Studying overseas can provide you with a great opportunity to accelerate your career. Global experience, advanced degrees and work experience are all looked on favourably by employers at home and abroad. To ensure you make the most of your time to study and work in Australia, you should consider building practical experience during your degree.
Why should you do work experience in Australia?
There are several benefits to undertaking work experience during your studies, from personal growth to real career management skills you won’t necessarily pick up in a lecture theatre. Here are just a handful.
Get paid
One of the benefits of studying in Australia is that your student visa allows you to work while you study. Most visa holders are allowed to work up to 48 hours per fortnight while their course is in session, with unlimited hours available during scheduled course breaks. This additional income can help supplement your cost of living and let you enjoy everything Australia has to offer outside of the classroom, from the restaurants of Melbourne to a weekend in Sydney, two of the most popular destinations for international students in the country.
Improve your written and verbal communication skills
It’s no secret that finding a job in another country can be tough. Cultural and language barriers can hinder a potential applicant. Work experience can address these problems. During your studies you can work in an Australian workplace and get exposed to Australian culture and improve your language skills, something Australian employers look upon favourably when they’re deciding who to hire.
Networking opportunities
Work experience helps you build your network outside of university. While you should leverage your university networks, including alumni, to find a job, broadening your network will improve your chances for future employment. A role (unpaid or paid) in your industry, whether that’s an internship working directly with clients or a graduate trainee position, will give you this unique advantage when it comes to looking for work after graduation.
Improve your chances for a job after graduation
This all leads to the biggest benefit of work experience – helping secure a job after graduation. As a general rule, relevant work experience does help you get a job after you finish studying, particularly where it connects to your field of study and goes beyond what was simply a mandatory placement built into your degree.
This means if you want to get the most out of your work experience you need to put in the groundwork. Below are some of our tips to help you do just that.
Tips for work experience
Finding the right type of work experience for you can take some time. Here are some tips to help guide you during your search.
Understand your rights
As an international student, it’s important to acknowledge you have certain work rights under your visa, and it’s worth checking these directly rather than assuming. Make sure you understand the work rights that apply to your specific visa. Most international students have the right to work 48 hours per fortnight while studying, with unlimited hours during course breaks, but that is not always the case, so always check your own visa conditions.
Search for job options
There’s a range of resources to use when looking for a job in the Australian job market. Aside from job search websites and employers’ own websites, be sure to use other resources too. In particular, leverage the skills, knowledge and guidance of your university’s student support services. Your careers team is a fantastic source of advice, and so are student organisations (think consulting clubs or finance societies) that often run recruitment events and connect students directly with potential employers and industry partners.
Searching for work experience is a marathon, not a sprint. Like a marathon, you need to prepare, the right attitude and a steady approach will get you further than rushing. This includes preparing your resume and practising your interview skills ahead of your first interview. Your resume should be tailored to each job and should describe how your achievements and skills make you suitable for the role. Interview preparation should include researching the company, common interview questions (e.g. describe a time you were challenged) and questions for the interviewer.
Importantly, balance matters too. Between coursework, a job and building a life in a new country, it’s easy to lose sight of why you came to Australia to study in the first place, so make time to enjoy the community around you as well as your career plan.
At Spark we understand the importance of work experience during and after your degree. That’s why we’re happy to provide resume review and interview preparation for our students, helping you build the skills, confidence and connections to succeed, thrive and grow, whatever pathway you choose to take. Start early, stay consistent, and you’ll be well placed to access the opportunities the Australian job market has to offer, wherever your course and your career take you next.
