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Refrigeration / Air Conditioning Mechanic Job Advice


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Hi all

 

I am currently awaiting the outcome of my pr visa and hopefully moving to perth around July/August. I am a refrigeration / air conditioning mechanic with ten years experience. I have my offshore technical skills record (which apparently is suppose to give me a provisional license in my trade) and need to complete gap training to receive my full licence. Now with plumbers and electricians i know they struggle to get work and if they do it is at a very low rate of pay until they get their valid licenses. I was just wondering if anyone out there knows what it is like for us ref/ac trades people? I have two friends who are not pr residents and have found work easy to come by at not bad rates of pay, around $5 per hour less than i see jobs advertised. They only install air conditioning though and are not bothered about working on refrigeration. Are they just lucky or is it a bit easier for ref/ac mechanics to earn whilst gaining our tickets.

 

Any information or advice is greatly appreciated.

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  • 2 months later...
Hi all

 

I am currently awaiting the outcome of my pr visa and hopefully moving to perth around July/August. I am a refrigeration / air conditioning mechanic with ten years experience. I have my offshore technical skills record (which apparently is suppose to give me a provisional license in my trade) and need to complete gap training to receive my full licence. Now with plumbers and electricians i know they struggle to get work and if they do it is at a very low rate of pay until they get their valid licenses. I was just wondering if anyone out there knows what it is like for us ref/ac trades people? I have two friends who are not pr residents and have found work easy to come by at not bad rates of pay, around $5 per hour less than i see jobs advertised. They only install air conditioning though and are not bothered about working on refrigeration. Are they just lucky or is it a bit easier for ref/ac mechanics to earn whilst gaining our tickets.

 

Any information or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

hello James

 

just trying to get info myself on the air con work licences needed etc....

 

did you find anything out.

 

thanks

Dave

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  • 8 months later...

Thanks for the link had some useful info. Have been doing quite a lot of research into what we need to do on arrival as every time you think you’re getting somewhere another process is thrown in and boggles the mind. We have emailed numerous organisations and yet no one seems to be able to give a definitive answer!

 

My OH undertook his Vetessess in July and outcome was OTSR assessede against competencies in the UEE32211 certificate level III in Air-con and Refrigeration. The requirements were get provisional licences and undertake context training and supervised employment – did you have the same conditions?

 

Sorry to bother you but as you are now the voice of experience if you wouldn’t mind just reading over the following and seeing if we have things right. On arrival we plan to do the following steps:

 

- Contact Energy Safety to Apply for “Application for a Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Mechanics Licence” (restricted electrical licence)

- Contact ARC to apply for Training Refrigeration Licence

 

THE NEXT BIT IS THE BIT WE’RE HAVE THE MOST CONFUSION WITH

- Contact Peer Veet in SA to arrange Context Training – Although I see that you registered with Polytech in WA – we have been told that there isn’t a place in WA that will enable OH to get his UEE32211 Certificate III?? We’re also a little confused between the difference between context training and RPL are they the same thing? We really want to take you up on your advice re knowing what you’re asking for in advance so that you get the right thing – would hate for OH to end up in a 12 month course if it is not necessary

 

 

Also - Arrange to enrole on courses for:

- Construction Industry White Card

- Working at Heights

And all whilst seeking and trying to secure a job!!

Once context training is complete

Apply to ARC for Full licence

Contact TRA to get full AQF Certificate III

Please let us know if we are missing anything or if there is something we have misunderstood. If you wouldn’t mind also, roughly how much did it all cost you? And finally, how long has it taken you from arrival to full AQF qualification.

 

Hope you can help…

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You seem to have everything thing under control about knowing what you have to do. The only thing which you will not do when you get here is have anything to do which vetassess. Its all a load of rubbish about been able to carry out the training with them unless you move to SA. What you have to do is.....When you get here, contact Polytechnic West, Carlisle. If you ask to speak to Bob Boll, he's the man in charge. You explain you have the OTSR and mention any other qualifications you have? do you have other qualifications? He will then get you in and have a brief chat about work which you have done in the UK and then he will explain they can do an RPL with you. Basically they know you can do the job, so just do a series of assessments with you to tick off all competencies that are needed to gain your AQF III. The electrical is very in depth but if you get your head down with it , it is possible to do in a few weeks of starting it. The full thing took me three months, which was pretty quick. People sometimes start and don't even finish. Prices have just gone up drastically so i think you need a couple of thousands dollars now. It is tax deductible though. At this point you are probably going mad that you have spent all this money on vetassess, I know i was. You do need it though, for immigration purposes and also when i had my discussion with Bob at the beginning he said he would take me on if i didn't have it. If you check out my posts on here and pomsinoz you will find out more info you may need. I know how much of a pain it is getting info so have answered a few peoples questions in the past few months. Hope this helps.

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You seem to have everything thing under control about knowing what you have to do. The only thing which you will not do when you get here is have anything to do which vetassess. Its all a load of rubbish about been able to carry out the training with them unless you move to SA. What you have to do is.....When you get here, contact Polytechnic West, Carlisle. If you ask to speak to Bob Boll, he's the man in charge. You explain you have the OTSR and mention any other qualifications you have? do you have other qualifications? He will then get you in and have a brief chat about work which you have done in the UK and then he will explain they can do an RPL with you. Basically they know you can do the job, so just do a series of assessments with you to tick off all competencies that are needed to gain your AQF III. The electrical is very in depth but if you get your head down with it , it is possible to do in a few weeks of starting it. The full thing took me three months, which was pretty quick. People sometimes start and don't even finish. Prices have just gone up drastically so i think you need a couple of thousands dollars now. It is tax deductible though. At this point you are probably going mad that you have spent all this money on vetassess, I know i was. You do need it though, for immigration purposes and also when i had my discussion with Bob at the beginning he said he would take me on if i didn't have it. If you check out my posts on here and pomsinoz you will find out more info you may need. I know how much of a pain it is getting info so have answered a few peoples questions in the past few months. Hope this helps.

 

 

Thanks so much for this reply, it has helped loads. Why it is proving so hard to find the right answers from the recommended websites is beyond me!! I looked at some of your past posts on here and one of them was you telling me to PM you if I had any questions - must have missed that one somehow, wish I'd done that back in Jan may not have had to go through the stress of the past few weeks trying to figure stuff out! I need to register with PIO to view the others which I haven't got round to doing.

 

Sorry to be a pain but just to clarify, the OTSR says use Ee-oz to find an RTO to do context training, this site gives none in WA and the next nearest is in SA (Peer Veet). Are you saying that if we actually contact Polytechnic West instead that will cover off the context training side we need for AQF? How did you find out such vital information??!! OH does have qualifications as well, NVQ Level 1 and 2 Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning and 10 years+ in A/C - we also have access to the references we provided for the skills assessment so that should help back everything up.

 

Do you think it would be worth us contacting Polytechnic from the UK or just wait until we get there?

 

I know what you mean about Vetassess, starting to feel a bit like another way of making money but you have to do what you have to do to get where you want to be!!

 

It fills us with confidence that you say you are near completion within only 3 months, we hope to be in a similar position if possible as OH is desperate to get started. How are you finding everything now, are you quite settled?

 

You have been a godsend!!! Thanks again :biggrin:

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Hopefully this thread will stop you having to go through some of the stresses we've been through - I thought the visa bit was meant to be the hard bit but ensuring you do everything by the book but without a the book to read is proving a challenge but I think piece by piece we are getting there (with a lot of help from James!!) :biggrin:

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Bridges what did your OH put down on the vetassess to cover thr electrical to get through the assessment? I would have used my city and guilds lvl 3 but cant get a copy of the certificate anad Willesden don't go back 22 years from when I done my lvl3 so I am only applying with c&g lvl2. I have been trying to source an electrical course and wonder what other have done ?

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  • 10 months later...
Thanks so much for this reply, it has helped loads. Why it is proving so hard to find the right answers from the recommended websites is beyond me!! I looked at some of your past posts on here and one of them was you telling me to PM you if I had any questions - must have missed that one somehow, wish I'd done that back in Jan may not have had to go through the stress of the past few weeks trying to figure stuff out! I need to register with PIO to view the others which I haven't got round to doing.

 

Sorry to be a pain but just to clarify, the OTSR says use Ee-oz to find an RTO to do context training, this site gives none in WA and the next nearest is in SA (Peer Veet). Are you saying that if we actually contact Polytechnic West instead that will cover off the context training side we need for AQF? How did you find out such vital information??!! OH does have qualifications as well, NVQ Level 1 and 2 Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning and 10 years+ in A/C - we also have access to the references we provided for the skills assessment so that should help back everything up.

 

Do you think it would be worth us contacting Polytechnic from the UK or just wait until we get there?

 

I know what you mean about Vetassess, starting to feel a bit like another way of making money but you have to do what you have to do to get where you want to be!!

 

It fills us with confidence that you say you are near completion within only 3 months, we hope to be in a similar position if possible as OH is desperate to get started. How are you finding everything now, are you quite settled?

 

You have been a godsend!!! Thanks again :biggrin:

 

 

Jamesspinder83 did you respond to this question ? only reason i ask is i am now putting this list of things to do and going through all these old threads, i also see that you are in Quinns Rock which is where we are looking at so i may have to PM you about Quinns also.

Thanks

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Bridges, congrats for your OH, I bet Wayne is really happy as it sounds like it was a bit of a challenge to get there!?

 

I wonder if you're able to answer a few queries as I'm a AC engineer looking to move over too. Has he been able to find work relatively easy since arriving? How long did he have to work supervised, presumably this was at a lower rate of pay? Did you use a migration agent, and are you able to pass on their details?

 

Many thanks and congrats again.

 

Take care

Eddie

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey guys, not sure if you are in Perth now and looking for work but we are currently recruiting for Air Con / Refrigeration Technicians and thought this may be of interest? If not feel free to share it with friends / colleagues.

http://www.irp.net.au/job-search/job-details.php?Aircon+Technician+/+Refrigeration+Mechanic/in/Port+Hedland+and+Pilbara/6037796

 

We have had a number of roles with this client previously and some have gone permanent.

 

Follow the link and apply if interested or give serge a ring in our office 08 9463 3277

 

You would obviously need to be in Perth with the right to work to progress.

 

Best of luck with the moves and job hunting.

 

I have been here for nearly 3 years and love it!

 

Luke

 

Industrial Recruitment Partners

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Hey guys, not sure if you are in Perth now and looking for work but we are currently recruiting for Air Con / Refrigeration Technicians and thought this may be of interest? If not feel free to share it with friends / colleagues.

http://www.irp.net.au/job-search/job-details.php?Aircon+Technician+/+Refrigeration+Mechanic/in/Port+Hedland+and+Pilbara/6037796

 

We have had a number of roles with this client previously and some have gone permanent.

 

Follow the link and apply if interested or give serge a ring in our office 08 9463 3277

 

You would obviously need to be in Perth with the right to work to progress.

 

Best of luck with the moves and job hunting.

 

I have been here for nearly 3 years and love it!

 

Luke

 

Industrial Recruitment Partners

 

I am still in the UK but would be no good for me as I have to go back to being an assistant until I get my tickets, seems strange after 25 years of doing the job, never know I may learn something new ;) thanks for the post as nice to see fridges are required. Luke is there any point in me sending a CV to yourself or wait until we are out in July?

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  • 3 years later...

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