VIC

On 3 November, Origin announced that it had acquired a 51.55% interest in the Otway gas project in western Victoria from joint venture partner Woodside for $712.5m.

Did you know that relocating your home rates in the top five major stressors in life? If you are contemplating relocating to take advantage of this next boom, there are a number of steps you can take to significantly minimise the stress.

Much of the stress revolves around the huge amount of change that a relocation entails. It impacts all areas of your life - both personally and professionally.

We are often emailed requests for information that is already available from the site. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of the website:

• Register to receive blog alerts for your preferred role types (eg ‘blue collar’, ‘professional’ etc) and in the States you wish to target. This means you will receive email alerts every time a blog matching these category types is posted.

Last week, we indicated that we would feature specific and real-life examples on successful job search strategies. This week, we feature Sam, a civil engineer with six years experience, who has provided us with one of the most outstanding accounts of job search success. Whilst Sam only moved to Australia some six months ago, anyone can take pointers from his approach to plan their next career move.

BHP Billiton has awarded Boart Longyear the Olympic Dam ‘Vendor of the Year’ prize.

Boart Longyear general manager of Asia Pacific Drilling Services Diane Bettes said the company is pleased to have received the award from BHP in recognition of its safety programs and client services.

Bettes went on to say “this award is the result of the hard work and dedication of our employees at Olympic Dam.”

MMG announced today its commitment to develop three major projects:

MMG Chief Executive Officer Mr Andrew Michelmore said these projects support MMG’s vision to build a leading global minerals and metals business.

Earlier this year, AquaSure was awarded the contract to build and operate Victoria’s $3.5b Desalination Plant near Wonthaggi. In turn, AquaSure has contracted the Thiess Degremont Joint Venture to design and construct the Project.

The Victorian Desalination Project is a key part of the State’s Water Plan. It will deliver the largest desalination plant in Australia, capable of supplying up to 150 billion litres of water a year – a third of Melbourne’s annual water needs – with capability to expand to 200 billion litres a year in the future.

For me there is. It’s walking into a networking event or function and not knowing anyone there. I find it far more intimidating to have to integrate myself into a discussion, or to introduce myself to perfect strangers in this type of setting than I do speaking in front of an audience.

We are often asked for tips on how to get a foot in the door, when you have limited to no experience. One of the key factors people don’t often consider is the importance of location.

Just as in real estate, location is critical to your job search success. If an employer has a choice of two candidates with similar experience, skills and organisational fit, they are nearly always going to hire the person who is most accessible to them, ie living in the same location as the job or the point of hire.

Since the 60 Minutes report aired Sunday before last claiming the next “resource boom” was here, we’ve been inundated with individual requests for advice. You may have noticed that we’ve actually had to (reluctantly) remove our ‘Ask Industry a Question’ for the time being to stem the flow!