How to find a farm job in Australia? The question every backpacker ask themselves and our answer. Are you looking for farm work to save a few bucks or to apply for your second year visa in Australia? Are you keen to do the fruit picking job that everyone is talking about? Guess what? You’re at the right place! Find below our 5 tools, tips and advises on how to find farm job easily.
1. Job boards
Farmers do post their available positions on online job boards. So check them out!
Gumtree is kind of the one place to find pretty much anything in Australia and also to find a farm job. More often than not, you can check out the phone numbers of the farmers and contact them directly.
Seek is also a great job searching website where you can find many farm work opportunities. Both of them are very known in Australia and they should be the first tools you use in order to find a fruit picking or farm job. It’s free, easy to use and allow you to apply quickly.
2. Social Media
To find a fruit picking job you also have to be active on social media. It may seems odd but more and more farmers are posting their work opportunities directly on farm work related groups on Facebook. It’s an easy way to find a job and those groups often allow you to meet other backpackers like you. Therefore you can ask for tips on anything related to your backpacking life in Australia.
Here are some very good example of farm work Australia related groups you should join:
- Group Cairns / Mareeba / QLD FARM WORK
- Group BRISBANE / CABOOLTURE / QLD FARM WORK
- Stanthorpe FARM WORK
- Australian Backpackers Group
Of course there is hundreds more. You can join all of them but try to focus on the area where you are currently. It is useless to see a job ad on Facebook, travel half Australia to realise that the position have been taken already.
For instance: if you are currently in Melbourne, you should focus on regional towns around you like Mildura or Hobart in Tasmania. If you are currently living in Brisbane, you should be able to travel to Stanthorpe, Bowen or Caboolture, these are great countryside town to find a farm job. Cairns area is also a very good part of Australia to find a farm work. Mareeba, Tully, Innisfail are towns with plenty of fruit picking and packing opportunities all year round.
You can also join our WikiFarms Australia Facebook page 🙂
3. WikiFarms Australia
By using the app WikiFarms Australia you can find the farm job you need. Contacting directly the farmers or meeting them on the farm is the best way to find farm work. In fact, majority of farmers don’t post offers at all and hire people as they are coming directly to their door. The app is probably your best friend in this case. It can be installed and downloaded directly from the Google Play Store and it help facilitate the process of getting in touch with the people that will hire you.
The app has been around for a couple of years and have help lots of backpackers to find a farm job. It’s an other great tool you should consider if you are looking for a fruit picking opportunity. It’s basically a map that show you contacts of almost 2000 farmers all around Australia. Filters can help you navigate through the map. You can call the farmers or take your car and go directly see them, which again, is always the best way to find a farm job quickly.
Of course, we recommend that you use Gumtree and other free job searching websites first but when the competition is getting high during the peak season it might be good to increase your chances by using the app. Learn more about WikiFarms Australia here.
Or directly download WikiFarms Australia here for Android or here iPhones.
4. The official harvest calendar
The Australian government let us know the right time and place to find a farm work. This tool that we highly recommend is great to use during your search. It will guide you on where to go to increase your chance regarding the time of the year. It’s a great tool to keep in mind while seeking for a job. You can find the full PDF calendar here.
5. Working agencies
Working agencies are always a good place to look when you arrive in a new fruit picking town. They are free (and if they claim that they are not, you should leave immediately!) and can help you by contacting you when farmers need workers. The Best Employment agency in Stanthorpe is particularly good and we highly recommend it !
