As many of you may know, I have my own secretarial business which I hope will travel with me to Oz and keep me busy.

I was just wondering whether anyone knows if I will need to convert my HNC, NVQ and RSA qualifications or need any kind of skills testing, or whether it doesnt matter for this type of work?

Also, is there a lot in the way of office work around Adelaide?

Hi Bridie

I've never had any problems getting secretarial work but my assignments were all temporary due to my visa restriction at the time. I'm fully qualified and have NVQ level 4 but the agencies tend to test you on their machines (like all agencies do). Look at www.careerone.com.au to check out the different secretarial jobs. The average hourly rate is between $16.50 and $20.00 per hour or between $32k and $45k a year.

Michelle

HI Bridie
I don't get any fancier than an RSA 3 in typing taken when I was 18 - all the rest is experience!

The agencies put me through my paces on Microsoft packages, like PG says, using a program that asks you to do each thing then when you've done it, moves on to the next question - eg, highlight the title, cut the title, paste the title into somewhere else - working up to all the fancier aspects of Word, Excel, Access, whatever parts they've arranged for you to do. My main problem was that I kept getting things marked wrong because it wouldn't accept the keyboard shortcuts I use all the time!!

Hi Elaine and Michelle
Thanks for that! ;)