: Why Aus?
Sean: I see Australia as a starting off point. It's an English speaking country on a side of the world I'm not very familiar with. I get to spend a few months here in Melbourne, maybe start working on a tan and then travel off into some other countries during work breaks. Basically, Australia is a good base for travelling around the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
SpunOut.ie: Less than 2 weeks in Australia... what thoughts and feeling are rushing through your mind?
Sean: There's been talk about some kind of Irish backpackers backlash. This has entered my mind but I've decided not to let it worry me. Six month maximum work contracts aren't that appealing to potential employers and there's been bad press of late on Irish backpackers buying their way into getting visa extensions, which leaves a lot of people on the working holiday visa with the main option of doing seasonal agricultural work in rural areas. This week I started job hunting so when I wake up I do stupid extra things like tweeze my monobrow and make sure I'm well presented.
SpunOut.ie: How do you feel about leaving Ireland? Was your decision one more of choice or necessity?
Sean: I don't miss Ireland. I didn't feel connected to or represented by the people who were supposed to be making it a country I was proud to be a part of. I do miss my hometown though. Galway remains my home and it was the greatest town to grow up in. Leaving Ireland was a choice. Leaving Europe was a choice. Starting off in Australia seems like the only necessity. I only speak a bit of French and German so it had to be an English speaking country.
SpunOut.ie: What's your advice to other young people sitting on the 'should I stay or should I go' fence?
Sean: Do your research. Be open to meeting and helping people in Ireland who come from other cultures. Stay in touch with friends who are already overseas. On a backpacker's visa, things might not always go smoothly with regards to getting jobs in cities, but then again, everyone is in control of their own situation and it's important to be organised and have budgets and fallbacks: if you're going to do something, make sure you do it with purpose, gusto and a little bit of soul.
SpunOut.ie: How the hell are we going to develop enough jobs in Ireland to get all these young peeps out of the dole queues in Ireland (no pressure or anything!)? Or should we just live and let live, accept emigration?
Sean: I don't want to ramble on this question because it's so multi-faceted. When a culture gets so greedy that it begins to eat itself, it's hard to offer a solution. Greed is one of the unfortunate modus operandi of basic human nature and on the scheme of history going round and round in circles such as the fall of Rome and the United States' Great Depression and Germany's economic downturn post-World War II, it's unavoidable. A lot of excess needs to be wiped out as much as possible and as consistently as possible. The Celtic Tiger gave Irish people job titles that didn't even merit existence in companies that were completely unnecessary. A haircut is a haircut. Shoes are shoes. Music is designer sound, which is actually just basically sound.
Young people (teenagers, school-goers) should ideally be given a set amount of places in the work force whilst they're still living at home, because they don't have rent or bills to pay and can use their expenditures on arts and entertainments to provide custom to local traders and possibly create more jobs as a knock on effect. The same could be done for other age groups and ethnic minorities. I read that Haiti increased their GDP by 2% last year despite its reputation as one of the poorest countries in the world. It goes to show that slow and simple is still progress.
SpunOut.ie: How's the job hunt going in Aus so far?
Sean: A lot of employers are really down on Irish travellers with the working holiday visa. I've been peddling my ass three times harder than normal to keep the interviews coming. Also, as for hospitality work, there's a different standard in Australia and a lot of the training courses aren't open to non-residents. After 5 years of Irish barista experience for example iI'm having to re-train to fit the Australian standard.
You can't work in a bar or pub without getting an RSA license. I'm not sure if people are made aware of most of this stuff before they leave Ireland. I only knew some of it and I researched pretty hard.
The other main thing is the bad press that Irish travellers has been getting. Turns out a lot of the reasons why I avoid a Saturday night out in Ireland are doing the same over here. Applying for work here, you really have to stand out from the crowd and get over that negative image.
SpunOut.ie: What 3 words come to mind when you think about your next year (or more?) to come in Australia???
Sean: Bronzed...beach...god
If you are interested in doing an interview with SpunOut.ie about your experience going abroad or staying in Ireland, contact emily@spunout.ie.
