Making it overseas
Is the best way of being successful in Australia not be here at all? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Lee Zachariah speaks to Aussies making it big abroad.
I always wanted to work in New York,” says Julian Cole. “I thought it was the number one place to work in advertising; a lot of the best campaigns were coming out of there. So I moved over and was lucky enough to have a couple of interviews in the first couple of weeks.”
Cole’s story is indicative of the somewhat contentious idea that the best way to be successful in Australia is to not be in Australia any more.
Many professionals across film, television, journalism and advertising have made the move overseas, leaving family and security behind in search of new opportunities.
Absolutely agree. Couldn’t find a job in the film industry in Australia in my early 20s. No one would give me a chance without any experience, so when I was 25 I moved to Toronto to seek more opportunities in film. I didn’t know anyone or have a job lined up. Within a month I scored a good job with the film festival, then moved on to a Marketing Manager role at Canada’s leading indie distributor. Stayed there for 3 years, then moved to London just to experience living there. Didn’t have a job lined up either but within a month I found similar work at another leading indie distributor. Just returned to Australia a few months ago and quickly found work in distribution. It is funny that I had to go overseas to get all this experience in order to get work back home. I wonder if I would have ever got a start in film here if I had not left, but there just aren’t as many opportunities.
Would be interested to read a follow up article about people who have returned to Australia after living overseas and see how that has turned out for them.
Hello LH,
Thanks a great idea. Keep an eye out for it in Encore in the coming months.
Cheers,
Brooke – editor of Encore
I know a few people who have gone to the USA to work and they make a lot more than they are paid here, so if they come back, they have to accept a big pay cut.
That’s hard to do.
Plus they have to work on much smaller pieces of business here so not as appealing to them.
I reckon some of them will never come back.
Great article, and I can’t recommend more highly the benefits or range of life and professional experiences you can experience from working abroad.
Sadly the return to Australia isn’t as enjoyable, as I and many others have discovered. Whilst there are some notable exceptions, there’s only a very small appreciation for the benefits that international experience can deliver in Australia once you return.
Various concerns seem to constantly get in the way of seeing how much you can contribute to the agency and client businesses locally. No matter how hard you explain your desire and interest to do the work, Australian employers here are renowned for throwing up small-minded barriers to overcome because they can’t pigeon-hole you as someone who’s taken a more traditional career route locally.
From worrying that you’ll be bored to not believing you’ll hang around after taking a pay cut, to concerns about your minimal local network or – rather amazingly – a twice stated belief that international experience isn’t applicable here because Australia is apparently so very unique.
A particularly strong memory I have is of a response I received from the Managing Director of a large, blue chip agency in Sydney after we’d amiably discussed my CV in detail for over an hour. I’d worked harder than I’ve ever known across a wide range of brands and client industries. In my more recent years working internationally, I’d been responsible for the allocation and expenditure for many millions of production dollars across multiple territories, as well as the strategic direction of the brand and recommendations for the allocation of tens of millions of media dollars globally. He smiled and said to me, “Well I think it’s great that you’ve been out to experience the world and had a bit of a holiday. I guess its now time to start your career from scratch again in Australia”.
This kind of insularity, on both client and agency side, in Australia can be difficult to tackle or stomach upon return.
Nice article, the ring of truth audible in every paragraph.
We used to refer to it as O.E, I guess that’s an archaic term today, but the “Overseas” and the “Experience” still applies.
Earlier this month (15thMay) a magnificent tenor by the name of Albert Lance (pronounced Alber Launce) died in the south of France at the age of 86.
His real name was Lance Ingram (pronounced Lance Ingram) and he was born in Menindee South Australia.
He studied at the Melbourne Conservatory of Music and sang in cafes and night clubs, before getting a break with the opera company in Melbourne in the early 1950s
He went to Paris for O.E and was snapped up by the Paris Opera where he remained principal lyric tenor for the rest of his days.
In my tired old case, though born in England, in my professional life I am substantially a product of NZ and Australia; having worked both in the UK and America, I can say without hesitation that Australian actors have a wider range of experience and more frequent employment than their counterparts in either of the countries mentioned.
The major difference, and this is both substantial and as static as Mt Kosciuszko, is the professional approach to the art form, which explains, at least in my own mind, why Australian actors and opera singers go overseas and do so very well, and in many cases, never return.