Relocating to Perth from overseas or even the Eastern States to take up a new job can seem like a big move - after all, Perth is the most isolated capital in the world. And when you have kids in tow as well, the excitement can easily become tinged with anxiety.

But ask any family living in Perth where they would rather live, and there’s en extremely high chance they’ll tell you - right here! This is a perfect place for kids to grow up.

With endless ribbons of uncrowded white sand beaches, acres of parkland in and around the city, and the walk and cycleways that meander along the banks of the Swan River, there’s rarely a need to leave the metro area. When you do, the ideal destination for family holidays is Rottnest Island, just a half-hour ferry ride away - traffic-free with calm bays and clear waters for swimming and snorkelling.
But don’t just take it from us, visit this forum to interact with people who have moved or live here with children, and gain some honest insights.

We also recommend you check this blog and this site to keep up with events that have “kid appeal”.

And you can access information on government schools here and non-government schools here.

The Internet can be a powerful tool for job-seekers, but like all good power tools, it should be used with caution.

Here are my tips for online job-hunters:

• Applying for several jobs can get confusing. Make a list of jobs you have applied for, so that when your phone starts ringing hot you will know who you are talking to and what job they are calling about. First impressions count at this point, and confusion can be mistaken for poor organisational skills or even incompetence.

• It is usually impossible to speak with either a recruitment consultant or a company representative when applying online. You simply click and apply with your fingers crossed! But if you can, try to speak with someone about the job in the very early stages of your application. Ideally you need to chat with the recruitment consultant acting on behalf of the company. This allows you to be much more candid in asking the kinds of questions that will help you decide if this is the right place for you.

• Make informed choices about where you list your CV.With the prevalence of new online job boards, the option to upload your CV and register to have suitable job opportunities emailed to you is very appealing. But remember that your current employer might access your details too!

• Make sure your personal information is not on display. We recently viewed a CV listed on a job board and among the applicant’s personal details were his tax file no and bank account numbers! Of course we contacted him immediately and advised him to delete this information pronto. He could have found himself the victim of identity fraud – or worst still, he could have lost his life-savings.

We were interested to discover some statistics about job searching recently, which suggested that most job-hunters expect to find their next position via an online job board, with recruitment agencies coming in as the second most likely source, and newspapers third.

However, in our experience, newspaper ads are more successful for company’s filling positions than online ads. This suggests to me that clever job-seekers are still checking the paper as well as searching online.

So don’t dismiss newspaper job sections as old hat - they have real benefits and avoid the pitfalls listed above. And if you let a good recruitment agency search both online and print media on your behalf to find the perfect match for you, you are far more likely to end up in your dream job.

The job market in Perth definitely favours the seekers at present, with employers and recruiters falling over themselves to attract talent.

When a quality candidate comes their way, they have to move quickly - and many are throwing caution to the wind, offering disproportionately high salaries and promising perks that wouldn’t normally be on the radar for the job in question.

It’s tempting - but beware of jumping at this kind of offer. You may find yourself in a job you can’t handle, under the pump, or even in danger of stalling your career. And when the job market returns to equilibrium, workers sucking up high salaries with inadequate skills will be the primary target for cut-backs.

This is where both employers and job-seekers need to be more intelligent about recruitment.

Throughout my recruitment career, around 85-90% of the candidates we have placed in jobs were already employed, and recent statistics back this up, with almost 90% of employed people regularly researching job opportunities.

While there is a genuine skills shortage in certain areas, companies are also - thankfully - getting better at retaining their staff with good working conditions. So although they’re looking, they’re not leaving.

This makes recruitment trickier. But offering a high salary and flashy perks might attract someone to a job for the wrong reasons, when the most important factor for those deciding to change jobs is quality of management, according to a recent survey.

This means that employers who genuinely look after their staff will be more successful not only at staff retention but also at attracting good quality candidates in the first place.

We are still filling all the jobs on behalf of our clients by placing the emphasis on mutual matching.

This means the interview process has to be two-way - you need to be sure that the company you are applying to is able to offer the management qualities you want. Ask your recruitment consultant plenty of questions before you apply and beware of relying too heavily on online job boards.

A management style that includes flexibility, trust and a genuine concern for staff conditions needs to be entrenched as part of the company culture, and not a temporary strategy to attract candidates. Because when the equilibrium returns, and it’s no longer a job-seekers’ market, it will be too easy for your employer to pull the rug from under your feet.

On a positive note, if you endeavour to become cross-skilled, and keep your expertise current, you can safely vote with your feet and move on if management style becomes unacceptable.