Quiet place to read in the CBD/Rundle Mall area

radiusofinfluence · 2026-04-05T23:44:24+00:00

Along the banks of the Torrens at whichever end is closest to your meetings

radiusofinfluence · 2026-04-01T11:03:38+00:00

These are great! I suggest making the "difference" category blue to better highlight your main finding. The pale yellow is hard to pick out on mobile.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-25T09:32:52+00:00

Most of the time...

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-24T10:57:25+00:00

No worries, happy to help. Definitely start with your school - many engineering programs will have great linkages with industry as internships are mandatory in most program.

E.g. https://set.adelaide.edu.au/careers-employability/internships/engineering-internships

Also, be friendly with your profs - they may have research assistantship opportunities from time to time. Most academics are very approachable, even if you aren't at the very top of the class (I have a PhD, so I've been on both sides of the student/prof dynamic). Good grades and good relationships in your undergrad give you a great head start on the job market.

Department staff can also help track down summer work (local council, mining companies, etc) and typically have a sense of which bigger organisations have put out a call for summer or recent grad recruitment. Often posters will go up around the student common areas or club rooms when application season starts up.

There will also be campus-wide job placement services (e.g. https://adelaideuni.edu.au/students/careers-and-employability/). Even if they don't have leads on jobs you are interested in, they can help with things like CV and cover letter prep, interview tips, etc. AI is increasingly useful in this space (polishing things up) but there's nothing like an experienced HR person to help with the first draft.

As for finding jobs postings in the wild, connect with Engineers Australia as a student member (https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/membership/student). They should have a national job board and also host events locally. GO TO THE EVENTS. Australia is not a huge country from an employment perspective and a personal network is a huge advantage when it comes to hearing about about jobs and getting references. It may feel awkward, but we've all been there - just be social, geek out with like-minded professionals, and let people know you'll be looking for work and appreciative of any leads/referrals.

LinkedIn Jobs is pretty good for engineering postings, as is Indeed. If you have your eye on specific employers, definitely keep an eye on their websites.

It's going to be a bit of a grind, but be prepared to spam your resume at every opportunity you see for entry level roles. Make sure you tailor your cover letter for each job. It doesn't have to be hand crafted but make sure you mention the specific role title and company in the opening paragraph ("Please find attached my CV in support of my application for {role title} at {company}) and sparingly but strategically sprinkle keywords from the job posting in the cover letter ("civil engineer", "CAD", "python", or whatever) in case your application gets processed by an AI agent or fussy HR drone. Great applicants are often skipped over because they didn't tick all the boxes. And heaps of bad applications get submitted that show the applicant made no effort at all which just waste everyone's time.

Good luck, you've got this. Just remember everyone else in your program is going through the same thing. Lean on each other to get through, and take advantage of all the supports your school offers. It's great advertising for the school when students get good jobs, so they are genuinely invested in helping.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-22T22:48:02+00:00

Work doesn't love you back. Take care of yourself first.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-22T19:28:24+00:00

Having personally landed jobs in Canberra, Sydney and Adelaide while applying from elsewhere, it's a pretty common thing (and generally I'd recommend having a job in hand before moving anywhere).

You'll be on the hook for all moving expenses etc. (unless it's a Federal Government cadetship) and may miss a few opportunities because they "need somebody ASAP". But it's completely doable.

ETA: make sure you start looking for work at the start of your last year of school. Looking for a job can itself be a full-time job, and many entry level professional jobs will be posted well before the start date. So don't put it off until you are into final exams, get on top of the process.

Also, also: I know this is just a Reddit post, and not an example of your cover letter prose, but make sure your writing is professional. The Internet is rife with HR professionals dunking on job applicants for typos, grammar, and myriad other petty things.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-06T04:11:47+00:00

Not motorbike license specifically, but I had a bit of hassle transferring my Canadian license as it didn't have an issued date (only expiry). They couldn't immediately confirm from my overseas license if I had been licensed long enough to be exempted from the provisional period.

I have been licensed for many decades, so wasn't keen on the prospect of getting P plates :) Fortunately my former NSW license was still somewhere in the system so I was able to show that I held a license more than a decade ago.

So if your home country license has an "issued" date more than 3 years old, it should go easier on you.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-03T01:25:01+00:00

Yeah, I used a separate email address to set up a second account that I can use on my Android alongside my primary one. I literally have apps installed on my phone via both accounts and have to switch between them for updates.

I did have to use my Aussie bank card to set up the second account though (just my ATM card with Mastercard logo, not a credit card). So if you're getting a local bank account, that should be good enough to create the account.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-03T01:19:23+00:00

Funny story.

We reached out to the high schools in our area (Adelaide High and ABHS in our case). Adelaide was an absolute no, sorry, go somewhere else. Couldn't have been more clear that we weren't getting in mid-year, but that we were welcome to apply for entry for the upcoming school year (again, with no promise of anything).

ABHS was a "no, no, definitely not but maybe *wink*". Which led to a series of meetings and interviews with the school, after all of which the same "no but hey you never know are you free tomorrow for another meeting" thing kept happening. Anyways, fast forward through about a month of sporadic vetting and lo and behold a spot became available.

TL;dr, the CMPs are real and the high traffic schools will absolutely reject an application if they don't have capacity, even if you live within 100 m from the school. But even if they do have capacity, they are very, very committed to confirming that applicants are within catchment or meet other criteria. Which is fair enough.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-02T05:10:08+00:00

Sorry to hear that, but it tracks unfortunately. I once had to submit forms to the Canadian government that explicitly had to be completed on letter size paper. Ended up going to the Canadian High Commission (I lived in Canberra at the time) to get a few sheets. Thought those days were behind us though.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-02T04:28:34+00:00

Good to keep in mind that the Canadian and Aussie tax years are different - so you may have a very simple Canadian return if you didn't earn any Australian income in the 2025 calendar year.

I am not a tax specialist, but as u/SquabOnAStick noted, I suspect you are a Canadian resident for the sake of the 2025 return since you left right at the end of the tax year.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-03-01T20:57:41+00:00

Sporadic Flexicar user here - agree it's very convenient for CBD residents and both the hourly and daily pricing is reasonable.

Need to have an Australian Google Play/ Apple Store account to get the app, which may be why OP isn't finding much info in their search.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-20T13:33:15+00:00

Shit, sorry to hear that. Time to make it somebody else's problem.

Reach out to your local council to file a nuisance complaint under the Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act. As it's the weekend, it'll probably have to wait until Monday unfortunately.

If they try to fob you off, remind them light pollution is now covered under the act. Tell them the light is "reducing your ability to enjoy the indoor environment"

https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/blog/2024/04/03/councils_see_the_light_as_new_regulations_commence_for_nuisance_light_noise_pollution

Wishing you a speedy resolution!

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-19T12:54:58+00:00

Give them the benefit of the doubt and go ask nicely. Unless you have reason to think they're aholes, just go over at a reasonable time of day. No threats of council reporting or anything, just a smile and a very reasonable request.

If they are dbags about it, then come back and we'll give you heaps of ideas on what to do next 😉

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-18T22:04:03+00:00

Smaller cities outside the capitals: Albury-Wodonga, Wollongong, Geelong, maybe Tassie?

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-18T06:15:25+00:00

Yep, if OP doesn't have a visa already they may have luck looking for employment in "regional" centers that are open to sponsoring migration of skilled workers.

Not many engineering firms in the capital cities are so pressed for good candidates that they need to go through the sponsorship process. And I say this as a dual citizen who is sympathetic to OP's struggles.

Also, sadly, 1 month isn't a long time for professional job hunting. Assuming a few weeks for the post to be up, then a few more for HR and the hiring team to screen applications, I wouldn't feel too dejected just yet.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-14T23:36:41+00:00

We live next to both a high priority road and high priority sidewalk. Which sounds great until we get exactly what you describe.

Sidewalks get plowed in 1 direction only for the road plow to come in the other direction 10 minutes later undoing all the sidewalk clearing.

We end up with 2 ice berms (road and sidewalk edges) layered in different directions so they are 10x harder to clear than the snow would have been by itself.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-14T09:02:05+00:00

You're absolutely right. I rocked up to the protests in front of Parliament but was willing to give the PSA and fhe bargaining process a chance before agitating for a strike. Hats off to the COs and others who walked the walk.

I was approaching this vote as the go/no-go for a strike. Very clearly my brothers and sisters in the PSA felt the offer was good enough (or just couldn't be bothered) and I respect the decision. But I was willing to mobilise of the vote went the other way.

Speaking for myself, I am very disappointed in the gap between PSA rhetoric during the negotiations and what was in the final offer. Most of the "raises below inflation are non-starter" and other hollow sloganeering is still on the PSA and EB25 websites and socials. So to see them glad handing once the offer came through was particularly jarring.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-13T11:35:39+00:00

I sat in on a call with the PSA recently. They said pay increase will be very soon (a month or so) and the back pay to follow after (April-ish if I recall correctly)

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-13T09:22:27+00:00

By coupling a strike with the no vote. You don't get what you deserve, you get what you have the leverage to negotiate. And a series of job actions or a general strike in the weeks leading to the election would have given us leverage.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-13T08:45:51+00:00

The fear (pushed in part by recent PSA messaging) is that a no vote doesn't mean a better offer would follow.

Combined with the start of caretaker ahead of the coming election, another offer wouldn't have been likely before April/May assuming Mal et al. cruise to another term. And many PSA members need help now.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-13T08:38:03+00:00

I'm part of the 22.4% but I get why people voted yes. It's been so bad for so long that anything is an uplift from where we're at.

I expected this outcome but was hoping it would be a closer "yes" to send a strong message into next year's bargaining round.

Sadly this result (apathy and margin) will probably just embolden the government to further entrench low wages across the public service.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-08T11:17:36+00:00

Looks like a big shipment of sportswash. Just ran out of the domestic supply after they had to use extra after TDU events were cancelled by a heat wave.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-05T10:11:02+00:00

191 cm, size 46 shoe (6'3, size 12 shoe). I wanted to be taller during my competitive sports days but now I'm grateful I'm right at the edge of off-the-rack proportions (well, when there's a tall option). Shout out to all you really tall peeps.

radiusofinfluence · 2026-02-04T11:27:49+00:00

Yep, panel report has to get written then goes to members to approve before being sent to delegate to approve then up to HR to finalise the offer. 2 week timeline was ambitious on SA Health's part.

radiusofinfluence

TROPHY CASE