Placement Agencies for Game Devs

[timvee]

Hi,

I'm currently working as a Game Designer/Tester in the Philippines. For various reasons I posted in a previous thread and others I don't feel confident disclosing here, I am looking for work abroad.

One of the options that came up in my research is going through a placement agency for game devs. The site 3pod.ca came up but for some reason I can't register on their site.

My question is, is going through these placement agencies a good idea for n00bs (6 months experience) like myself who want to work abroad? Has anyone on this board had any experience of going through these agencies and would you guys personally recommend any (based on my target countries listed below)? Thanks for all the help so far!

Target countries (in order of priority): Canada, Australia, NZ
Desired position: QA Tester (I'm sure the agency can tell me if I'm qualified for anything higher than that).

[tsloper]

Originally Posted by timvee

Hi,
My question is, is going through these placement agencies a good idea for n00bs (6 months experience) like myself who want to work abroad?
Desired position: QA Tester

Hi Tim,
Headhunters will not want to represent you. They make their money by placing high-paid people, not low-paid testers. Also, there's the whole Visa/Work Permit issue (the large amount of paperwork for the hirer makes them not so anxious to hire low-paid entry-level people from another country, and headhunters know this).

As I said in your other thread, you may need to move to the target country first (and get the work permit taken care of yourself) before you can be hired.

Also, have you looked into other companies in your home country? See gamedevmap and gameindustrymap. Another option is to level-up in your home country (just at a different company) before trying to go to another country.