Overseas postings

Working for Austrade in an overseas post

Working for Austrade in an overseas post, you promote Australia’s vast export capabilities worldwide, help shape trade policy and guide Australians to international commercial success.

At post you are a bridge between the culture and expertise of Australian businesses and their counterparts abroad. With our network of contacts and market expertise, we link the people, resources, and market intelligence essential for success in the global marketplace. It will be essential to build and maintain successful client and customer relationships in an international network.

You will require the following qualities:

• versatility and adaptability are essential to deal with changing work and home environments and the resulting frustrations and culture shock
• foster connectivity of industry networks and to promote effectiveness in working across Austrade
• represent Austrade at a senior level with companies, government agencies and business groups in the region
• strong leadership and interpersonal skills, as well as a demonstrated interest in world affairs are also desirable

In some posts you will be required to manage the post’s consular and immigration tasks including, where appropriate, attached resources, passports, visas, customs enquiries and assistance to Australian nationals. 

Potential applicants are asked to please note:

The security of employment overseas has become more challenging in the past few years. The Government seeks to provide a safe working and living environment for Austrade staff and their families, but there can be no guarantee that a serious security incident will not occur. Applicants should take into account whether they and their families are able to operate in a different security environment when considering applying for positions overseas.

Employment at posts

Positions at posts are filled by:

• Australian-based Staff (A-based staff); and
• Overseas Engaged Employees (OEE)

A-Based

A-based employees are ongoing (permanent) or fixed-term employees of Austrade in Australia who can apply to be posted overseas, usually for a period of four years. Employees are not required to go on posting overseas, although some elect to do so during the course of their career with Austrade.

Working overseas is a challenging and interesting part of an Austrade employee's career. There are a number of factors relating to overseas service that potential employees should carefully consider before contemplating a career with Austrade. Potential staff should weigh these considerations carefully against the unique professional and personal opportunities and rewards that overseas service provides:

• culture shock - fitting into the local community is not always easy, even if one does speak the language
• working in difficult climates/exposure to natural disasters eg. cyclones in tropical countries
• health and security problems in some posts - eg. unhygienic conditions, limited medical facilities, criminal violence and terrorism
• homesickness and disruption to family and social life, especially for staff with children
• disruption to a spouse's career and possible loss of second income 
• education opportunities for children may not be as good as Australia and in a small number of instances appropriate educational facilities are not available
• isolation/local restrictions eg. restriction on contact and travel for women in some countries

Overseas Engaged Employees

Overseas Engaged Employees or OEE are people employed overseas by the post itself rather than by Austrade in Australia, and will be under local labour law.

Posts advertise these vacancies in their local press and run selection processes similar to those run by Austrade in Australia. To work as an OEE you would normally need to be living in the country in which you wished to work and be successful in competing for a merit-based selection process for an advertised vacancy at the post. You also need to be eligible to work in that country by meeting the local citizenship or visa requirements. The number and availability of OEE positions varies greatly from post to post.

Consular

Many of our overseas posts also have consular responsibilities and many of our Trade Commissioners carry Consul or Consul General status. Often Austrade is represented in cities or countries where there is no Australian embassy or DFAT consular presence. It is in these cases that our Trade Commissioners assume this role.

Consular duties in these circumstances are a very important part of a Trade Commissioner's role overseas, and each Trade Commissioner who holds this responsibility receives in-depth training and preparation from DFAT before starting in post.

Indicative Timing of Overseas Assignments - By Level

Below is a schedule of our upcoming overseas assignments for Austrade (A-based) Trade Commissioners. This summary will help you better plan and prepare your application for overseas career opportunities with Austrade.

Overseas Assignments Summary June 2009 – June 2013
Level	June 2009	Dec 2009	June 2010	Dec 2010	June 2011	Dec 2011	June 2012	Dec 2012	June 2013
APL7			Frankfurt Shanghai		Dubai Tokyo Washington		Bangkok New Delhi Jakarta
APL6	Kuala Lumpur				London Los Angeles Seoul Hong Kong Taipei Toronto Beijing	Auckland New York	Santiago	Osaka Guangzhou Singapore
APL5		Port Moresby	Mumbai Tokyo	Chennai Moscow	Manila	Nagoya Johannesburg Riyadh	Warsaw	Amman Beijing Fukuoka	San Francisco Milan
APL4	Mexico City	Jakarta Chicago		Guangzhou Kuala Lumpur Madrid New Delhi	Istanbul Tokyo Abu Dhabi Ho Chi Minh City	Shanghai Sao Paulo Suva Cairo	Seoul Sapporo Lima		Washington Dubai Singapore Atlanta Tripoli Paris Bangkok
APL3			Beijing			New Delhi Jakarta	Shanghai

Subject To Change - Updated 6 April 2009