Six Lessons From My Immigration Journey to Australia
My personal story of immigrating at age 40+ and rebuilding my marketing career from scratch.
Reading time: 7 min
Every growth requires an exit from your comfort zone.
And that’s okay. What we weren’t told is how painful growth is and how much it can break your bones. So, if you are about to start your immigration journey, it would be great to get instructions from someone who has already made all the mistakes, so you don’t have to repeat them.
My husband and I took our three kids and five bags and moved from Serbia to Perth, Australia, five years ago. Almost 13,000 km long trip to start my Master of Marketing and try to build a new life.
It wasn’t just moving to another city.
Or state.
Or continent.
No, it was a complete, overwhelming, and challenging turn in our lives.
Back in Serbia, I worked as a marketing specialist at a renowned marketing agency and was a parenting influencer, while my partner was a manager. We left everything we had in our home country—our good jobs, family, and social connections, to jump into the unknown.
But, the time that was the most challenging in our lives was also the most rewarding — we were forced to go out of our comfort zone and grow in ways we couldn’t imagine before. And believe me, we are resilient and tough, having been born and raised in war-torn and economically and politically ruined Serbia.
Today I’m sharing with you some of my most significant learnings from this pathway. Here are six lessons from my immigration journey to Australia:
1. You really need real, local work experience.
You have to.
Completely local experience.
No one will look at your resume and count your international experience. You can be a star in Europe, but if you don’t have “Aussie” work experience, it’s almost impossible to find a job. When I came to Australia, it was devastating to learn that professionally, I’m starting over again. No one cared about my marketing experience, my big international clients (Pampers, Always, Coca-Cola), or my blogging experience. After 15 years of my career, I was at the 0 level.
A hard pill to swallow.
But, it taught me the lesson: You’re not your work. Nor your career. You’re much more than that.
So, I started from the beginning. I volunteered, did study-related work experience, and worked 12 to 15 hours per day as a — cleaner.
2. You’ll probably work a shitty job at the beginning
So, imagine, here I am, in Australia:
* My entire family is on my student visa
* I have limited working rights,
* On top of my work to put bread on the table, I have a full-time study for my Marketing and Innovation Management Masters Degree
* I don’t have any local work experience
* My English is quite bad
Finding a job in these circumstances took really hard work. So my husband and I did the only thing we could do without any employer hiring us—we started our local cleaning business.
These three years of our cleaning business were an enormously rewarding experience. I wrote about the biggest (marketing) learnings from that experience in the article below:
Three most valuable marketing lessons from my local cleaning business
3. Be patient and earn your references
Despite my qualifications and experience, I faced rejection after rejection. It was frustrating, demotivating, and, at times, disheartening.
But I didn’t give up. I kept pushing, applying for jobs, trying to build a new network, and working various jobs to get experience. Slowly but surely, I started to receive callbacks and even job offers. I was over the moon when I finally landed my first job in marketing.
Finally, I got recommended by my cleaning client to the agency that helped me land a full-time marketing job at NewTechWood. Both my marketing jobs in Australia were the result of recommendations and referrals.
4. Your visa class IS important
Although I wanted to acquire more knowledge about marketing, my primary motivation for my master’s study was to get a visa for Australia and eventually become a permanent resident. However, my student visa has been limiting us—I didn’t have full working rights or health insurance. On the other hand, since I was studying for my master's degree, my children enrolled in school for free.
But, the biggest hurdle was that we’re on a student visa, which is considered temporary; hence, no employer will take you seriously and consider you for any high-level job. That’s why my partner, a mechanical engineer, could never find a job in his occupation, although it was placed on all priority lists. Many Australian highly educated immigrants share a similar story.
So, before immigrating, plan wisely for what visa class you aim for and what opportunities you can provide. Also, imagine your pathway to a permanent visa or residency. Pay for a professional visa agent, but also learn whatever you can about the entire process to plan your future life.
5. It’s essential to integrate into the new society
It’s not just your job. Everything is new. The first few months in Australia were a rollercoaster of emotions. The excitement of being in a new country, the fear of the unknown, and the stress of settling in a new place were overwhelming. Finding accommodations, opening a bank account, enrolling kids in school, and getting a phone plan were the first things on my to-do list, and they took a lot longer than I anticipated.
Be prepared for a culture shock. Integration sounds much easier than the harsh reality of you trying not to sound silly while speaking a language you don’t know well, having a so-called tick accent that you feel embarrassed to speak, having a completely different mentality, habits, and way of life, and having distinct traditions, celebrations, and ways you spend your time.
But, one of the most significant rewards of immigration is that you enrich your life with all these new people, their habits, ways of life, traditions, and celebrations. You’ll build a new life and enrich your personality in many ways. That will help you feel like the new country is more like another home. Sadly, the majority of domestic people prefer integration over a multicultural country (Australians do, for sure):
Australians overwhelmingly think that having a multicultural society is a good thing, but only if people who immigrate here adopt “Australian” values and integrate.
Let me tell you: you'll double up on everything—experiences, fun, friends, and networks.
Lucky you!
6. You don't start from zero. You start from sub-zero
Remember: When you settle in a new country, you don’t start from zero. You start with a big minus. So, don't compare your current earnings, social status, or life balance with the one you just left. Compare it with your previous beginnings.
We were 40+, with three kids, a significant debt, and $50.000 needed to finance my studies. We didn’t have a job or savings and lived in one of the most expensive countries.
I still remember:
Your entire being is falling apart. Well, the truth is: that you have to fall apart. Then, even without noticing, you combine all these pieces, build something completely new, and start living your best life again. The most difficult but most rewarding journey.
My story is unique. Yours will be too!
My journey was challenging. It still is.
Settling into a new country takes time and patience, and it’s essential to surround yourself with positive people who can support you through the process. I was lucky to have a great support system from my family and all the new friends we acquired.
As I reflect on my immigration journey, I am grateful for the experience, the lessons learned, and the growth that came with it. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
Be ready for anything!
We still don’t have permanent residency in Australia, and we don’t know for sure how our lives will look in the next five years. But, boy, we have learned so much, and we wouldn’t change this life experience no matter what.
My advice is to stay positive, persistent, and open-minded for those embarking on a similar journey. Please take advantage of all the opportunities available, whether networking events, volunteer work, or internships.
Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, try new things, and most importantly, never give up on your dreams.
Why am I writing this?
The decision to confront my fear of the unknown was the catalyst for all the beautiful things in my life.
Do you know I’m at the beginning of my new side-hustle journey? I’m documenting the entire process so every future marketing solopreneur can learn from my mistakes and winnings.
Thanks for reading. If you want to read more marketing insights from me, subscribe to my Substack Newsletter — Marketing Fairy, or follow me on LinkedIn.
The Marketing Fairy recommends:
Canva: graphic design
One of Perth’s most famous tech startups, Canva, is well known to anyone who wants to design something but finds Adobe tools too complex and expensive. It makes it easy for non-designers to create beautiful graphics for their marketing materials.
Canva has a great range of templates, tools, and design elements, even images and videos, helping you design decent marketing materials, even with little or no design knowledge.
My insights:
I’ve been using Canva for years, and although I’m pretty untalented in graphic design (luckily, my oldest daughter is studying Graphic Design :)), I have improved to the point where I can produce decent-looking social media posts.
I love Canva very much, as it makes designing jobs so effortless, even if you use just their free option. The paid Canva plan is money well spent, given everything you get for $119.99 per year!
A quote that matters:
"You only need to know the direction, not the destination.
The direction is enough to make the next choice."
James Clear
If you want to share your feedback on my writing or this newsletter, please reach out to me at angelina.radulovic@gmail.com
I'll speak to you soon,
Angelina, Marketing Fairy
This is such an inspiring story! I would also never trade this experience, regardless of how hard adjustment has been.