My engineering recruitment colleagues in sunny Australia have asked me to find qualified senior design engineers or experienced design managers or above with practical UK rail expertise - I said it was a piece of cake.

My role is helping engineers and construction management people make international career moves, especially with getting the right opportunity. I can relate, having worked in several different countries, and it can be daunting when you are assessing your options from the other side of the world.

I recently got back from down under, and I have to say one of things that struck me more than anything was just how much happier people in the street seemed. Admittedly I was mainly in the centre of larger cities, but there was a genuine pep in the vast majority of men and women's steps.

My Australian colleagues are a little more conservative than me and don't ever hesitate to give me a ribbing for being in my tracksuit for our early morning Skype calls (I do these from home before my three kids wake up) to discuss the options for the candidates who are looking at opportunities - organising interviews and feedback - we work in both directions and are focused on the transport industry right now.

Building, Engineering and Construction people based in the UK or Ireland, contact me for advice (I actually talk to people and meet them if they are serious about a move). I think as well as exclusively recruiting in their sector, this is because I am originally from New Zealand and my company has several offices around Australia and New Zealand. I say what I think and try to understand their objectives or what they want from life/their career.

Why Australia - It's Sunny, Safe and Engineers Are Valued

The sunny outdoors lifestyle, relaxed culture, safe environment for raising children and booming infrastructure development make for an opportunity worth investigating further because people move across the world for a better life.

As a long term regular visitor to Australia with many friends and family from both sides who have moved there or been born there - I am a fan. It's a country that has been built on immigration and the ambitions of those who made it home.

And please don't mention this to any Aussies, but I actually like Australians - regardless of what the rest of the world thinks - they are OK by me. Seriously, they are mostly pretty relaxed and seem to be going ahead in a country that has grown up so much in the past couple of decades. It is so liveable for professionally qualified people and they seem hell-bent on making it even better (not just for Rail Design Engineers, but for the wider population).

The education system is world class as evidenced by a contribution of over $21 Billion per year to the wider economy from the education sector. The country's students are regularly rated in the top 10 internationally for the traditional international comparisons in maths, science and reading - I hear they think they are pretty good at sport too - but there certainly is a well balanced life for kids.

Where there is growth - there is opportunity and the state funded/led infrastructure boom is driving the economy by putting money in through employment, speeding up the transport systems which enhance the quality of life as well as commerce.

Australia, especially urban Victoria and New South Wales, seem to be so desirable to live and work in, and there is a self sustaining level of growth from immigration (there are over 1 million UK citizens in Australia).

With the CrossRail and numerous other major rail construction projects over the past couple of decades, there are many UK based engineers who would be able to make the move successfully to a place where their efforts are recognised and their professional contributions valued.

Most of the prime opportunities are working on projects based on the East Coast (Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane plus wider regions within their respective states eg Northern New South Wales Coast) with a range of both specialist engineering consultancy and multidisciplinary firms vying for the work and the experts to deliver it - we are here to assist with the right move which should be a managed process with options to choose from.

Are you eligible to Work in Australia?

You will need to have arranged the right to work in Australia - the Government immigration website is HERE.

To find out if you are in demand or to get an idea of the opportunities that might be open to you, contact me discreetly with your CV and a few thoughts about your plans and how I can help.

To get a quick start on the CV if you haven't got too many offers to deal with yet - read this quick guide to HOW TO DESIGN A GREAT CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING CV.

Prime Opportunities

Some of the opportunities relate to the following projects including:

Work is well underway at the ARTC progressing all 13 stages of the 1,700km Inland Rail project, for construction to begin as early as the second quarter of 2018. A 2017 government injection of $8.4 billion in equity funding had put the project team into “full-on delivery mode”. This connects Melbourne and Brisbane.

Many engineers are great at doing the work, but struggle to effectively sell the value they bring in a way that optimises their own career opportunities and the associated remuneration. For example, getting your CV in front of the right person in a way that they choose to engage is much harder than just submitting online (usually 95% failure to get the job).

Light rail had a milestone towards being in operation with the first new vehicles arriving recently in Sydney. Work continues in the design and construction in multiple locations. The engineers involved continue to build their careers.

Engineers are especially prone to fall behind with the "getting out there" aspects of promoting oneself while working as a busy professional doing a day job. It is impossible to provide the time investment necessary to develop the depth of understanding of opportunities in the market or to access the cultural fit of an organisation to ensure a successful move.

This is a pity as many remain stuck in the status quo despite having so much more to offer, but they are unable to see the way forward in a world of faceless internet job sites and endless exposure to electronic rejection.

BIG Projects

The heavy track side of things has lots going on too with the Victorian freight Murray Basin Rail Project with over $400M of work is focused on building the freight capacity locally.

One of the biggest projects in the world currently is the Melbourne Metro Tunnel - over $10 Billion value with thousands of jobs, including two 9km tunnelling works and also all of the associated station packages.

Brisbane’s $5.4 billion Cross River Rail and southeast Queensland train corridors are expected to generate more than 100 development projects along their routes.

Of course we can't forget the Sydney Metro going under the harbour (next time you are in the rain think about the Opera House or Sydney Harbour Bridge).

One of my colleagues in New Zealand (which is near Australia) sent me an email about what people considering moving around the world needed to do before applying, so they don't waster their time (or others) - A LETTER FROM NEW ZEALAND - CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PEOPLE WANTED.

There are opportunities for all aspects of work including signalling design, precast operations, site engineering, cost management, scheduling and project management, but right now we want design engineers with UK design management experience. And don't forget the sunny lifestyle.

We provide an exclusive career advisory service to UK/Irish qualified and experienced engineers (or returning Australians or New Zealanders) wanting to investigate their options in a move to the Australian or New Zealand outdoor lifestyle.

This is limited to those working in the built environment with special attention paid to civil design management and above people. Rob Law Max Recruitment has been operating as a premium career and recruitment service since 1985 - working internationally - exclusively in the Engineering, Property and Construction Sectors.

You can get confidential personalised feedback and start an initial chat with a locally based consultant with over a decade of recruitment experience (we meet candidates in person in our monthly UK and Ireland recruitment tours). Contact myself, Will Mallard at willm@roblawmax.com to start the conversation discreetly.